Who is a chacham one who is willing (enough to go & push his way in. Not just "I pick up a lesson from everyone I meet"...see Rashi) to learn from any & every one. Who is mighty, one who restricts his desire. Who is wealthy, one who is happy with his lot. Who is honorable, one who honors others.
these are associated with the ma'alos required for a navi, the traits decided for a baby within 40 days from conception, & the passuk in yimiyahu al yis'halel....
if chochom refers to love & thirst for wisdom, as R' Yonah explains, we can understand 'Hashem gives chochma only to chachomim' that one is born with the trait of seeking chochmah, & it his to him that Hashem offers the actual wisdom to.
The mesilas yesharim end of perek 22 says that wisdom is nothing to be proud of, as its one's nature that brings him to it, no less than a bird learns to fly.
According to this, al yis'halel make sense to apply, even to one who is lomed mikol adam.
If so, then we should apply the same approach to all the ma'alos listed. Even the wealth of one who is satisfied with his lot, is nothing to be proud of. As this as well is perhaps what was predefined by Hashem "should this be rich or poor".
this the continues to "gibor" - even though one who restricts his desire is a gibor, this also predesigned "gibor oh chalash" Though this seems quite difficult to understand, perhaps some are blessed with more willpower than others. (they accordingly are 'blessed' with a greater yetzer hora as well, to make life challenging, but they are nonetheless giborim.) Perhaps the end of the qouted passuk is completely unnatural & deserving of pride - tikkun yitzro - not just retraint.
The person who is honorable by his honoring others, obviously is not priding himself to be above anyone in this manner.
this approach does not allow for pride in any areas of ma'alos - just 'haskel v'yadoa osi'. However, this was based on a misunderstood medrash shmuel. The rishonim (& achronim) who associate the mishnah to "al yis'halel" all explain that the mishna is describing the varied forms of these 3 ma'alos which allow for pride as they are considered part of haskel v'yadoa. I'm not sure why they say this, but if so, my approah that all pride is innapropriate is wrong.
On another note. Whether the mishna is or is not allowing pride in these areas, we do see for sure that these 4 traits are not just subjective, arbitrary socially decided attributes. Rathwr the mishnah is definately singling them out as "ma'alos". this itself is an important fact in accordance with what R' yeruchom says on this weeks parsha 'Lo yitamei ba'al b'amov l'heichalo' one must avoid losing a "ma'alah" of his at all cost.
If one does posses any of these ma'alos, whether or not he may pride himself, he most certainly expend all effort to retain them & should gaurd & protect himself against losing them.
