Saturday, April 15, 2006

By the way... it's all about me.

Which ought to be obvious without having to read the whole six months' worth of posts.

Narcissistic? I dunno. Narcissus was stunningly beautiful, according to myth. He fell in love with himself (or, more correctly, became infatuated with himself) when he saw his reflection in a stream, and is still sitting there today.

Someone I read recently -- but I forget who -- suggested that narcissism is the opposite of egolessness, about which I've written previously here and here.

But again, going back to the source, narcissism suggests vanity and self-adoration. It's possible to be overwhelmed with self-doubt, self-criticism and self-loathing, none of which are like narcissism.

So it seems to me that while I may have a big self-involved ass, I am not a narcissistic chump.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Allegedly, when a true narcsissist has sex he or she can only make love to himself or herself. That's the benchmark - the ultimate self-absorption. Being withdrawn (or being up in the middle of the night searching for meaning and purpose!!) or having a focus on mortality are not characteristics of a narcissist. People usually fling that word at someone when they are trying to control them, i.e. look at ME and quit trying to figure out your own stuff.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, but excessive self involvement can drive away people you want to form relationships with, whether that self involvement technically is narcissism or not.