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Self-Forgetfulness

Not only what we say but how we say it reveals a great deal about us, sometimes rather more than we would like. Benedict wanted his followers to speak rarely, always truthfully, courteously and kindly, with the humility that comes from knowing every gift we possess is given us by God. He was particularly severe on any form of deception, warning us to "keep our tongue from evil and our lips from deceitful speech", and a few lines later to "speak truth from the heart and not practise deceit". Today's section of the Prologue cautions us against the most dangerous deception of all, when we start lying to ourselves. Pride takes many forms: at the root of all is an obsession with self. We may think ourselves better (or worse) than others; we may feel that knowing X or Y confers a grandeur on us; we may be in thrall to our own giftedness (or apparent lack thereof). As the old parody of the psalm put it, "My eyes are always on myself; my feet are always in the snare." If we want to know whether we are infected with any pride of this sort, all we need do is listen to ourselves talking.