An observation about a major driver of our behavior:
We desperately want to think ourselves virtuous. Therefore, we rationalize, make excuses, and tell ourselves lies (but I repeat myself) rather than the truth.
We desperately want others to think we’re virtuous. Therefore, we create masks, adopt personas, and tell lies (but I repeat myself) rather than the truth. We’re very good at hiding, driven by fear of vulnerability and intimacy.
There is a worldview today which says that you were born innocent. Something external to you happened – an oppression, some authority structure, an abuse – which led to your brokenness. Healing the brokenness requires finding your true child self again. You are your inner light.
The fact that we must teach children the precepts of virtue, from a very early age on, strongly suggests that this is a fanciful worldview, not rooted in reality.
It’s much more likely that we’re born broken. We need a savior. We aren’t going to escape the masks, personas, rationalizations, and lies in our own power.
