At the beginning and end of each episode of Criminal Minds, one of the characters says a quote. I picked out a few here and there that I liked. This is the first one in what will hopefully be a series as the inspiration strikes:
"No man is happy without a delusion of some kind. Delusions are as necessary to our happiness as realities." -Christian Nestell Bovee
I think this speaks to each of our inner story we have for ourselves. In our personal dialogue, we are always the hero. Regardless of what is actually happening in our lives, we find a way to spin things to our favor. There are those of us who are self-deprecating. We talk ourselves down as an unconscious way to get others to talk us up. While we may still not feel like we are completely up to snuff, we temporarily feel like heroes for having other that see us so positively. Then there are those who are certain that they can do nothing wrong. Clearly it's someone else fault when things go badly. We did not fail, someone else did. Or those who believe that they are acting in the name of a higher being. That they are in the right, no matter what, because they are acting in the name of their god. Does it matter that they have to step on others? Not if their calling is to be the best at other's expense.
What is fascinating is where the lines are drawn between rational and irrational delusions. The space where someone's delusions become pathological and require treatment or therapy. We all have our delusions, but some are held more tightly than others. When do we need to let go, and when do we need to be committed for them? It's a very fine line. It takes all to build a society. We are all going to create a story in our minds that has us as the hero, sometimes outside of reality, but as long as we can recognize the difference, we are okay. Right?
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