Self-Deceit: A Comedy on Lies; A Way of Overcoming Them

These essays on self-deceit come from the volume that Faber named Spiritual Conferences, because they have neither the formality of a lecture nor the dignity of a sermon. In editing them I have contented myself, for the most part, with trimming their Victorian drapery. Faber has written much else that still speaks to our condition, but I have chosen these essays in the conviction that the failure of our world is the failure of worship; and all worship, be it Quaker, Episcopalian, Muslim, or what not, must have within it some place for self-examination. Here we are at a loss and Faber speaks to that loss. Perhaps you are one of the many who say, “There is enough darkness in the world. When I go to church I want to hear happy things.” Faber’s point is precisely this: much, if not most, of the world’s darkness comes from self-deceit and illusions about ourselves. Shall we not bless the man who is able to lead us into the dark parts of holy disillusion and out again to a new height?

In our worship, of course, self-examination must always give way to adoration, to a beholding of God, whose goodness and love fill our need. In this act of simply feeling God’s presence the poor little self just subjected to examination is in a large measure lost sight of, and in that loss, purified. But we dare not skip the first steps. Without self-examination and confession to God, common morality, acts of charity and worship itself will turn sour within us and we shall be ten times worse than if we had never heard of religion.

The intricacies of self-deceit are so complex they make the involvements of a modern detective story read as simply as a nursery tale. But no matter, read this as you would a mystery story — life is a mystery story. And, if courage fails, glance at the end and see that all may end well — not just happily, but truly well.