# 50. Self-delusion - the manipulation of self ## 50.5. Methodology/Refinements/Sub-species ### 50.5.1. Introspection myth Most of us will claim that we are capable of honest introspection and emotional self-analysis. However, in reality, the origins of certain emotional states which we experience are completely unavailable to us. Therefore, large parts of our personality cannot be intellectually analysed by us alone. Furthermore, when we are challenged to say why we like or hate certain things, like a work of art or a piece of music, or even a person or place, for instance, we will often find it extremely difficult to honestly describe why we feel attracted or repelled. Generally, we will just make up something which is actually not true at all, simply to give an answer, whereas the reality lies deeply buried in emotional states which are largely invisible to our intellectual self. The complex emotional associations which determine our own preferences can often be associated with completely unconnected events, like a cast of light and shadow reminding us of some long forgotten, but pleasant, childhood experience. Conversely, a sound may be inexplicably terrifying for no apparent reason. The pits of emotional reaction are bottomless and for most of us, they are completely opaque at an intellectual level. Completely "honest" introspection is almost impossible for most of us. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't try however. But "fishing" in our own "emotional ponds" carries risks. Honest reflections (where they can be verbalised) reveal things about our personalities which may endanger our own image in the eyes of others. Few people are willing to take such risks with raw emotions of this sort, even if we were capable of communicating them. To overcome this emotional "inexplicability", we solve the problem by inventing simpler intellectual explanations for many of our stronger emotional reactions. In this sense, we manipulate ourselves to believe one (invented) reality, because of our inability to understand or confront a much more complex, perhaps darker, truer reality. By communicating these "invented emotions" to others we perpetuate these self-delusions. One way of dealing with this particular form of delusion is to at least attempt a better, more personally honest, understanding of one's own emotions. That need not involve a discussion with anyone else but oneself - or as the Shakespeare enjoins in Hamlet, "To thine own self be true".