Looking Good or Doing Good?

In his book, The People of the Lie, author M. Scott Peck writes, “Those utterly dedicated to preserving their self-image of perfection are unceasingly engaged in the effort to maintain the appearance of moral purity. They worry about this a great deal. They are acutely sensitive to social norms and what others might think of them. They dress well, go to work on time, pay their taxes, and outwardly seem to live lives above reproach. These words ‘image,’ ‘appearance,’ and ‘outwardly’ are crucial to understanding the morality of evil. While they seem to lack motivation to be good, they intensely desire to appear good. Their goodness is all on a level of pretense. It is, in effect, a lie. That is why they are the ‘people of the lie.’ The lie is designed not so much to deceive others as to deceive themselves. They cannot or will not tolerate the pain of self-reproach.” -1

 Several years ago, in an interview, a well-known member…