What has been left out of the reckoning in this pre-conversion self-assessment and why do we reach this conclusion? We do not sufficiently ask why we do what we do. We are ready to trace back to our motive for acting a little way, but then we stop too soon. ‘I did this act of kindness to help this person.’ Yes, but why did you do it? The truth is that I did it to be seen, because what I really wanted was the commendation of others, the praise of men. I wanted to convince others that I am a good person, when I know that is not true. I wanted to be admired as a kind and generous person. I had my eyes firmly fixed on myself, and in acting that way, I failed to lose sight of self, and fix entirely on the good of the one I was helping. Or I was asked to explain what I did, and I spoke of all those things that were to my credit, and quietly left out all the things which I knew would tarnish my reputation. I adjusted my account so as to draw attention to my own part, and played down the part of others who actually deserved more credit than I. Even the simplest of us have skills in the area of self-justification which come close to genius, and we need little training in these skills: we learn this for ourselves.