As a conscientious sometimes-narcissist, I feel it is my duty to set the rest of society straight on the topic of narcissism.
For those who favor fact over opinion, it might interest you to know that narcissism is a purely social pathology - and absolutely no *causal* factors whatsoever are contributed from either genetics or any other objective characteristic. In fact, narcissistic personalities are inevitable products of badly-constructed and/or -managed societies. Given that human civilization in its present form cares little for exerting meaningful control over any social fundaments, the existence of narcissistic personalities in any society is just as predictable and unavoidable as homosexuality, belief in god or any other fundamentally-irrational yet widely tolerated behavior.
Narcissists derive from a range of particularly environmentally-sensitive psychological sub-type of the "high intelligence" parent archetype from which they also inherit significantly elevated analytical and observational talent and skill levels relative to the median person. It is the extent of this somewhat rare ability to "see through" social machinations juxtaposed with their specific environmental precipitates that allows them to intuitively—and generally unconsciously—reflect the sum total and scope of insecurities projected onto them by other social elements. The logical culmination of these behavioral mathematics are highly versatile control patterns which are typically opaque to the average member of society - i.e. "narcissism."
In a sentence, narcissism is a highly functional externally-focused coping mechanism precipitated by the less successful internally-focused coping mechanism(s) of the average moron. The only *rational* way to "deal with" narcissists is to teach yourself to recognize those failings of your own that attract you to them - because they ARE failings. Your insecurities are the catalyst that narcissistic personalities require for their behavioral chemistry. No person gets disadvantaged by entanglements with a narcissist except as the result of one or more of said person's own unresolved personality flaws. Because the incidence of narcissistic personalities will always correlate directly to the prior incidence of dysfunctional insecurities, the only practical way to "cure" narcissism would be to eliminate society entirely - and that solution would likely be considered too inconvenient by the prevailing social supermajority—average morons—for them to seriously consider implementing it.
As an alternative to either global annihilation or the universal elimination of stupidity and willful ignorance in every imaginable form, you can simply cultivate broader and more useful intelligence; if you do, damaging narcissists will disappear from your life forever - alongside a few of your own horrific personality flaws of equal or greater social significance.
For those who favor fact over opinion, it might interest you to know that narcissism is a purely social pathology - and absolutely no *causal* factors whatsoever are contributed from either genetics or any other objective characteristic. In fact, narcissistic personalities are inevitable products of badly-constructed and/or -managed societies. Given that human civilization in its present form cares little for exerting meaningful control over any social fundaments, the existence of narcissistic personalities in any society is just as predictable and unavoidable as homosexuality, belief in god or any other fundamentally-irrational yet widely tolerated behavior.
Narcissists derive from a range of particularly environmentally-sensitive psychological sub-type of the "high intelligence" parent archetype from which they also inherit significantly elevated analytical and observational talent and skill levels relative to the median person. It is the extent of this somewhat rare ability to "see through" social machinations juxtaposed with their specific environmental precipitates that allows them to intuitively—and generally unconsciously—reflect the sum total and scope of insecurities projected onto them by other social elements. The logical culmination of these behavioral mathematics are highly versatile control patterns which are typically opaque to the average member of society - i.e. "narcissism."
In a sentence, narcissism is a highly functional externally-focused coping mechanism precipitated by the less successful internally-focused coping mechanism(s) of the average moron. The only *rational* way to "deal with" narcissists is to teach yourself to recognize those failings of your own that attract you to them - because they ARE failings. Your insecurities are the catalyst that narcissistic personalities require for their behavioral chemistry. No person gets disadvantaged by entanglements with a narcissist except as the result of one or more of said person's own unresolved personality flaws. Because the incidence of narcissistic personalities will always correlate directly to the prior incidence of dysfunctional insecurities, the only practical way to "cure" narcissism would be to eliminate society entirely - and that solution would likely be considered too inconvenient by the prevailing social supermajority—average morons—for them to seriously consider implementing it.
As an alternative to either global annihilation or the universal elimination of stupidity and willful ignorance in every imaginable form, you can simply cultivate broader and more useful intelligence; if you do, damaging narcissists will disappear from your life forever - alongside a few of your own horrific personality flaws of equal or greater social significance.
You make some good points and interesting observations. I think narcissists have a fixed mindset as opposed to a growth mindset. Narcissists conceal mistakes or deficiencies instead of embracing mistakes and confronting their deficientcies. A fixed mindset provides no recipe for recovering from failures. They give up, they exibit a defensive attitude, try to feel superior to others, retreat to a comfort zone, and/or blame others. A person with a growth mind set will allow themselves to admit failure and will want to learn and grow. Just my 2 cents. I like your blog.
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