Is Self-Deception More Common Than We Think?

[Loren Booda]

My girlfriend sometimes kids me that I am a "chameleon." I fool myself often, unconsciously, no doubt hundreds of times a day. Lies to myself arise from reasonable convenience and avoiding emotional pain, although I consider myself a very honest person. Life seems an alternation within a duality of truth and falsehood - I consider both. Being absolutely truthful would lead to an early death, I fear. At the end of the day, at least I have endeavored for truth toward others.

Do you find that prevarication is actually so prevalent, or that verity is worth the pain?

 

[verty]

Worth the pain to some degree, but it just makes people angry unfortunately. Sometimes I think advice or suggestions just aren't worth giving under any circumstances. If you give advice, the person thinks you are snobbish and also doesn't want to be proved wrong, so avoids you thereafter or shuts you down if you attempt to do it in the future. Good intentions don't buy you anything.

 

[twisting_edge]

There is no possible way to solve problems you don't acknowledge. I think lying to yourself is even worse than lying to others.

I think there's even a line in the bhagavad gita or some such that runs, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

 

[Loren Booda]

Perhaps the greatest lie involves basking in the reflection of "honesty."

 

[SticksandStones]

To quote Feynmen:

"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool."

 

[JasonRox]

There is no possible way to solve problems you don't acknowledge. I think lying to yourself is even worse than lying to others.

I think there's even a line in the bhagavad gita or some such that runs, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Agree 100%!

I've heard of the quote to, but also forgot where it came from.

I make really good friends with those who openly examine their lives without feeling insulted and offended. I've only met a handful of people with this attitude unfortunately, but at the same time I'm grateful to have found them, or myself really.

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I think there's even a line in the bhagavad gita or some such that runs, "The unexamined life is not worth living."

Plato attributes the saying to Socrates in "The Apology". In my opinion, Socrates did not say it, but rather Plato did. Here is a copy of the Bhagavad Gita. I could not find the quote there, but perhaps I missed it.

http://www.san.beck.org/Gita.html

 

[Apost8]

The capacity to delude ourselves and the lengths to which we will do so is, in my opinion, one of the most dangerous attributes of mankind. It can be difficult and even painful to stay honest with ourselves, but in the end, all we have is our integrity.