This week I want to examine a phenomenon that I call Creative Delusion - that is, our habit of creating for ourselves, false needs, false judgements and false reason by deceptiveness. When we have examined Creative Delusion a bit further we will see how familiar it is in our own cognitive set-up, how it is the enemy of rational enquiry, and how it gives a man false impressions about himself. 

 

Creative Delusion is the domineering nemesis of rational enquiry; its presence gives a man pleasures that obedience to rationality cannot give. Creative Delusion both stifles and arouses stimulation; it prohibits, in most areas, cognitive advancement; it even causes relationships between friends and lovers to become quite brittle, for it is operating in provinces where reason cannot visit. Furthermore it creates the biggest sins in men, firstly by the deception which causes the most egregious sins, as when (in worst cases) charity turns to murder or (in lesser cases), love to cold sensuality or (even lesser), humility to pride - and secondly by false appraisal; thus a man will become self-congratulatory and proud in such a way that real progression is stifled. 

 

And do not for a second think that Christianity automatically builds for us a wall of imperviousness. We are not talking about rational judgement, therefore any protection given by faith in Christ is operating in a domain that is often extricable from Creative Delusion - in fact, the boundaries in which both are operating do not very often overlap, except in those rare cases when a man’s pride causes him to see a particular sin, not as a weakness which runs counter to, say, humility, but as a weakness that runs counter to his own perceived qualities. A good example is when you tell a man that he cannot be very smart if he fails to realise how unwise it is to carry on with this particular sin; thus he gives it up, not through strong character but through weak character and insecurity. I do not mean for you to think that growth in Christ has no chance of eradicating Creative Delusion, rather that Creative Delusion is one of the Devil’s favourite tools for retarding good progress, therefore nothing in Creative Delusion is itself, beneficial, the benefits are only realised when we can look back and see how our leaving behind the old for the new has shut out the Bad One even more.

 

Those whose rationality is largely based upon Creative Delusion spend their time finding happiness in things which ordinary enquiry would reveal to be quite empty and worthless. I do not, of course, mean physical things, I mean cognitive things, the creating of false realities in place of true realities. Creative Delusion is operational in virtually every area of life. It dispenses with human qualities; that is, it makes virtues that should be revered appear to be weaknesses; it makes every emotional virtue inadequate without the endorsement of image consciousness. It makes the things which operate in the magisteria of human progression - such as respect, mercy, humility, grace and (sometimes) love - appear to operate in the magisteria of reason alone. In doing this, Creative Delusion trivialises things which should be highly regarded; that is to say, they are regarded not because they are a central part of the elixir of life, but because they elicit feelings in which pride, avarice, self-worship and self-delusion can find much comfort. 

 

Put a great thinker in a moment of emotional precariousness and then give him the pathway to escape and it will be his Creative Delusion, not his reason, which tells him that the pathway out is littered with equal obstacles. This is the true nature of Creative Delusion - it is never good, but when it feels good it helps people escape from inferiority complexes and insecurities; when it feels bad it hinders a man from genuine growth - both spiritual growth and cognitive growth. 

 

But its true fragility can be revealed with even a moderate amount of analysis. Just as a country with a weak economy will be cruelly exposed by any global economic downturn, those whose lives consist of supplanting rational enquiry for Creative Delusion end up revisiting places which they thought had been left behind. But that is, of course, the true fragile nature of any delusion; the moment that truth comes along and makes its own demands, delusion reveals itself to be empty and inefficient. And I think that if it were possible to visualise - if one could really absorb the whole totality of Creative Delusion into one’s soul (as a form of visual catharsis) it would cause a man to break into paroxysms of panic and despair - for it is, as I have said, one of the Devil’s most powerful tools - powerful not by its tangibility, but by its abstract inconspicuousness. 

 

I need not list countless examples of Creative Delusion. Everyone knows that a wasp on your shoulder, a phone call when you are half-asleep, a spontaneous conflict, etc, is enough to disturb and unbalance reason. Immediate changes in perception unhinges the best men as well as the worst; strong emotions unbalance the foundations of justice; strong passions and instinctive urges unbalance the foundations of monogamy, chastity, and fidelity; avarice unbalances the foundations of generosity; strong desire unbalances the foundations of bravery, fortitude and (in worst cases) morality. This is the nature of reason; it is unbalanced every time Creative Delusion is allowed to do its work. It disturbs the equilibrium in a quite shocking way; it knows that reason itself does, indeed, rely upon various types of creativity, all of which are perennially susceptible to the invading counter-attack of Creative Delusion; for sound enquiry tries to work for the betterment of outside realities, whereas Creative Delusion works for the good of the ego - it lives and breathes self-flattery. 

 

God wants us to be mindful of these two conflicting parts, and part of our need to put on the armour of God is to protect ourselves against the dangers; for all sensible men and women know that out of the two, Creative Delusion enjoys an extensive advantage, due to the strength in grip of self-flattery. 

 

It is well known in science that any contention which purports to explain everything, explains very little. But this type of all-inclusive explanation has percolated into the minds of many unbelievers; bravery often disguising itself in the shape of apathetic philosophy. It is philosophical in the sense that it makes suggestions that all the things which are presently going on in the mind are not in any way contradictory to the things that should be going on in the mind. But unlike successful philosophies - this apathy contained within acts as a sort of flushing manifold, whereby all the seemingly contrary suggestions are flushed away down the plughole of indifference. In other words, this all-inclusive philosophy acts not on prudence but on convenience - and any intrusive visions of new beginnings that seem unwelcome are flushed out down the manifold, gathering up water in the sea of denial. The allure of novelty has little chance of producing better methods of thought when up against tried and tested affirmations, however imprudent they may be. 

 

And if pride does not stand in the way too much, a man will be able to see himself as a deeply flawed being. It is true that whenever we speak of the flawed nature of man, we evoke a sense of pessimism upon which we universally frown. But this flawed nature, far from being a curse is in fact a blessing - we are able to experience the abounding grace of God in a way which flawless creatures could not. Our real life battles, between striving for good and striving for admiration, are engaged in dialectic deception, for very often the quest for goodness is hindered by a discursive journey, on which emotions and feelings are a substantial influence. The need to be admired deceives the pursuit of goodness, particularly in times when we think being admired is better than being good; and the need to be good sometimes creates illusory appearances; that is, our being good can cause self-admiration, which turns a good act into a principally bad one. 

 

But we should be quite wrong if we thought that there were no other consequences. We are so misguided that we attach ourselves to rudimentary inner-philosophies which produce deceptions strong enough to quarantine us from future rational enquiry. The exact present moment never has anything to say to us; the past is recollected for the purposes of reinforcement, and the distant future is discounted except in moments when the human mind finds insoluble those things which ordinarily guide the present. We encroach upon thoughts that do not yet belong to us; that is, we treat the mystery of the future as an already established panacea; it is one of man’s biggest logical fallacies. It is a bit like wishing a tumour will go away by trying to forget about it. 

 

Furthermore, when this abstraction is not going on - when clarity is at the forefront of our thoughts, we spoil it with moments of pride and vanity, looking forward to some imaginary future self; seeing glory and success as an already established certainty. We somehow feel that time will, by itself, deliver a natural trajectory, cleansing out our soul in the process. This, I think, is the part of our past from which we have had the most trouble escaping, for there was a time when our parents brought us up in childhood, when we had an external guidance capable of correcting our mistakes - making sure that when we went wrong, someone more informed and more grown up than us was able to put us back on track. 

 

But now, as we are older, we are faced with a bigger issue. One moment’s analysis of the present reveals to us its true nature - disguised amongst the fleeting glances back to the past and forward to the future, is the present. Its true nature being one of many shocking revelations - the most significant being the revelation of our real vulnerability; a vulnerability so strong that we let slip away all those precious moments of lucidity in the hope that all those whispers of new beginnings will slip away with them. 

 

The present is the only point in time that reveals to us our true character, the true dependency of our make-up - in fact, if we go deeper, our real dependency on God Himself. Only in the present do we know how much we need salvation - for the past whispers false rumours that we are quite commendable - that the moment it was rumoured that we were unreasonable, was, in fact, an error of perception on the part of others. And the future whispers false rumours that we are soon to be better, after all, we are still learning our trade; we are still becoming better people but it is going to take time. 

 

Both these impressions are wrong. We are, through our failure to see that which is in front of us, always looking back or looking ahead - we are creating falsity by making our present a discursive mix of what has been and what is to come. It is manifested in all sorts of desires and regrets, proud and hopeful moments - it always perseveres; it is relentless in this pursuit of indistinguishable satisfactions. Those in this situation never really live at all, they are merely anticipating living or thinking about having lived. It is the type of living which brings about the most latent dissatisfaction, for all the time the horizon is in view, but never ever reached. 

 

We think when trying to understand the self that it is listening to a song we already know; that is, we think we are quite familiar with the melody. But the truest and most beneficial approach to self-understanding is to realise that it is a longer and more complex melody than we can at any one time in the present moment understand. We should be prepared for some strange chords, some surprising interludes, and some discordant syncopations. Those who only know ordinary music will never understand the real needs of the self. 

 

Of course, misunderstanding oneself causes one to misunderstand others - and nowhere have I seen a finer example of this than in Local Government. Throughout various departments, each has a master of the domain (it is not always based upon rank - but tacit understandings and concessions). Very often masters clash with other masters, but their true goals are so often tainted by a blatant misunderstanding regarding the needs of both the counterpart and the self. This is when fractious relationships are bound to go on and on, for the needs of the self are so often caught up in a web of misunderstanding. We are in no great position if we covet for ourselves those things which remain exclusive to others. You cannot make a saxophone sound exactly like a piano, no matter how close the style of music. 

 

In the second place, the present reveals to us our real situation because it is the only moment in time from which we cannot escape. Our true discontentedness is revealed to us in every analysis of all the diversionary events in which we partake, for the purposes of escapism. Only when we know ourselves do we see the need for these escapisms. Knowledge of this does not always bring about spiritual growth, but it does reveal to us the real superficiality of covetousness and the true vanity of indulgence. The search for assurance will only lead a man to wisdom if he is prepared to fight against his own preoccupation with the first and second impressions of the self on others. Very often it seems that those whose lives are simple and routine show the least signs of discontent - but this can be very misleading. It is a contentment based upon a bigger delusion than that of passionate covetousness; for those who are stuck in this vacuum scarcely realise what is going on outside. 

 

These are the ones that we should worry about the most. If they do not know about the outside, they cannot even doubt properly, for their situation is all that they know; the rumours of new beginnings are so distant that they do not seem worth worrying about. Nothing startles them, nothing excites them passionately, and psychologically it is very evident that to adopt this position is to build a fort around your emotions; that is, it is a sure way to keep oneself quite minimalistically satisfied. It is what one might call a ‘suspension of examination’ - if you look for nothing you will find nothing, neither intrusively bad things nor intrusively good things. But it is, as we have said, the biggest state of denial, for all the time there will be hints of new beginnings; hints of better philosophies; even bigger hints of more passionate feelings of happiness and enthusiasm; this denial can only be sustained for so long. 

 

And of course, how disquieting it is to relinquish methodologies to which we have become attached. But a man has only to experience just a little bit of the divine, and he will, for a brief moment, be sorry to go back to his stoical existence. Of course, the strong pulling power of the comfort zone very often out muscles the fleeting glimpse of the divine - and that is why it will not come to us if we recline and dwell on these things. We are going to have to push ourselves forward; God wants every bit of us, not just our ephemeral curiosities. 

 

To face up to Creative Delusion is to face up to one of man’s significant obstacles on his journey, for no one can deny its ego-stroking pleasures while they last. But they are, of course, like the other Devilish things, only fleeting pleasures. Once we can begin to flee from the Devil’s plans, we shall see Creative Delusion for what it really is, just as a drug addict who is able to kick the habit knows how blessed he is after escaping the hold that the addiction had on him. I think the most important thing we can realise about Creative Delusion is this. The more familiar it becomes to us the more we are beginning to move away from it; the less we see it operating, the less we realise the grip that it still has on us.

 

More next week.

Click here to read the first part of this series: Visions of New Beginnings