Recognizing Self-Deception and Blind Spots

Sor Juana's writings reveal deep awareness that corruption is not only external—systems and others—but internal: the ways individuals deceive themselves about their own motives, justifications, and complicity. She explored how educated people rationalize injustice, how power blinds its holders, and how convenience silences conscience. This inward focus is crucial for anticorruption work: individuals and institutions must develop the habit of questioning their own narratives. Why do we accept certain inequities? What truths do we refuse to see? Sor Juana's method of rigorous self-examination—evident in her poems and philosophical writings—provides a psychological framework for recognizing where we might be corrupted or complicit. Fighting corruption requires not just external oversight, but internal vigilance against the stories we tell ourselves that justify wrongdoing.