The Mirror

What It Actually Is

This thought doesn't stop you being good; it follows you around afterwards asking who noticed. It is the second draft of the story where you sound modest, the photo chosen for the person it implies you are, the small performance inside a genuine act. Evagrius thought it was the subtlest of the eight precisely because it attaches to your best behaviour rather than your worst.

How You'd Recognise It

• — You check how the post is doing more than once in the first hour
• — You rehearse the anecdote, including the part where you downplay it
• — You tell someone about the good thing you did and then feel slightly worse
• — You've chosen the harder option partly because of who would hear about it

Set Against It

Every thought has a virtue that answers it rather than fights it. For this one, that is Hiddenness.