The Rainbow Mosaic Of Self-Deception - Blogs

There is a popular belief that it is high time to break his legs in the hope that this will stop his walking. "Pretend to be a successful person - and in the end you will be" - how do you like this game? The fastest path to success and neurosis coincide. Let's see if it is necessary to improve reality through self-deception? What are the pros and cons of this strategy?

If we artificially improve our positive perception of the world, then first there will be a cognitive dissonance between reality and what we want to convince ourselves of, and then neurosis. Of course, it is pleasant to wear pink glasses of self-deception, but when they fight - and this inevitably happens - you can get injuries of the psyche, incompatible with life.

I remember one training in personal growth in the tradition of NLP, of which I once became a participant. They told everyone there - if you want to become millionaires, behave like millionaires, think like millionaires. Great concept, isn't it? One of the participants in the training was inspired by this idea, borrowed a large amount of money, bought a gold watch and went to Paris. This is how millionaires behave in his picture of the world. The aspiring businessman expected that after this act, life would give him large contracts, rich clients - he behaved like a real millionaire! But he only waited for creditors …

Pleasure traps

So, should you follow reality, or pretend, embellish it in the hope of a grandiose result? There are two completely opposite and simultaneous strategies existing in people's heads. First: life is short, do only what you like. Second: to be like successful people, do what they do, never give up - and you yourself will become successful. The first is hedonistic, the second is the strategy of violence. At the same time, it is overlooked that copying the behavior of successful people can cause internal contradiction, and this is no longer following your own path. That is, one concept often denies the other.

To what extent can we “positively” pretend when we abuse ourselves? If you follow your desires all the time and do only what you like, at some point you will inevitably degrade. A happy person no longer wants to do anything, he has reached the top. Besides, enjoyment is exhausting.

This fact was confirmed by an experiment with rats, in which electrodes were implanted into the brain. The impulses forced the rodents to press the pedal without respite, while getting pleasure. As a result, the animals died, forgetting even about food and water.

One of the varieties of self-deception is fantasy. On the one hand, fantasies can be inspiring, but on the other, they can turn into "self-deceiving" prophecies. Only on rare occasions can deceiving yourself be helpful. The danger is that these rare cases sometimes turn into a habit.

In the land of blue unicorns

It is impossible to avoid self-deception, relying only on fortitude. This will only make it worse. It seems to me a more correct strategy of positive, critical awareness. Self-deception anesthesia, of course, helps to cope with pain, and sometimes it is simply necessary. But if a person is addicted to this trick of consciousness, he becomes like a morphine addict: everywhere he sees a rainbow, angels and blue unicorns giving him secret signs.

Fighting self-deception is not a purely intellectual function; it is a function of courage, tolerance for criticism and uncertainty. Highly intelligent people who cannot bear criticism can easily fall into the trap of self-deception.

Deceiving yourself while walking the road of life is the same as admiring the cloudless sky all the time without looking at your feet. You will definitely stumble and fall.

Friends, why deceive yourself, if you can others? In a momentary, tactical sense, self-deception can be useful, but strategically, it threatens one big failure.

How to stop deceiving yourself? Develop critical thinking, see contradictions, take yourself a little less seriously, with self-irony. And then the call "Pretend until it becomes true" will cause you only a slight smile.