The Mentality And Personality Of The Narcissist
Megalomania
What is the predominant feature or what characterizes the NPD? It is undoubtedly the grandiosity or overestimation of the self or “Self-love” as it is commonly called. The narcissist has an exaggerated sense of the self.His behavior is ego –centric.He is always absorbed in his ego or self.This self absorption makes his mentality diseased and perverted too.He becomes the victim of alienation.The more he absorbs in fancy of the self the more alienated he becomes.
His twisted ego knows how to install the feelings of inferiority in his preys to paralyze and kill them.He makes the victim realize that he is “chosen”.He did a lot of favor by selecting and choosing him/ her as his friend or companion from among multitude of people. He has peculiar ways to debase and dehumanize his victims.The perverse urge and craving in narcissist is not for inflicting pain or injury but for defloration of beauty and innocence of the victim and life.It is the perverted ego, aberrated eccentric mentality and perverted urges that prompt the narcissist to acts of violence/ aggression and defloration.
Secrecy and concealment
One of the predominant features of narcissistic mentality is to make show of ego, to advertise ego, to exhibit ego, to exaggerate ego and inborn tendency to make secret of everything.Hiding and concealment is the essence of the narcissist mentality.Why this process of hiding and concealment? The simple answer is to cover up “ugliness and dirtiness” within.The narcissist’s mentality will use all types of cunningness, slyness, deceitfulness and guile ness to cover up all traces and cookies of his degenerate behavior and unhealthy appetites, his lust and capriciousness for many things at a time.He is dishonest and deceitful and thinks others to be of the same mentality.He is destitute of all love, compassion and affection for others and believes that people are out to get him, he is suspicious of everyone friends, colleagues, partners and co-workers.He goes on changing everything due to his capricious state of mind.He has no rest and no faith in anything.
Narcissism is perversion
Perversion is the term that largely accounts for the narcissist’s degenerate behavior.He has perverted mentality to the extent that he thinks his fellow beings as mere objects or sex objects.His mentality is degenerate.In this devolutionary process his senses, his psyche, his ways of thinking, his behavior, his urges, his cravings are deviated, aberrated and above all perverted.The natural ingredients of evolution of human life and individual such as, libido, sympathy, connectedness, interrelatedness, pity, compassion, sacrifice, love are firstly perverted than diverted and ultimately converted to jealousy, enviousness, avarice, suspiciousness, haughtiness, naughtiness, lasciviousness, vanity stubbornness etc.Egocentricity may yield to eccentricity in the long run.
The eternal yearning for second self is converted to yearning for own ego/ self or image.This archetypal pattern of thought of human nature is beautifully portrayed in the Greek myth of Narcissus.Narcissus was handsome youth who died seeing his own reflection in a pool of clean water.He was obsessed with his own image.It is perversion of eternal natural “love process” of unification, united ness and connectedness in which two male and female principles are passionately involved in love making.Both male and female seek eternal blending or union in this process.This process is dissolution of ego and Narcissism is exactly the opposite, “solidification” or “materialization” of ego.This process of condensation and solidification of ego occurs in the psyche of the narcissist person.In this process by forgetting his creator, the God, he thinks himself to be the God of universe and cynosure of universe.
Narcissism the hydra headed snake
We see the replica of this perverted mental process in mythology in the character of Rawana, the villain of the great Hindu epic Ramayana.It is believed that he has ten thousand heads instead of one.Here head is the mythological archetypal symbol of his exaggerated ego, and self love. The other offshoots or attributes of the narcissist’s personality are extensions/ projections of his egocentricity and signify various aspects of the narcissist personality disorder.
Egocentricity and fragility
The egocentricity is the stem of the ego –tree and other attributes are its branches only.This stem of egocentricity has many rings of epidermis or masks that determine the age of the ego tree. The girth of these rings is the actual girth of the ego of the personality.In the formation of these rings his own inner self that is very fragile and frail is hidden or covered up.This is the way how fragility is hidden behind grandiosity.
Low-esteem
The narcissists have very low self –esteem internally which they cover up by being obstinate, rude and arrogant.What is behind their driven ness to power and stature?—elevated social, political, or economic, medicinal, religious etc, is a deep sense of insecurity and vulnerability.They are constantly in state of “driven ness” and “proneness”.This elaborately shows the internal vacuum; the void ness and deficiencies to which they are prone and which they try to cover up frantically and endlessly.The narcissist is desperate in the execution of his designs/plans.This is the only way to alleviate his inner anxieties.These are neurotic compulsions to fill the gaps/ trips of their personality.The neurosis and mental psychosis show how internally disturbed, diseased and morbid the narcissists are really!
Longing for admiration and flattery
Their egocentricity requires constant admiration and flattery from the fellow beings.They are acquisitive for everything.They long for the good opinion of the people.They are very vulnerable and susceptible to flattery and false ego sense.They go on asking their fellows how the people think of them.He had many sycophants at his disposal to gather this information about the self.They are extra ordinary ego conscious. They can not withstand minor impediments or obstacles in their way. So they are intolerant of criticism and contradiction.On such occasion they display behavior that smells of haughtiness, arrogance, and rudeness.At times it is also mocking and sarcastic, abusive and threatening.Their behavior goes on making roller coaster swings and whirling.Onetime it is politeness, naive ness, sobriety, yielding and on other times it is obstinate, unyielding and stubborn.This shows the volatility of their mind and emotions.I will call it “cunning / guile hysteria”.They are expert in deliberately disguising their emotions.
Capriciousness
The one word to describe the exact volatile nature of their behavior is capriciousness.Many of the narcissists are reflection of the archetype “mercury—the solid as well as liquid.” It is also extension of their cunning/ guile hysteria.It is chaotic state of acceptation and rejection temporarily.They do not know what to accept and what to reject.It is confused and chaotic state of mind.Internally they are bored having no harmony/ serenity in their life.The capriciousness is the outward reflection of their inner ennui and boredom and turmoil.It is state of bitterness, peevishness and irritability of temper.They are very easily bored and fed up with their old partners and go on changing Fidelity.