21 levels of Self-Deception: THIRD EDITION by Tom Wallace - HTML preview

T W E N T Y - O N E L E V E L S

Fromm’s suggestions might be described as self-disruption — a deliberate stepping back from the normal flow of thoughts and impressions.

Life, of course, seldom runs smoothly. A person may know who they are and know what they want, but other people or events outside our control conspire to thwart the joy that is found in life. What to do? Accept the disruption! In fact, not only accept it — welcome it! There is really no choice. And here, of course, it gets very difficult because there is no obvious way to prove this is a better course of action. The ‘disruption’ may for instance be a life-threatening illness. Could it really be said that this is better than continuing to live happily without illness? I have no reason to say why this might be so, but to reach such a place of acceptance would seem to offer the prospect of perfect peace and unshakeable joy. Troubles and misfortunes — provided not deliberately sought — can also perform this task. Problems can be turned around into opportunities to know ourselves and to see where letting go may be appropriate.

A similar list can be found in Buddhism’s ‘fourfold task’:

1. An open-hearted embrace of one’s existential

situation.

2. A letting go of the habitual reactive patterns of

thought and behaviour triggered by that situation.

3. A conscious valorisation of those moments when

such reactive patterns have stilled.

4. A commitment to a way of life that emerges from

such stillness and responds empathetically, ethically and creatively to the situation at hand.

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