12
“O, wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us!
It wad frae monie a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion.”
– Robert Burns
Issue 12
July 4, 2015
It would be a good thing, a rare and very good thing, “to see oursels as others see us!” But we don’t. We can’t. Rather, we see ourselves not as we are, but as we wish we were, and that can be a pretty misleading sight because we do like to put ourselves on display, to put on a show, to advertise our virtues, to cover up our vices, to pretend. But it doesn’t always work very well. Others will see through the pose.
There are differences among us. Some regard themselves as more intelligent, more clever, more attractive, more humble, more talented, more charitable, more something than their neighbors. Others are more realistic, but still deluded to some degree. Perhaps there are some who see themselves clearly but not many, I think. Whatever the degree, the usual experience is to be fairly oblivious to the faults and shortcomings which others find so obvious.
We do not choose this state of affairs. We inherit it. It is the human condition which has been our lot since before we can imagine. So what’s the problem?
The problem is that self-deception, and that is what Burns is talking about, leads to pride, and pride is the deadliest of the seven deadly sins. (See #4) It may start out as a trivial “blunder . . . an foolish notion”, but in the long run it adds up to your life and, indeed, to all of human history. Perhaps self-deception is inevitable, but we should do what we can to minimize it. And that is not easy.
