Is This Narcissism Pandemic Really New?

Photo by Andre Mouton on Unsplash

Many people have been grieving the elderly who were sadly lost to COVID-19. This tragedy is accompanied by some nostalgia for the old generations and their values; which I can fully understand and respect.

Interestingly, I would argue the huge lack of morals we are witnessing in this era is a generational problem. I would rather claim the character-disturbed people — including the narcissists — have been present in abundance from the very beginning of human history.

The Alpha — the most violent and remorseless individuals, in most cases, in a community — took advantage of this planet’s resources, and then dared reclaim the ownership. Bloody emperors invaded earth to show their power killing millions of human beings within the process.

What do you think the origin of the countries is?

Nothing but an evolution of the tribes. Why were the tribes created in the first place? To protect the exploited land, and kill any individual who could even think of approaching the territory to share the land’s gifts.

Was this principled? Heck no!

More to the point, in every single generation, there were some self-aware human beings who were the change-makers, and fortunate enough to have their voice heard by thousands — if not millions of kind souls eagerly waiting for some moral authority to inspire them. This created a mass mobilization for the cause no matter what it is.

You only need to think of any legitimate fight in our species’ history, and you will figure out that there has always been a huge and ugly resistance — ironically supporting the violation of so many principles: human dignity, fairness, respect, etc…

Who were those people who resisted any noble cause? Can you give a guess?

The character-disturbed individuals who are almost disconnected from their conscience. They are anything but a new epidemy. They were simply not enabled by society as they are nowadays… With social media expansion, they, unfortunately, became way more normalized and empowered.

Who do you think created them in the first place?

The unhealthy part of the previous generation — which was, itself, created by the dysfunctional family system of the one before, and so on…

What I am trying to say is that the lack of principles and the sick ego’s numerous manifestations are as old as humankind’s existence on earth. Our feeling it is becoming a pandemic in the new generations is simply explained by the following:

We have given them the permission as well as the tools…

Emotional Maturity & Wisdom?

Again, I can understand the nostalgia. We love to think of the elderly as the symbol of maturity and wisdom we are missing in a world ruled by superficial narcissists.

Emotional Maturity

Let’s try to explore the meaning of being emotionally mature, shall we? Does it go hand-in-hand with our biological age? As far as I am concerned, I like to consider it as a synonym of resilience instead of adulthood:

Maturity is the balance between courage and consideration. If a person can express their feelings and convictions with courage balanced with consideration for the feelings and convictions of another person, they are mature, particularly if the issue is very important to both parties. ~ Stephen Covey

What does it take?

First and foremost: humility. This magical virtue is a crucial ingredient to break one of the most resistant psychological coping mechanisms going by the name of denial.

When you are humble enough to admit your life has been a succession of experiences whose main goal was to confirm your limiting beliefs — which were vehiculated to us by someone else, only then will you be able to transform your perceptions into truth!

Then, you will need to make use is your unique human endowment going by the name of self-awareness. Apart from humility, there are some other pre-requisites involved in the transformation process we will explore another time!

Wisdom

Is it truly correlated to how many years and experiences we have had during our existence on this planet? Probably not. How come? Adulthood will not be accompanied by wisdom — at least not the delusional promoted one — if we are a character-disordered person in any case.

Psychologically speaking, when it comes to people suffering from an NPD, their emotional growth stopped in childhood. They are simply unable to manage their internal chaotic world. Their emotional intelligence level is extremely low.

They are unable to self-introspect, and to be accountable. They will make use of all possible manipulation and abuse strategies to avoid any responsibility. Wisdom comes from being self-aware and learning from our shortcomings. This is simply not a possible option for a person with a kid’s emotional development.

They might come across as wise people at an intellectual level though! They are masters in memorizing what is perceived as wisdom proofs and using them in their interactions. Cerebral narcissists, particularly, love this mind game. Don’t get trapped!

Takeaway

If we want to give ourselves a real chance to reverse this superficial, selfish, and immoral world we are living in, and guarantee a better future for the generations unborn, we need to stop creating and enabling narcissists in the first place.