"If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion."
— Aldous Huxley
If Most Of Us Remain Ignorant
If most of us remain ignorant of ourselves, it is because self-knowledge is painful and we prefer the pleasures of illusion.
About this quote
This passage comes from The Perennial Philosophy (1945), Huxley's comparative study of mystical traditions across world religions. He argued that self-knowledge was the precondition for genuine understanding, yet also its greatest obstacle: the ego resists scrutiny because what it finds is uncomfortable. Huxley drew on Hindu Vedanta, Christian mysticism, and Sufi thought to develop this analysis of human self-deception.
Source
The Perennial Philosophy, 1945