Self-Deception

It is never good to be deceived, but the worst kind of deception is self-deception. When we lie to ourselves it is much harder to find the truth. This is because we (contrary to numerous clear warnings in Scripture) tend to trust ourselves more than any one else in the world. In his first letter to the Church in Corinth, St. Paul warns his people, "If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know." Sadly, few people today listen to him.

One of the greatest self-deceptions in the world today is when we convince ourselves that we "have all the facts". We presume that our limited amount of knowledge is the full story. I have seen this happen many times, and it always breaks my heart whenever I see it. I remember this man I knew years ago who told me about some horrible story he heard in the news. Interestingly, I had already heard about this "fake news" story, and tried to explain to him that it was not correct. He refused to accept this because he "heard it on the news" and it therefore had to be true.

Any one of us could fall into this type of error, and yet few believe it so. Most people will say that someone else can be deceived, but that they themselves know better than to let that happen. Like I said above, people trust themselves more than anyone else. There is actually a very simple way to help avoid this serious error of thinking, but very few people are willing to use it. Humility. It is pride that causes someone to trust themselves too much, and only humility can help us to realize that we do not know nearly as much as we think we do.

It was bad enough when I was a kid and "the news" pretended like they were telling us everything that we wanted to know. Now, the proliferation of the internet has made people today believe that we can find out everything we want to know. "Just read an article on wicke(d)pedia and you are a genius!" That may very well be the most destructive aspect of the internet; the illusion of openly available information. All we really have openly available information that was chosen by someone who has something to gain from it.

I am not saying that it is impossible to know anything, but we must have a more mature view of the knowledge that we have. Even if it is accurate, it is not comprehensive. We are limited by what others choose to give us, and by what we can understand. Even if someone has the right intent, it does not mean that they are being fully objective in what they choose. This should make each of humble about things.

In an age when so many people want to lie and use information to control others, we have to protect ourselves. We can trust what the Church tells us (if it really is the Church speaking!), but we must be cautious about other things. Just because the news says that a particular person did a particular thing, does not mean that it is so. Let us be cautious in those things where we choose to take our stand. As I said before, "be careful you don't believe everything you think".