Kabbalah Amsal 16:5: Reshit Chokhmah & Sha'arei Kedusha

And with these words we can understand what we say at the end of our tefillah “My God, guard my tongue from evil and my lips from speaking deceit. To those who curse me let my soul be silent and may my soul be like dust to all”. And on the surface it would have been enough to say “let me be silent”, why add the part about the soul? And also the prayer repeats “my soul be like dust”! Rather, the intention is to make us learn that lowliness is impressed in the nature of the soul, so the soul is silent, since it is already possible just to be silent and not return insults, but hatred can be guarded inside one’s heart, as we read “and Esav hated Yaakov, and Esav said in his heart ‘the days of my father’s funeral etc” (Gen. 27:41). And the Text says “a haughty hearted person is an abomination to God” (Prov. 16:5) – even if the haughtiness is only in a person’s heart and does not come out through one’s mouth, and this is why we say “may my soul be silent”, that the soul itself should be silent. And this is the “people who lay My Torah to heart”, that the Yehudah HeHasid z”l explained , and so we explained in the Gate of Love that all haughtiness and anger come only from the side of dross, because the soul, from its nature, is humble in front of God and in front of everything, as Moshe our teacher PBUH said “and we, what [are we]? (Ex. 16:7)

Pride is the root of many sins, whether they are between man and HaShem-יהו״ה, the Ever Present One, blessed is He, or whether they are between man and his fellow. In regard to man and his fellow, this is because his arrogance will bring him to harm his fellow, in disdaining him and speak badly of him, amongst many other negative matters. Or whether between man and HaShem-יהו"ה, as written,³⁴⁵Deuteronomy 8:14 “and your heart will become haughty and you will forget HaShem-יהו״ה your God.” That is, because of conceit he forgets HaShem-יהו"ה his God, greatly damaging his relationship with HaShem-יהו"ה, the Ever Present One, blessed is He. Our sages, of blessed memory, stated,³⁴⁶Talmud Bavli, Sotah 5a “Whoever is haughty is called an abomination, as it states,³⁴⁷Proverbs 16:5 ‘Every haughty person is an abomination to HaShem-יהו״ה.’” They also stated,³⁴⁸Sotah 5a ibid. “Whoever is arrogant should be excommunicated,” and, “it is fitting to hew him down as like an Asherah tree that has been designated for idolatry,” and, “his dust will not stir at the time of the resurrection of the dead,” and, “the Indwelling Presence of HaShem-יהו״ה, the Shechinah, wails for him.” Moreover, they stated that a haughty person is equal to an idolater and to one who denies the fundamental principle of existence, HaShem-יהו״ה, blessed is He. Moreover, it is as if he transgressed every kind of forbidden relationship, and as if he built a personal altar to idolatry within himself. They further stated that even if, like our forefather Avraham, he attributes the possession of the entire heavens and earth to the Holy One, blessed is He, a haughty person will not be cleansed of the judgements of purgatory (Gehinnom). In the end he will be diminished from his haughty position and will depart from the world before his time.