A
delusion is an erroneous judgment regarding the condition of affairs,
the end to be attained, the motives to be followed, or the means to be
employed in practical life. Faith teaches that the human mind has been
darkened by original sin. Unless a person be very humble and
circumspect, therefore, his perceptions will easily be blurred, his
judgments erroneous, and the dictates of his reason reprehensible.
In
consequence of delusions individuals mistake in themselves (1) the
desire of virtue for virtue itself, (2) confuse passion with virtue, (3)
and invariably overestimate their own ability and productions while
underrating the ability and deeds of others. In consequence of this same
delusion man often (1) neglects to give God His due (2) and even
disregards the proximate occasion of sin, as though he were already
confirmed in virtue.
Two
causes combine to give permanence to in the human mind. The first is
mental pride, which is apt to dispense with salutary reflection on the
tendency of human nature and on the operation of grace, and, by
mistaking imagination for divine inspiration, cause ''fools to rush in
where angels fear to tread." The second cause of delusions is an
unbridled self-love. This may blind a person to that extreme that he
cannot see '' the beam in his own eye, though he sees the mote in his
neighbor's eye" (Matt, vii. 3).
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