"Conscience: self-esteem with a halo"
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Irving Layton compresses a sly psychological thesis into seven words: much of what passes for moral conscience is self-regard dressed in sanctity. Self-esteem is the ego’s sense of worth; a halo is the emblem of saintliness. Fuse them and you get a portrait of an inner voice that flatters even as it corrects, policing behavior not solely out of love of the good but to preserve a flattering image of oneself as good. Conscience becomes a mirror that adds a soft glow.
The jab is not that morality is a sham, but that it is entangled with vanity. We feel righteous not only when we act well, but also when we repent well, when we declare principles, when we side with the virtuous. The glow of being on the right side so often sweetens the sting of guilt. Modern moral psychology echoes this: moral judgment frequently manages reputation, both in the eyes of others and in the tribunal we carry within. The halo is the self’s reward for aligning with the expected, the admired, the pure.
Layton, a Romanian-born Canadian poet known for his barbed aphorisms and impatience with sanctimony, delights in puncturing piety. He wrote against the bland respectability of mid-century culture, and this line prods at the sentimental cult of conscience that treats it as a disinterested angel on the shoulder. He suggests a more human, and thus more compromised, mechanism: the will to think well of oneself seeking spiritual ornamentation.
There is also a warning against moral grandstanding and the narcotic of righteousness. When conscience is merely self-esteem with a halo, moral talk becomes a cosmetic, and ethical life drifts toward performance. The remedy is not to discard conscience but to strip off the halo. If the glow dims, what remains is harder: accountability without self-congratulation, solidarity without preening, a goodness sturdy enough to stand without a shine.
The jab is not that morality is a sham, but that it is entangled with vanity. We feel righteous not only when we act well, but also when we repent well, when we declare principles, when we side with the virtuous. The glow of being on the right side so often sweetens the sting of guilt. Modern moral psychology echoes this: moral judgment frequently manages reputation, both in the eyes of others and in the tribunal we carry within. The halo is the self’s reward for aligning with the expected, the admired, the pure.
Layton, a Romanian-born Canadian poet known for his barbed aphorisms and impatience with sanctimony, delights in puncturing piety. He wrote against the bland respectability of mid-century culture, and this line prods at the sentimental cult of conscience that treats it as a disinterested angel on the shoulder. He suggests a more human, and thus more compromised, mechanism: the will to think well of oneself seeking spiritual ornamentation.
There is also a warning against moral grandstanding and the narcotic of righteousness. When conscience is merely self-esteem with a halo, moral talk becomes a cosmetic, and ethical life drifts toward performance. The remedy is not to discard conscience but to strip off the halo. If the glow dims, what remains is harder: accountability without self-congratulation, solidarity without preening, a goodness sturdy enough to stand without a shine.
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| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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