But maybe they were just trying some self-delusion on for size, before wrapping themselves in it fully.
Taking a picture feels like signing up to some mad collective self-delusion that we are all artists with an eye for beauty, when the tragicomic truth is that the sheer plenitude and repetition of modern amateur photography makes beauty glib.
Is it because he thinks that he can't get their approval (which should cause him to ask why), because he thinks it's just a lot of trouble (so are a lot of things worth doing, not to mention ones the law requires of us), or because he's caught in some web of self-delusion — since he's not the sort of President, or person, who gets involved with wars, this can't be one?
Our narratives, like those of all human beings, are subject to fragmentation, and, yes, we are all subject to some degree of self-delusion.
Some lie out of self-delusion.
"It's like some sort of weird self-delusion that people are only going to look at them, and not pay attention to the trash on the floor behind them," Mr. Jorgensen said.
For some observers, it showed irresponsibility, self-delusion, an inability to face up to the grimmer sides of life.
The frustration and sense of helplessness is reflected in the self-delusion among some that the United Nations will invade and overthrow the regime.
There has to be some idiocy in idealism, as well as self-delusion.
Some empires, like the British, fall in total self-delusion.
Achieving that remarkable level of self-delusion would not be possible without some tiny basis in fact.
