My book review of Restoring Pride: The Lost Virtue of Pride
By: Bulcha, The Charismatic Nerd
Tags: Self Improvement, Life Lessons, Inspiration, Confidence, Book Review

I don’t like writing reviews.

I think they are conceited as it says more about the person reviewing the book than the actual book.

Nonetheless, I took a pill of self-righteousness this morning and shall give a review of this out-of-print book that should NOT be out of print.

This book talks about pride, but not in the sense of arrogance but in the sense of justified self-love.

Having read countless books, completed therapy, and accepting my full capacities as a human being, I’ve come to love myself more. I thought I had foolish pride, but I still kept it, because it felt right. It felt justified. I knew this pride was integral for me in living a life that is honest and authentic. But I didn’t want to parade it to the world, since I knew they would not understand it.

Then this book opened my eyes to the more accurate terms of pride and goodness. It made me realize that the self-love I have is justified.

All the pagan philosophers of Ancient Greece spoke readily about the person that is good, not in the sense of being kind to others, but of having a great soul.

Photo by Fang-Wei Lin on Unsplash

And when people have a great soul, they have earned this justified self-love.

Because no matter what happens to them in this world, they still have that self-love. This book isn’t here to blow smoke either. Richard Taylor gives every day and prominent examples to prove his point. My favorite example that he explains in the book is Malcolm X.

Malcolm X was a petty thief known as Malcolm Little.

Then he went to jail, where he tended to himself through education, books, debate, and religion. Then when he came out of jail, he became Malcolm X as we know him.

You have to understand, Malcolm X had justified self-love because no matter what happened in his life, he had himself.

He transformed himself from a lost and vulgar soul to one of greatness. He carried this pride with him everywhere. From his debates, conflicts, and day-to-day living. Malcolm X even carried this pride, knowing that he would get killed.

Think about that!

Having enough justified self-love to be okay with the fact that you’re going to get killed.

You have to understand, Malcolm X knew that, whether he was alive or not, he had that justified self-love and respect. When you have that internal peace, the fear of death vanishes.

Because it is only at this point you know you could not have lived any better.

As Seneca once said, ‘He has peace of mind who has lived his entire life every day.’

We live in a world where people live in the externals (wealth, status, etc) too much and don’t tend to their internal world.

Why is it that today in the West we have so much, yet are the least happy?

Many people today do not have justified self-love and few will ever have it.

But that does not have to remain for you.

Resolve your internal conflicts, build that confidence, build it all! And through this, you will be able to transform yourself into someone you always knew you could be. This is how you find your justified self-love.

This book is worth reading, however, this book will be more meaningful if you first deal with any internal issues you have.

Because without resolving that nagging anxiety, low-self esteem, etc, you will not fully grasp this book.

If you’ve read this far, then let this be the sign to resolve whatever inner conflicts you have, so that when it is time to take on the external world, it will be a lot easier than if you were always fighting yourself during the journey.

Farewell and let the rest of your life be the best times of your life!

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