I had a psychiatrist friend who used to use that phrase, in response to such situations as which spouse was able to get to a the courthouse first in order to file a petition against the other, or who had left whom, or whether someone quit or was fired. Those are more obvious and concrete examples, but we can see how any of us might disguise certain deeper truths from ourselves by clinging to some technical nicety.
I'm something of an expert on where our less-attractive motives go to hide. I try to question my reasons for everything. I suppose Uncle Screwtape would chuckle, as I likely only succeed at devising more and more intricate ways of disguising said motives. It's just playing chess against ourselves after all, and without rescue we would be the most miserable of men. Still, I think we are required to try.
One favorite is when people say "There's no black and white, everything is shades of gray." That is mostly true in a fallen world, and is true about us individuals even if not the abstract principles. Yet people only trot this one out when they are trying to get you to choose a darker shade of gray, don't they? If they think something is actually more moral, they appeal to you on those grounds. The statement, while true, is nonetheless usually an attempt to avoid moral issues rather than embrace them.
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