That most contemptible of all human beings, a social bully, usually does nothing, when matters come to a crisis. Even when he fights, he fights bunglingly, and innocently.  Threating situations are often accompanied by unpleasant emotions called anxiety. A person who is anxious feels tense, uneasy, apprehensive, worried, and vulnerable. This can lead to the emotion-focused coping that is defensive in nature. Since anxiety is unpleasant and uncomfortable, we are usually motivated to avoid it. Psychological defense mechanisms allow us to reduce anxiety caused by stressful situations or our shortcomings. What are defense mechanisms, and how do they reduce anxiety? You can always recognize who has been through the fires of sorrow and received himself, and you know that you can go to him in your moment of trouble and find that he has plenty of time for you. However, if a person has not been through the fires of sorrow, he is apt to be contemptuous, having no respect or time for you, only turning you away. If you receive yourself in the fires of sorrow, God will make you nourishment for other people. Sometimes, to make us fear, and, even, for a short space, to hate, is productive of the contrary extreme. A defense mechanism is any process used to avoid, deny, or distort sources of threat or anxiety. Defense mechanisms also help protect an idealized self-image so that we can comfortably live with ourselves.

 Often, defense mechanisms create large blind spots in awareness. For instance, I know an extremely stingy person, who is completely unaware that he is a tightwad. Everyone has at one time or another used defense mechanisms. Day after day, and almost every day, one meets censure which is felt to be unjust;–but the general result of all this injustice is increased efficiency. Nothing fatigues the body so much as weariness of spirit. This is your hour, and the power of darkness. Not being reconciled to the fact of sin—not recognizing it and refusing to deal with it—produces all the disasters in life. In your human relationships and friend ships, have you reconciled yourself to the fact of sin? If not, just around the next corner you will find yourself trapped and you will compromise with it. However, if you reconcile yourself to the fact of sin, you will realize the danger immediately. The inexorable law of human souls, that we prepare ourselves for sudden deeds by the reiterated choice of good and evil, which will gradually determine character. One of the most basic defenses is denial (protecting oneself from an unpleasant reality by refusing to accept it or believe it). And as they followed, they were afraid. The discipline of dismay is an essential lesion that a disciple must learn. The danger is that we tend to look back on our times of obedience and on our past sacrifices to God in an effort to keep our enthusiasm for Him strong. 

However, when the darkness of dismay comes, endure until it is over, because out of it will come the ability to follow Jesus truly, which brings inexpressibly wonderful joy. Fire maketh the gold shine and the straw to smother. We differ from ourselves, just as we differ from each other. Sometimes patients have tremendous difficulty recalling shocking or traumatic events from childhood or adulthood. It seems that powerful forces were holding these painful memories from awareness. This is known as repressions. Some people protect themselves by repressing threatening thoughts and impulses. Feelings of hostility toward a family member, the names of the people we dislike, and past failures are common targets of repression. This tremendous conflict of opening manhood, which is our life here what, is the landing of a soul to the life to come. All mankind is to be plagued by its contrary. Everybody liked better to conjecture how the thing was, than simply to know it; for conjecture soon became more confident then knowledge, and had a more liberal allowance for the incompatible. He who gets wisdom loves his own soul; he who cherishes understanding prospers. A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who pours out lies will perish.