Deception is not a positive word at all. However, it is one we cannot escape from in daily life. This is because we are so deeply intertwined with this word. So who have you deceived the most in your life? The answer is simple: we deceive ourselves more than we deceive others.
We can never fully reveal ourselves to others. Even though we might wish to express our feelings honestly, we cannot. The reason is fear-fear that, if we show our true selves, others may like us less. So we end up hiding parts of ourselves, trying to present a version of ourselves that we think others will like.
In this, we deceive ourselves. When you ask me for my honest opinion, I sometimes give you an answer that I know may hurt you, because I fear your disapproval. In public, I talk about morality and virtue, but in my private life, I may be engaging in behavior that contradicts those very principles. This is the deception I live with.
I deceive myself by pretending to be someone I am not. Even when I smile, even when I act like I enjoy things I don’t, I am deceiving myself. When I say yes when I mean no, or when I laugh when I’m actually hurting, I am deceiving myself.
Deception, in its raw form, is when I forget my true self and act or speak in a way that is not aligned with my genuine nature. When I deceive myself, I am also deceiving the world around me.
When we deceive others, we should feel a sense of guilt and shame. But when we deceive ourselves, why does it not feel like a significant problem? Why do we treat our own deception as something less important than the deceit of others? It is a paradox we all live with: we are often more forgiving of our own deception, yet it causes the most damage to our inner selves.
In truth, the greatest issue is not the deception others impose upon us, but the deceit we live with within ourselves. This internal deception is often overlooked or ignored, but it has a profound impact on our lives. It affects how we view the world and how we relate to others. The real question is: Why do we tolerate deceiving ourselves?
