The Greater The Sin, The More The Ego Will Defend It

There's an interesting blog post by Laurence Vance over at Lewrockwell.com today about the recent death of the last crew member of the Enola Gay. Since nobody remembers history anymore, the Enola Gay was the bomber that nuked Hiroshima toward the end of World War II, an action that many have condemned as 1) unnecessary because the Japanese were already willing to surrender; and 2) Hiroshima was not a military target, but rather full of civilian men, women, and children. In his post, Vance ruefully observes that the crew members were unrepentant the remainder of their lives for what they had done, even though they seemed to grasp the horrific nature of it.

Yet this comes as no surprise to me. No less an authority on evil than Adolf Hitler once remarked, "The greater the lie, the more people will believe it." It sounds paradoxical but makes perfect sense. A little lie is easy to own and carries few consequences. A great lie, however, threatens the foundations of society and people's entire belief systems if exposed. The truth becomes too terrifying to contemplate, which goes a long way toward understanding why humanity attacks (or crucifies) truth-tellers while adoring habitual liars.

My corollary to the lying paradox is this: the greater the sin, the more the ego will defend it. A minor peccadillo can be confessed and overcome with relative ease. With greater sins such as betrayal or murder, however, the ego desperately clasps them to its chest and refuses to admit wrongdoing, since such an admission would cripple the person's self-image. It doesn't matter if the person is caught red-handed or even recorded on camera in a despicable deed; he will deny having done anything wrong, or argue that his transgression was necessary for the greater good.

There are only two exceptions I can think of. First, if the person has strong character and a healthy sense of sin (rare). Second, if the person confronts consequences even worse than confessing, such as a prison sentence or a near-death experience (more common).