Narcissistic Nation
“Narcissistic individuals constantly strive to meet the impossibly high standards of their false self, frequently feeling frustrated and depressed by their inability to do so, but also avoiding at all costs recognizing how empty they truly feel.”[1]
The desired unified worldview for globalization is one of consumer culture. This culture drives the economy by continuing to use up resources, demanding new technology at an ever-increasing pace. In order to instill a bottomless abyss of craving, it is necessary for individuals to feel disconnected from themselves and others. This wounding is insidious and occurs through advertising, media, and even the vapid nuclear family model. It is not accidental. A deliberate and systematic campaign is being waged even now to create unthinkingly selfish “individuals” who are desperately hungry. This is the objective of the industry we call Marketing. However, there is no way to sustain this endlessly consumptive linear model. Using without returning anything, without closing the loop, without reciprocity, ends the game with nothing left. Unfortunately, narcissists cannot see beyond their own needs. They are trapped in an infantile state of need. They are without the wisdom and maturity to know how to nurture what can sustainably feed them. It’s a trap, a spiral of self-destruction that keeps them separate and keeps them hungry. It’s imperative to wake up from this nightmare and live consciously. We must reconnect and take agency over our own lives and choices. We must be compassionate and understanding with each other, and together we can learn how to stand. This, a new more holistic perspective, is in order; one that can bring much needed healing to ourselves and the Earth.
[1] Allen D. Kanner and Mary E. Gomes, Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind, ed. Theodore Roszak, Mary E. Gomes, and Allen Kanner (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1995), 79.