Self-Deception: We Are Unknown to Ourselves

“Every profound spirit needs a mask: even more, around every profound spirit a mask is continuously growing, owing to the constantly false, that is to say, shallow interpretation of every word, every step, every sign of life he gives.” - Friedrich Nietzsche

“The most terrifying thing is to accept oneself completely.” - Carl Jung

“Lying to ourselves is more deeply ingrained than lying to others.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky

Nietzsche's argument that people are strangers to themselves startled his readers. Although we live with the delusion of self-awareness, consciousness is only the most exterior layer, an edited highlight reel of deeper motivations that we hardly ever acknowledge. We are ruled by unconscious forces beneath this thin exterior. We tell complex lies, most of them unintentional, to preserve the shaky self-image we maintain. Nietzsche recognized that these lies are ingrained in our way of life and leadership, not the exception.

Rationalization, the capacity to rationalize illogical or self-serving decisions, is one of the most prevalent mechanisms. Leaders are very good at this. Think about Vladimir Putin defending the war in Ukraine as a noble military operation to preserve Russian sovereignty and culture. It is presented to his people as defence rather than conquest. By presenting a power grab as a necessity, the justification persuades his people and, perhaps more significantly, himself that the action is morally correct.

Similarly, American presidents, such as Biden and Trump funding and supporting Israeli mass killing, over 70,000 mainly women and children in Gaza or Bush in Iraq, well over a million deaths, mainly women and children frequently portray military aggression as humanitarian rescue efforts. By casting bloodshed under a fake moral obligation, the words calm the conscience and reduce dissent.

Next is projection, which is the skill of projecting one's own shortcomings onto the adversary. Donald Trump frequently reflects the same criticisms directed at him in his persistent charges of "corruption" and "dishonesty" against his rivals. This defensive mechanism, which involves projecting one's own shadow onto others to make them look cleaner in the mirror, is not an accident. Benjamin Netanyahu also uses the term "terror" to describe and dehumanize all Palestinians while committing acts of state violence and genocide on a scale that is comparable to what he denounces. By highlighting the sins of others, projection renders one's own transgressions invisible.

Lastly, there is noble self-deception, which refers to the positive narratives leaders tell themselves about their personalities. Despite the fact that drone strikes in the Middle East have turned schools and hospitals into funerals, Barack Obama, Biden and Trump continue to speak of American foreign policy as a force for democracy.

While leading a nation/Canada still plagued by unclean water advisories on First Nations reserves, former PM Justin Trudeau presents himself as an advocate for Indigenous reconciliation. He was asked by multiple indigenous leaders if he would drink the water on some of those reserves and of course he did not. These stories are realistic farces rather than outright lies that enable leaders to uphold their reputations of virtue while carrying out harmful policies.

Nietzsche’s vocabulary usage with terms like confirmation bias and attribution error are his insight was more ruthless: self-deception is not a bug in human psychology, it is a survival mechanism.

Most people resist self-knowledge because to see themselves clearly would unravel their carefully constructed identities. Leaders are the most prone to these delusions because power requires a steady, unshakable belief in one’s mission. Donald Trump is a master at deceiving himself. The real task, Nietzsche said, is not to abolish self-deception, that is impossible, but to pierce through our most destructive illusions, the ones that distort reality until we can no longer act effectively. This demands a level of intellectual honesty few political leaders possess, where the art of deceiving others begins with the art of deceiving oneself.