My question is about Job. What failures or shortcomings in his life were the cause of Job’s suffering?
The Guide: For lack of self-recognition and for self-deception out of pride and fear. There was in him an impatience to be already perfect – an impatience connected with spiritual pride. He used his desire for good to suppress basic instincts rather than facing them with courage and sincerity.
Is it true, as some interpreters have it, that Job played himself up as the patriarch who deserved all the grace of God – in other words, that he was self-righteous?
The Guide: Yes, that is pride. There was pride in this respect, but also in other respects. And he manifested extreme self-will. His self-will wanted to be already at a point that only hard labor and the humility of self-recognition can attain.
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