Friday, January 13, 2006

To be, or not to be.

If, like a narcissist, you identify with your IMAGE instead of your inner SELF, you identify with an apparition, and logic dictates that you have an existential problem if it disappears. I cannot imagine being in such a state, and I doubt any normal person can. But it is well documented that narcissists say they feel "empty inside" and that they feel they "do not exist" when alone — that is, when they have no mirror.

This is, of course, just childish make-believe. Narcissists make-believe that their false image is their true self. But narcissists aren't the only ones who delude themselves. To hear people make-believing a fantasy, just listen to the left-wing-nuts (and the much less common right-wing-nuts) who call in to comment on a C-SPAN broadcast.

My favorite example occured after a broadcast of one of Senator Kennedy's outrageous performances, in which he abused a Supreme Court nominee he was questioning, while yelling a string of absurdities and boldfaced lies about him right at him. One woman must have been halluciniating some other reality, because she called in afterwards praising and thanking and virtually canonizing the Senator from Hell as some kind of St. Michael the Archangel for fighting to save the world from his "evil" (defenseless) victim.

This is simply lying to yourself about what you're seeing and hearing, often done by simply filtering out unwanted information so that the rest paints a picture you like. This is self delusion, intellectual dishonesty, make-believe.

It reminds one of the stupid question If nobody hears a scream in the dark, did it happen? Or, If nobody sees a planet, does it exist? Many "complex" people answer no. Sheesh, if that were correct, you couldn't even ask the stupid question. This comes close to the stupid question Is the moon made of green cheese (instead of moon rock) if you choose to believe that it is? Many "complex" people answer yes. I ask, how can they believe in anything if they do not even believe in Truth? Since the vast majority of them say they believe in God, I ask how they can, since they can create and discreate him at will?

Such illogical, irrational and conflicting beliefs crash your brain if you don't keep them segregated into different halves of the brain and then keep one half of it shut down. Doing that is called compartmentalizing.

This is the predicament narcissists are permanently in. Since they identify with their phony image reflected in mirrors, if their mirrors abandon them, they feel that their very existence is snuffed out! The fate worse than death.

Now, a normal person may feel buried alive by total abandonment. But even in that hell, he will say, "I think, therefore I am."

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

4 Comments:

At 7:14 PM, Blogger Nevermore said...

The old question: If a tree falls in the woods and there is nobody there to hear it, does it make a sound? The no answer to this question is really quite simple, it is just a matter of definition really. What do you define sound as? If you define sound as just the compression waves that travel through a medium, in this case the air, then the answer must be yes. However, if you define sound as the result of those waves contacting the senses and being recognized by a hearer, then the answer must be no. It is just a game of definitions. Please don't infer from this explanation though that I am one of those "complex" sort of persons:)

 
At 7:58 PM, Blogger Kathy said...

Hmm. No, I didn't mean it as a riddle. If you define sound as just compression waves, complex types would still say no.

 
At 7:52 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

In your example, you have two different interpretations of what occurred. Did the senator actually scream "boldfaced lies", or was he indeed deserving of thanks? Does the truth exist somewhere in between? I think you are correct in that people filter "out unwanted information so that the rest paints a picture" they like. This is a link to a fascinating study done on brain activity and how some people use emotion rather than reasoning to confirm their beliefs. link to study

 
At 2:35 PM, Blogger Kathy said...

Thanks for the link!

The first interpretation was mine -- boldfaced lying = lying that's in-your-face lying, lying you must dummy up to believe. I mean, he literally said things as manifestly backward and false (in light of what the witness answered) as if he had declared that the sky is purple. For example, Kennedy would say that the witness said such and such, when the witness had actually said something different! Yet the caller willfully ignored that and swallowed it whole for the sake of her cherished myths. I'm convinced that Kennedy and other politicians do this because they know they can get away with substituting a delusion for reality -- because people willfully believe their known lies.

But what an insult. Don't these people have any self respect? You'd think they see no degradation in playing the fool.

 

Post a Comment

<< Home

craig class janesville