“. . .you must look at who you are and make an effort to know yourself, which is the most difficult knowledge one can imagine. When you know yourself, you will not puff yourself up like the frog who wanted to be the equal of the ox. . .” Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
We lie to ourselves because we cannot punish our parents for lying to us about the most important things in this life: Santa Claus, all history, that the government is here to protect us (I believed it until I saw the title of the book by the most prominent “alternative” insider), and that people are good. Aha, and they told us to always tell the truth, but they themselves were never telling the truth to each other. And they never told me why left-hand traffic is right.
The difficulty is knowing when and how you are deceiving yourself. As the quoted book points out, one may not allow oneself to know because it’s less painful to believe something soothing.
Beautiful piece. Too many people in our society lie to themselves and accept the lies of others. As Solzhenitsyn said, Live Not By Lies: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/live-not-by-lies-solzhenitsyn-essay-bezmenov
We lie to ourselves because we cannot punish our parents for lying to us about the most important things in this life: Santa Claus, all history, that the government is here to protect us (I believed it until I saw the title of the book by the most prominent “alternative” insider), and that people are good. Aha, and they told us to always tell the truth, but they themselves were never telling the truth to each other. And they never told me why left-hand traffic is right.
Thank you for this knowledge and Insights is priceless and helps me to gain self understanding
A poem inspired by this great article
And tithes are given to the ideology by its believers,
None greater than the cognitive dissonant self,
With the fear of loneliness supported by that of self-deceit,
And belonging, which struggles with ideological outcomes
Its leaders justify so they can then be lived with,
For, in solidarity, believers cannot run with the scapegoated,
Who are branded, that they are the sufferers.
Well . . .
The most famous sermon ever given includes . . .
“Happy are those who mourn, since they will be comforted.’’
Seemingly, similar message.
Mourn, be willing to be sad, grieving over your weak, sinful state.
Don’t ignore, pretend or evade - just mourn, accept the pain.
Comfort will come.
Thanks
The difficulty is knowing when and how you are deceiving yourself. As the quoted book points out, one may not allow oneself to know because it’s less painful to believe something soothing.