Once Upon A Dream

Once, years ago I had a dream. Not a dream like a goal, no, a real sleep and dream, dream. I found myself holding onto a protruding part of a giant Buddha. I was weary from trying to climb up it. I looked up above this Buddha and I saw a Buddha on top of Buddha on top of Buddha high above my head. I still had a long way to go.
I looked down and saw that I had climbed a multitude of Buddhas already and that the bottom where it had all began had vanished into a fine white mist beneath me.
I felt a sense of pride at that accomplishment, I had climbed all these Buddhas and made it very far indeed. Just as I was feeling smug and accomplished, something caused me to lose my footing and I plunged down the face of many, many Buddhas, scratching my side from waist to armpit in doing so. The saying "pride goeth before a fall" may be appropriate. My pride knocked me back, because I really had not climbed so high after all.
Oh, and here's the kicker, when I awoke the next morning, I had a long, red and swollen scratch going down the side of my body from waist to armpit.
Pride is a tricky thing. We must have pride in ourselves, in our work, in our ambitions. We must temper that pride with humility or we will lose more than a couple of levels.