Sometimes the stages of human growth are normal, but become abnormal when we get stuck in our developmental phases. Teachings on the archetypes are interesting. For instance, the archetype of the orphan is normal at a certain age when you need to be dependent on parents or nurses. When you're an adult, the feeling that everyone should continue to take care of you becomes unreasonable and unattainable, and gives way to the afflictive emotions, such as grief and anger, that follow whenever our programs for happiness are frustrated. Virtues, the fruit of humility, are the result of human development in the right direction.
Pride is the result of human development in the wrong direction.
Sometimes the human faculties develop, but the spiritual ones do not. Prideful people are suffering from infantile motivation that they need to grow out of to find true happiness. It takes tremendous energy to repress something so strong, which stems from our instinct to preserve life. Repressing our feelings of pain for the world isolates us, and can also drain us. When we allow ourselves to experience these feelings, we cease to fear them.