What's wrong with narcism?

[Hitro]

According to most Christian teaching, pride comes before the fall. Therefore narcism as a certain type of pride should be "wrong" as well but still most Christians endulge in it to various degrees so apparently it isn't that "wrong" but rather somewhat "right".

My question to Christians is, why is narcism evil?

 

[ybbor]

if you want to focus on christian teachings, yes narccsim is wrong; because love is right. Love is the putting others above yourself. narcsism is the putting of yourself above others. Any christian who is being narcisitic is sinning, but hey, remember, we're people too

 

[carlosMM]

ybbor: narcism = loving YOURSELF - now what?

also, obviously, totally putting everyone else before/above yourself is not workable. This is also the basis of most Calvinist teachings - if you are 'good' then you have earnt being rich etc.....

 

[ybbor]

by definition you cannot love yourself

 

[Yom]

by definition you cannot love yourself

Sure you can. I love myself. It's called self-esteem.

 

[CurtSibling]

I distrust doctrines that seem to require people to be bowing and scraping...
Seems they want to shape your mind into that of a guilt-riddled servant.

That kind of life is not for me. They are welcome to it.

I do have high self-esteem, such an attitude is a boon, not a bane.
Regarding oneself as a king is something each of us should do, in addition to being helpful, etc.

.

 

[The Last Conformist]

It's "narcissism". From Greek Narkissos.

Narcissism strictu senso is term in Freudian psychoanalysis, signifying a condition characterized by an inflated ego and a lack of concern for others. Whether we accept Freud's ideas or not, it's clear that people who have what psychoanalysts would call a narcissistic personality disorder have a problem; my encyclopaedia gives as a typical example of narcissistic behaviour the student who, receiving disappointing grades, does not try and improve his performance, but instead blames the teacher for his failure.

Of course, narcissism is also used loosely as a term for selfish, self-centered, and shallow personality traits, but defining it simply as self-love is asking for confusion.

 

[Hitro]

It's "narcissism". From Greek Narkissos.

According to LEO you can use both, and the copycat worked better this way.

 

[The Last Conformist]

According to LEO you can use both, and the copycat worked better this way.

According to AHG, there is no such (English) word as "narcism".

 

[Hitro]

According to AHG, there is no such (English) word as "narcism".

Hmm, I was referring to this, I did in fact also only know narcissism but liked this variant better for obvious reasons.

 

[ybbor]

yes, you can have high self-esteem, but that's not the same as self-love, at least in the sense of the word as i defined it (unless you have split personalities, in which case narcism isn't your biggest problem)

i don't say narcism is self-love, narcism simply makes love harder, requiring a higher degree of love than narcism, if you think that you are perfect, it would be very hard to a put a person you see as below you in merit, above you, for love.

 

[jonatas]

Narcissism is the correct term in English...

 

[Hitro]

Narcissism is the correct term in English...

Apparently not exclusively...

But this is a nice way to discuss the question.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Hmm, I was referring to this, I did in fact also only know narcissism but liked this variant better for obvious reasons.

Yes, I'm quite familiar with LEO, and they indeed give "narcism". Your other link doesn't work for me. Anyway, it's either an error or an obscure side-form.

 

[The Last Conformist]

yes, you can have high self-esteem, but that's not the same as self-love, at least in the sense of the word as i defined it (unless you have split personalities, in which case narcism isn't your biggest problem)

If you defined "self-love" somewhere, I missed it.

One of Freud's less eccentric opinions was that mental health requires you to love both yourself and others. A narcissistic personality, in the Freudian view, is the result of loving oneself to the exclusion of others.

 

[CurtSibling]

Narcissism is the proper English word.

Take it from a Britisher and move on!

 

[jonatas]

Apparently not exclusively...

But this is a nice way to discuss the question.

yes it is

narcissism is a common enough word, but i've never heard narcism in daily speech, not even once.... it is an extremely obscure variant, which i admit i didn't think even existed (it comes up as an error in my word processor, plus check the google hits of the two)....

edit: good, Curt's confirmation

 

[Hitro]

yes it is

narcissism is a common enough word, but i've never heard narcism in daily speech, not even once.... it is an extremely obscure variant, which i admit i didn't think even existed (it comes up as an error in my word processor, plus check the google hits of the two)....

edit: good, Curt's confirmation

I trust the dictionary more than Curt.

English has all sorts of obscure and obsolete words, so I wasn't specifically surprised about this one although I had never heard it before either.

 

[~Corsair#01~]

Nothing wrong with narcissism. I predict great things for it when it becomes the world's sole religion....

 

[CurtSibling]

I trust the dictionary more than Curt.

English has all sorts of obscure and obsolete words, so I wasn't specifically surprised about this one although I had never heard it before either.

Pretty arrogant of you to tell me how to speak my native language.

Just admit the typo and get on with it!