Narcissism And the Hollow Soul

I found an excellent dissertation on narcissism here:

Part 1

Part 2

An extract is presented here, for me to riff off on my concept of the Hollow Soul.

The basic mechanism

As previously discussed, lack of self-consciousness creates a perception or definition of self which has three main properties:

1. 1. The definition of self is heavily influenced by others.
   2. The self is “fluid” . i.e. there is poor correction mechanism for the self, and correction is dependent on others.
   3. The definition of self is unrealistically positive.

This results in a “model of self. – which defines both self-perception and the perception of others. The model must always be maintained in such a way that self-perception remains high in relation to others.

The basic internal narcissistic mechanism essentially has two main components: the maintenance of this model, and how emotional factors are involved in its maintenance. The two traits thus come together and form the narcissistic behavior pattern. This can be described in the following sequential fashion:

Mainly caused by low self-consciousness:

1. 1. The narcissist has developed an internal model of self and others.
   2. This model is unsustainable under normal conditions.
   3. The model is unsustainable because it is simply wrong. It is wrong about the narcissist and wrong about other people.
   4. Because the model is wrong, it lacks robustness against the environment. It is inherently fragile.
   5. Because it is wrong, it will constantly clash with reality (mostly other people).
   6. Because the model has been emotionally internalized, it must be protected from reality – constantly and at all cost.

Mainly caused by emotional factors:

1. 1. The incorrect internal model will take on very strong emotional properties. Self-perception is intensely connected to emotions . negative and positive.
   2. Any value or belief system which is connected to the high sense of self will become a part of the internal model, and will be intensely connected to emotions much like the sense of self.
   3. Any outside stimulus which moves the model up or down will result in a very strong emotional response.
   4. When the model is reinforced (self-perception moved upward), it will result in what is basically an emotional “high.”
   5. When the model is challenged (self-perception moved downward), it will result in an emotional low . even an emotional crash.
   6. This will create what can be described as addiction. The narcissist will seek reinforcement of his model to get the emotional high, using whatever tools he has. This will become compulsive and tends to escalate over time.
   7. This will also result in elaborate defensive tactics to prevent challenge to the model . to avoid the emotional crash.

In other words: the incorrect internal model will take on such emotional properties that its maintenance and defense will create a state of emotional dependence which is similar to drug addiction. This means that the reinforcement-seeking behavior becomes compulsive, like the next fix for a drug addict. This dependence is not figurative . it is a real chemical dependence based on real neurotransmitters (rather than drugs which simulate neurotransmitters).

The narcissist’s behavior has two main goals; to receive reinforcement for the model (emotional high) and to avoid challenge to the model (emotional crash). For this he has two “tactical sets” of behaviors . which are basically tool sets of sorts. One set is designed to affirm or elevate the self and reinforce the model; the other one is designed to protect the model from challenges. The use of these tools differs between narcissists, mainly depending on how far out on the distribution of the two traits they are. That will be discussed later.

My main takeaway is that the narcissist is a person who defines himself by his external environment… inverted solipsism, perhaps… and then controls his environment to define himself as he wishes.

I have some trouble with “narcissist” being hung on that, because there are two subforms of narcissist here: The one who chooses his identity based on the social “climates” available to him, and the one who manipulates his social climate for optimal results. The latter is appropriately called a narcissist, but the former probably doesn’t think highly of himself. Instead of defending his own ego, he rents a well-defended ego.

It’s comparable to the Venezuelans being imported to exterminate white America. The Venezuelans will be extremely loyal to the American Regime because their survival in this country, err, economic zone depends upon them being extremely loyal. They might not enjoy the resulting self-image of foot soldiers for child molesters, but if they had chosen to be proud of who they were, they’d still be in Venezuela.

My concept of the Hollow Soul is a person who rejects self-ownership and self-identity, and consequently, tries eternally to fill the resulting void with other peoples’ identities. Or ideological identities. He is a pawn ever in search of a king to purchase and use him… as livestock.

Narcissists often select .pre-brainwashed. or .pre-broken. spouses that can be controlled and molded more easily. Narcissistic men often pick insecure women with already broken self, and female narcissists often pick emotionally damaged men, or men who are extreme .beta-males. and content to live on their knees.

This explains why every single Communist effort is explicitly and furiously suicidal. Everything about a person’s identity is projected outward… the past and the soul are both straight-up deleted as quickly as possible. It is not that Communism is rabidly atheistic. It knows that God is real and seeks to separate humanity from him.

Humanity thus emptied, can be jammed full of any lie imaginable, and the people will busy themselves choosing between competing social “climates” rather than developing who they are.

None of my readers are in danger of becoming the active narcissist, but the passive narcissist is a trap we can still fall into.

An example of this comes from the prepper community. Reasonable precautions against the coming hardships are appropriate, but there is a subset of preppers who have defined their entire lives in preparation for “the Collapse”. They have made life-changing choices that they would not have, had America never been prostituted to the Monster From Jekyll Island.

That is a spiritual death, a hollowing of the soul away from who they should have been, in favor of a probably-false guarantee of material success.

If circumstances for a life change upon you, that is not your fault.

If the choices you make are the choices you’d have made regardless, no harm done. If you would’ve been a gun nut anyway, there’s no harm in being a gun nut preparing for the Apocalypse.

But if you’re an artistic type and feel obliged to redefine yourself as a gun nut preparing for the Apocalypse, then that will harm your soul even if it preserves your life.

Another observation to be made is that a person who depends upon a social climate for identity, can put very little effort into creating and refining that identity. This may be the underlying reason for consumerism.

Or to be pithy, once you have nothing left to defend except your next meal, you’ll be tempted to embrace oblivion.

A third observation is that technology has made laziness more accessible than ever in history. I feel the temptation at my work to not improve myself professionally. That is not at all to mean continuing education (ugh). Useless seminars about the latest toys and software repackaged to be sold as new again, no. I mean, figuring out what other people do with my work, for example… a VERY interesting question… and how to prevent my field from being Converged into an unholy marriage of Autocad and lactation rooms.

Bureaucrats think that mandating education credits is how to ensure I stay competent. Me asking myself the interesting questions, and bothering to look up the answers, is how I stay competent. But after I’m forced to check the social-climate boxes, it’s hard to find the energy for legit self-improvement.

I can always sit back and have my identity spoon-fed to me. In fact, the active narcissist insists.

Self-discipline, self-pacing and self-ownership are incredibly hard qualities for most people to develop. And yet, I think those qualities are exactly what will defeat our Current Year’s Regime more effectively than hot lead in Reptiloids. They aren’t after our lives, after all; not until they’re done with our souls.

Both the passive and the active narcissist have no internal moral compass. This is a situation manufactured by participation awards and echo-chamber social media. The passive types end up needing the active, abusive, gaslighting narcissists to give their lives structure. Which is what we saw in the Covid Plandemic; everybody’s continuing education turned out to be repeating whatever they were told. “Handshakes spread disease. Christianity is unhealthy. Human contact is obsolete unless you’re looting a Walmart.” Actual advice given by licensed professionals!

To oppose that, choose your own structure, your own priorities, then make them happen, and that will give you something to defend. That is how you become you and not an interchangeable, bug-eating mammal in the pod.

Bonus, it’s way more fun to be you than anybody else.