Above
all, don't lie to yourself. The man who lies to himself and listens to his own
lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around
him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect
he ceases to love... Fyodor Dostoevsky



Self-deception is common and universal, and the cause of most human tragedies.
Of course, the science of self-deception can help us to live better and get
more out of life. But it can also cast a murky light on human nature and the
human condition, for example, on such exclusively human phenomena as anger,
depression, fear, pity, pride, dream making, love making, and god making, not
to forget age-old philosophical problems such as selfhood, virtue, happiness,
and the good life. Nothing, in the end, could possibly be more important.