…each of us has three selves. First the public self which functions while we are in the presence of others, as on a stage. We’re always trying to make a good impression, wondering what others are thinking of us and how we are impressing them. We are putting on a show. But a time comes when we leave the stage and slam the dressing room door behind us. We find ourselves alone. Then our private self takes over. We do things we would never do if others were looking at us: checking the waistline from the side, trying to get a look at the bald spot, making faces in the mirror, checking the cavities in our teeth. There’s no need here in private to put on a show or be on display.
But besides these, each of us has a third self, our inner self. That’s the one we don’t want to face up to. That’s where, if it happens, we take a good hard look at what we really are before God and why. Generally, we abhor confronting this self…
Read this article, written by Rev. Philip E. Dion, C.M., in its entirety over at CatholicCulture.org: Killing a Conscience in Seven Steps | Catholic Culture.
An Archived Wanderer 