The below is a follow up email after one of Aunt Betty and my spiritual direction sessions. Her words are in red below.

I was praying about that arrogance -neediness thing, and what came to me is that it makes a lot of sense.  It is one’s denial of one’s neediness that makes the atheist erroneously believe that he/she does not need a God.  How arrogant can a human being get then to deny the existence of the very Being Who gave him/her life.?

So, when one denies one’s neediness, it is the height of pride…  The Scripture says, “The humble contrite heart, God does not despise.” In plain language, if one wants to draw close to God, one needs to be cleaned of all forms of pride and arrogance. If we want to live in His Will, we have to allow Him to purge us of all hidden pride and arrogance of whatever form it hides under. “Out of the depths I cry unto Thee …” God cannot be one with a lie, as He is the very embodiment of all that is True.

Is this clear to you? In the presence of God, we are all needy and we need to own and embrace our neediness.  The vow to NEVER admit neediness is a very dangerous vow indeed. God’s willingness to embrace humanity and invite us to become one with Him is the very thing that drove Satan to become Satan.