There is an insightful parallel between malnutrition and pride. Malnutrition is not only not getting enough food, it is also not getting enough of the right food. In a typical case of malnutrition, there are signs and symptoms that indicate that malnutrition is the cause. Symptoms may include delayed growth, wasting, stunted development, inability to concentrate, always feeling cold, slower to heal, decreased immune function, tired and irritable, loss of fat, loss of body mass, and loss of body tissue. These are also symptoms of a serious condition of undernutrition which is the leading cause of physical death in the world for children under five years old. 

Like malnutrition, pride is deadly; and, like malnutrition, pride has definitive signs and symptoms. Symptoms include being quick to anger, bitter, deceitful, fearful, stubborn, rejection of authority, harshness, frustration, impatience, resistance to change, selfishness, poor listening skills, self-righteousness, inability to feel the Holy Ghost, unmerciful, unsympathetic, unrepentant, without love, and past feeling. As you can clearly see, pride in many respects is the root or core of sin.

The list above is not complete as the signs and symptoms of pride go on and on. The one common denominator to all the symptoms reveals that there is no broken heart or contrite spirit. You cannot be proud and have a humble heart. The outcome of the symptoms of pride, like malnutrition, is spiritual malnutrition. When prideful, your soul is significantly lacking in the necessary spiritual nutrients, because you are unwilling to seek after them, to inquire regarding them–unwilling to partake of them. The consequences from pride are always negative and spiritually life-threatening.