“That is to say, I do not succeed in keeping the Law of Nature very well, and the moment any tells me I am not keeping it, there starts up in my mind a string of excuses as long as your arm. The question at the moment is not whether they are good excuses. The point is that they are one more proof of how deeply, whether we like it or not, we believe in the Law of Nature. If we do not believe in decent behaviour, why should we be so anxious to make excuses for not having behaved decently? The truth is, we believe in decency so much—we feel the Rule of Law pressing on us so—that we cannot bear to face the fact that we are breaking it, and consequently we try to shift the responsibility.” -C.S. Lewis
It is a basic fact of human nature that we all want to see ourselves as basically good people. Even if others cannot see us as good, we need to see ourselves as good. From this are excuses and poor moral reasoning borne. This does not make us good, it simply convinces us that we are good. And if we cannot convince ourselves that we are good—because we see ourselves too clearly or because we condemn ourselves too much—then we become depressed and sometimes suicidal. Guilt is a serious human motivator. And this can only be true if there is moral reasoning that is natural within us.
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