| Abstrakt: |
Too often, what I can only call 'confrontational' evangelism and pastoral counselling attempts to deal with the self-deceived person by thoughtlessly and carelessly 'exposing' the self-imposed lie. Such tactics make for good, television drama, but in the real world of spiritual growth they are often self-defeating and sometimes corrupt. Self-deception is a universal human phenomenon, inexorably linked with our capacity for self-reflective consciousness, and serving both good and bad purposes: that which can be known can also be denied, for various personal (and often private) reasons. It follows from the peculiar logic and complex psychology of 'lying to ourselves' that self-deceivers who are confronted, and whose lies are exposed, are often driven further into self-deception by such simplistic tactics. It also follows that those who choose to 'help' the self-deceiver run considerable risk of being self-deceived about their own motives and about the real effects of their help. |
