The Self-Deceived Mind Closes Against All Reformation

Proverbs 26:12 presents Solomon's devastating diagnosis: "Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? There is more hope of a fool than of him." The Scriptures overflow with denunciations against human self-sufficiency, and Solomon's writings particularly stigmatize the absurdity and guilt of a self-willed, self-sufficient spirit.

When a man believes himself wise in his own estimation, his capacity for reformation becomes nearly impossible. Even a fool possesses what the self-conceited man lacks: a tractable and docile temper—the essential prerequisite for improvement. Teachable mediocrity always carries fair hope of advancement; self-conceit necessarily extinguishes it.

This "guilty and miserable habit" locks away from those under its dominion the accumulated wisdom of other ages and the resources of other minds. To one convinced he knows better than all mankind, instruction appears not merely unwelcome but impertinent. The self-sufficient mind ceases all upward aspiration.

By the constitution of human faculties, intellectual and moral powers cannot remain stationary. We possess a constant tendency toward relapse and decay, requiring perpetual exertion to counter it. When self-conceit suspends all aspirations after higher attainment, the character becomes infallibly retrograde. The most dismal condition combines imbecility with arrogance—when the fool is wise in his own conceit. Self-will enters every human character from its earliest awakening; caution against its predominance proves useful from the earliest stages, for negligent culture permits excess to develop unchecked.