You're making a good point while still, I think, missing mine. You, the author, I probably all tell ourselves and others things that we "know" that we mostly hope for. "I know I'm going to lose ten pounds before Christmas." Do you really "know"? Do you have a time machine? And maybe one friend expressed support, so, "...and other people agree with me!" Well, you're implying more than one person, probably without feeling bad about it unless someone challenges you. "How many people? What are their names?" Oops. Now, we're in trouble.

My point is the irony of feeling bad and learning a lesson about being completely honest when caught by a master famed for "reality distortion". Reality distortion is almost literally truth stretching. No doubt the master of doing it was a master at detecting it, but that didn't mean he was deeply committed to the truth himself. He was deeply committed to and famously skilled at manipulating but not being manipulated, which is not at all the same thing.