Description
Narcissism, Shame, and the False Self: Keeping Ourselves in Right Perspective
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Transcript
We are not being told by scripture to ignore ourselves. We are just being told to hold ourselves in right perspective.
At its worst, narcissism boils down to building up this false self, a different, fake identity. And the reason people do that, usually without really being aware they’re doing it, is a defense against the shame that they feel. Deep, deep shame.
This false persona hides them, hides them from the world, shows a more perfect self so that they are not going to feel the shame that they think they would feel if they revealed their true self. And this happens generally at a very unconscious level.
Narcissism is generally self-absorption. People are very, very concerned with who they are and how they appear, but that self-absorption is usually hidden.
So the true self, the hidden self is this really fragile entity that has to be protected at all costs. And so defense of that self becomes a non-negotiable.
