deceives oneself. I know in this book I tend to appeal to general human experience for the sub-stratum of fact on which the argument is based, when many people would dispute the validity of that experience; but in fact I have no alternative. The whole concept of the fluid nature of the human consciousness precludes the possibility of usefully analysing individual case histories; and drives one back on general experience. And so I am compelled either to rely on general experience which is so elementary and universal that it is unlikely to excite much protest, or for more detailed examples to rely on the legal world with which I am thoroughly familiar, and know something about. So I would suggest that there is little chance of persuading shrewd, cynical people to believe something, unless one believes it firmly oneself. There is little chance of persuading your colleagues to regard you no longer as a beginner, and to respect your professional competence (so far as it exists), unless you believe in your own ability yourself. Playacting generally convinces nobody, and cuts no ice. Hence the need, if you wish to get rid of a sense of inadequacy by pretending it is not there, to be whole-hearted about it. You must live out the deception the whole time, in every department of your life. You may not, dare not relax, lest you admit the truth. And the simplest and most effective way of doing this is to lie to, and completely deceive, yourself; until you really do think yourself the person you would like yourself to be.
When someone is prepared to go to these lengths, it is very difficult not to fall in with his way of thinking, and accept as genuine his opinion of himself. Possibly the reason is that we are all in danger of indulging in this kind of behaviour; indeed may all have done it at one time or another. And so we are reluctant to condemn those guilty of it as frauds on society. However that may be, one has to accept the lie in the heart as a phenomenon of life. As to the consequences, as regards what happens when one believes the lies one…