S

March   14th

SELF-DECEPTION  IS  OUR ENEMY

“Zeno   would   also    say that    nothing is  more    hostile to  a   firm    grasp   on  knowledge   than    self-

deception.”

—DIOGENES   LAERTIUS,   LIVES   OF  THE EMINENT PHILOSOPHERS,   7.23

elf-deception, delusions of grandeur—these aren’t just annoying personality traits. Ego is more than
just off-putting and obnoxious. Instead, it’s the sworn enemy of our ability to learn and grow.
As Epictetus put it, “It is impossible for a person to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows.”
Today, we will be unable to improve, unable to learn, unable to earn the respect of others if we think
we’re already perfect, a genius admired far and wide. In this sense, ego and self-deception are the
enemies of the things we wish to have because we delude ourselves into believing that we already
possess them.
So we must meet ego with the hostility and contempt that it insidiously deploys against us—to keep it
away, if only for twenty-four hours at a time.