The matter of people saying things to themselves and about themselves,
which to outside observers are clearly untrue, has longed troubled man,
as far back parabolically as within seconds after man had his first thoughts;
when God (thought) asked Adam (the area of the brain which is conscious of thoughts) a question loaded with potential negative consequences,
and Adam-the-man gave a patently disingenuous reply.

No one/no aspect in the psychological metaphor believed what Adam said;
all clearly understood it to not be, and he had to be so aware before he said it --  and yet --  in spite of the prevailing circumstances --   realized in advance by all involved  --  man went ahead and told a clear lie
which seemed as much directed at himself as anyone else,
which, from a fuller understanding of the story’s radical reflection,
was actually only to himself
inasmuch as the entire episode/conversation occurred inside of one man’s thoughts.
 

So the matter of man lying to himself has a history as ancient as man’s history
(with appropriately similar tales appearing in every other culture
contemporaneously and prior to the one of Adam),
and is with us still today within the more scientific bastion of the psychological arts, and in the support of any who lay claim to being learned and sophisticated;
any ordinary person on this planet will unhesitatingly agree to the assertion that:
men lie to themselves, (and acquiescers will not exempt themselves there from,
nor show any significant sign of embarrassment there about).
Simply and accurately put:
Normal human beings of every stripe & persuasion will instantly agree that men, including them  --   lie to themselves;
not just to others for gain --  but to themselves  --  and often when gain is unclear.
 

A person may deny they are gaining weight and explain the tight fit of their clothing
by accusing manufacturers of using less material in making their size,
which everyone around them knows is not the case,
and the person their self, living physically with and in their body
must likewise clearly realize  --  “ in their heart-of-hearts”  is not so.
So,  the lies fool no one, and must be in some curious manner, directed at themselves;
the person is plainly lying about their weight and appears to believe the lie --
even if no one else does.
What better example of this phenom could there be?
(although human life contains as many such as you are willing to count) --
--  but ah! -- the plot gets soupier and the fog lumpier:

     Men do not lie to themselves  --   thoughts lie to men.
 
 

No person’s body looks down at its obviously expanding middle
and increased avoirdupois,
makes unavoidable note thereof,
then after doing so decides to say to itself that it is not true;
this would no more occur than it would the body to realize a virus had infected it,
but decide to deny it and thus take no action to repel it.
Momentarily, for expediency of example, again dividing man artificially into:
body and thought, consider:
the body has no interest-in, and no capacity-for  --  lying to itself;
to do so would be suicidal.
So, regardless of its world wide acceptance,
it is not punctilious to say that men lie to themselves;
something is clearly going on here which has spawned this
commonly embraced truism  --  but the statement is not true,
and failure to push beyond this and all other such collectively accepted,
specious propositions posing as factual certainties
is an opportunity sad to be overlooked by the few longing for the return of
Adam’s orignal sight in
man’s present condition.
 

There is no question but that a normal, sane human being will
stand right in front of other equally rational ones,
and say something about himself which the others either know or can see is a lie,
and there is no doubt that a normal, sane human being can  --
alone and in the secrecy of his own head –
experience a thought that talks to him about him,
but in words which clearly do not match the palpable reality of him.

     Why would a man do such a thing? --  no, no, better yet: How can he do it?
                                               He CAN'T!  --   that’s how.
 
 
 

Take a fresh breath, look away from these words for a moment,
and willfully pursue in your own head the question:
“How could it be literally possible, inside the confines of my mind & thinking,
for me to tell me a lie?
There is nothing in there but the endlessly coming and going of the thoughts which magically appear, beyond my request or control,
so on what observable basis --   inside my own head  --
rests this notion which automatically strikes all men as valid,
that  I --  for some reason --  for any reason,
none of which under scrutiny are anything less than patently insane –
comes the idea that --  I lie to myself?!
Not only that I do it, but that it is possible for me to do it?
How have I so long believed this to be true,
when only a day or so of hard, relentless chasing after this varmint
will explode it back into the realm of fairy tales.”
 

For the few born with that special neural corner,
the potential to see through this commonly accepted sham
('course being commonly accepted renders it fact......amongst the commoners),
failure to go after it is a staggering opportunity missed.
 

You must stay on the chase ‘til you run the matter down;
at the outset it is a frustrating ride through valleys of mirrors;
you try to ponder (thoughts pretend to ponder):
“Do I tell lies about myself to myself?” and the thought asking the question,
pauses in apparent appropriate reflection  --  then answers: “I do not”
(any surprise here to you?),
and even if one here & there will admit that it may have at times engaged in
“self protective exaggeration”
it was understandable given the exigency of the moment,
but keep your eye on the quarry, and you will see that even such a
rare admission has no impact whatsoever on this situation;
thoughts being beamed to your brain, (including the one which confessed)
will continued unabated to make normally uncontested, dogmatic declarations of:
                        what kind of person you are,
                                      and what you truly think & believe,

which are simply --  reality observably --  not true;
they sound true,
to the part of your brain established to listen to the pronouncements
(which is Charlie McCarthy to Edgar Bergan;
the brain’s listening part is to its speakering part; its Siamese twin;
its own reflection, [or for those of you with a gargantuan potential:
it is the same thing as the speaker,

        (“Hey, how’d this other guy get in my room?” –
             “Don’t be silly! --  there can never be anyone here but you,
               and you continue to confuse yourself by believing that you even
               ask the question of anyone but yourself,
               or that anyone other than the same brain which asked the question
               is now giving this response.”)])
 
 

You and everyone else do appear to lie to yourselves --  but then again,
everyone else accepts the automatic flow of thoughts through their brain
which endlessly describe to them the kind of person they are,
as being an accurate portrayal..
 

Such people are normal --
if you understand what all of this is talking about --  you are not.
You have the potential to see beyond what six billion of your neighbors are forced by the thoughts which life runs through their brains to call “reality” –
if you are wired up to pursue it --  there’s really not a lot to it;
all you have to do is find a way around the standoff of trying to make thoughts
think about themselves long enough for them to realize what they are ---
and no feat known to man is more vexing --  and yet,
once you one day suddenly slip right past it,
you see that indeed: there was not really a lot to it............(like in: nothing).
 
 

                  Do not further confuse yourself by believing that you lie to yourself –
                                                       thoughts lie to you;
                 not understanding that is not understanding the basics of being human.