Narcissists Lack Soul

Yeah I'm chucking this out there: narcissists lack soul.

The reason that I think that is because of the many narcissists that I've observed: they are always, always, focused on the external - never on the internal. They don't self-reflect, because there's nothing there to reflect upon. Simply an endless, sucking emptiness that goes on forever, constantly needing to be fed with the attention (good or bad) and flattery of others.

This is interesting in that I score fairly high on the narcissism index. Peculiarly, here I am doing some self-reflection. I will resist to the death that I am somehow "special". Rather, I am attempting to improve myself. This is what every man should be doing as a matter of course.

In a way that can be seen as making me special. Most people these days prefer to "slump" through life.

Given the explosion in narcissism in modern times, it's not surprising. Technology has enabled this explosion: firstly with MySpace, then FaceBook, now with Twitter. Instagram is a culprit, HotOrNot, online dating on the whole, Choosy, Tinder. All of these "social platforms" blast the ego with validation. Hell, the same with this blog!

Inflating someone's ego in this way contributes to the self-delusion that we somehow matter in the great scheme of things. We don't. 99.9999% of people could die in a car-accident and it wouldn't mean squat to the world at large. That is how meaningful our lives really are.

I hear things like this a lot, mostly from women: "Doing X will do wonders for your/my confidence!" Talking with each other. Egging each other on.

Replace "confidence" with "ego" and you have a far more truthful statement. Yes, people these days confuse ego and confidence. Perhaps this is why women fall for men with a big ego and arrogance - they have confused that with confidence.

So, why is the world attempting to build up the ego/narcissism of people? There must be some reason, else it would not be happening. Here are what I think may be the two main reasons:

1/ egotistic people do not think deeply (me included)

2/ narcissistic people are more easily led (due to the above)

Which might help explain the rise of consumer culture and the use of propaganda upon our own citizens and the like. I am not certain, of course. There's probably a hell of a lot more to it than that. Makes you wonder though.

I read somewhere once, that narcissism was one of the things used by propaganda. Specifically, propaganda uses: emotionalism, tribalism, and narcissism.

Emotionalism: push someone's emotional buttons, especially the anger and fear buttons

Tribalism: us versus them, for example America vs Afghanistan

Narcissism: get someone on-board like the above two - and the narcissist will not be interested in getting more information, his ego is already invested

Or something like that process, is used to do things like start wars. I need to learn and think more.