Just some links to Lewis giving examples of people deceiving themselves. I will comment going forward, but it's better to let the man speak for himself.
With regards to becoming a churchgoer and what that means, Screwtape has some advice to Wormwood about what state of mind the patient should have about church. Chapter II
From the book Undeceptions, the problem of people not wanting to think of themselves as Miserable Offenders.This is an ongoing problem. The last Anglican sermon I heard thought that the church has emphasised this too much and that we should focus on thinking how good and worthy we are. Perhaps pitiable will open it up to you.
Lewis gave an address to students warning them against the dangers of wanting to become part of The Inner Ring.
Hardly anything struck me with such force in Lewis as his talk about the Inner Ring--the irresistible draw of being in on things, admitted to the mysteries, our conversation sought out because of what we know, being part of the important grown-up set, we few, we happy few--to say nothing of the simple sense of securely belonging to a tightly knit group. It has to be a very ugly Inner Ring indeed for the danger perceptibly to outweigh the fatal attraction.
ReplyDeleteThe link for the inner ring wasn't working for me... I did find this, which I think conveys the issue
ReplyDeletehttps://tifwe.org/c-s-lewis-beware-the-temptation-of-the-inner-ring/
The thing about the inner ring is that it's about approval.
ReplyDeleteWe all seek social approval, it's in our natures. We want to be thought well of, we want to be respected and appreciated.
It's when we allow that to twist ourselves into compromise, into doing something that Jiminy Cricket is whispering, "... Hmmm. I don't know about this..." that the real problems occur. We become susceptible to rationalizing our actions, which is, of course, the self-deception which is being discussed.