Understanding And Narcissism

One of diagnostic criteria for the narcissistic personality disorder is “complains about being misunderstood.” I for one do not complain about that at all. I favor being misunderstood, because if these people really did understand me I'd be dead.

I seek three things accomplished in my lifetime: Transition to clean energy; improvement in man-woman relationships; and a global cultural renaissance. Call it grandiose if you'd like, but greater things have been done by lesser minds. And I have viable ways to accomplish all of the preceding.

So now I am postulating where I stand and what I seek to be accomplished. Now you know what purpose I have chosen in life. Understand it or not understand it, but hear it. And then you can decide whether or not to support me.

"Lady Madonna"

One of the Beatles' most inscrutible efforts is “Lady Madonna, children at your feet, how do you manage to make ends meet.”

It is especially inscrutible because it comes at the heels of another major Beatles hit, “I don't care too much for money cause money can't buy me love.”

Which one is it? Is the work that Madonna does worthless, or is she doing something that means something?

In Brothers Karamazov, the businessman tells the preacher that he is doing what he is doing at other people's expense. In fact the preacher was doing something that was very valuable. He was teaching people ethics that made people employable; and the businessman owed a lot to the priest.

Can Lady Madonna pay the rent? Whether she does or she doesn't says everything about where we are as a society. Do we reward righteous and altruistic behavior? Or do we proclaim such things worthless even as we continue to benefit from such behavior?

So here we have a band impugning altruistic conduct even as he attacks money-making. This is wrong in just about every possible way.

Both lady Madonna and people who are money-driven are better than people who attack both altruism and money-making. And I would rather be dealing with either of the preceding than with people who attack the above without suggesting a viable alternative.

"She's Like The Wind"

One of my favorite songs is Patrick Swayze's “She's Like The Wind.” Its verses include, “I'm out of her league” and “what a fool to believe I have anything to give.” In fact he has a lot to give. He has to give passion and appreciation. Whereas the men whom he believes to be in her league see her as a trophy and treat her like one.

I had a relationship very similar to the one that he was describing. The woman was out of my league; she ended up marrying a jerk. If she had stayed with me, she would have been treated much better than she was in her marriage. Maybe he was in her league; but he did not act rightfully.

Now when a love relationship breaks down, people get told to get over it. I have no intention of getting over what I had with Michelle. It is not rightful to get over something beautiful. It is rightful to see what the person would have wanted and work toward that effect.

Michelle showed me kindness, compassion, understanding. When she died of medical malpractice, my concern was what would be the way to honor her the best. What were her values? What was she striving for? She strove for better treatment of people; and honoring her means doing just that.

There is only one of me, and there is only one of Patrick Swayze. However there are billions of people around the world. And the more people like Patrick Swayze inspire other men toward better conduct, the better becomes the lot of women around the world

It is not enough, as I found, to love a person. You also need to understand their purpose in life and work toward making it happen. Michelle showed me what it means to treat people rightfully. And for this I am eternally grateful and willing to make her values count in the world.

How Donald Trump Broke My Heart

I vote Democratic; but in the last election I did not vote. I could not make up my mind who was better. Trump was a throw-back to 1980s, and Hillary Clinton was a throw-back to 1990s. Both decades were great economically but terrible socially. In one decade the men were jerks; in the other decade the women were jerks. I do not see a reason to favor one over the other.

When Psychology Today published an article diagnosing Trump with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, I wrote in his defence. I wrote that according to the definition of the personality disorder, the world owes vastly to its narcissists. If it is narcissistic to have original ideas, or if it is narcissistic to seek great success, then anyone who's had great ideas and anyone who's had great success was a narcissist, which means that we owe vastly to people who have it.

On cultural issues, I saw Trump in a positive light. Here is someone with excellent taste in architecture who commissioned some of America's most beautiful buildings, as well as someone with excellent taste in women. Melania Trump is the refutation of the central claim of many in feminism – that a woman can't be physically attractive and be strong or smart at the same time. He has extensive contacts with Russia, and I saw him as someone who would bring into America the best of Russian culture and thus enrich America.

Donald Trump, you broke my heart.

How did he break my heart? By acting like a spoiled child. By shutting down the government because he did not get everything that he wanted in the budget. By denying a lot of honest, hard-working people their hard-earned income. And all because of a minor disagreement as to how much money to spend on the wall with Mexico.

Well, how about this, eh? You are a billionaire. If you really want your wall, then pay for it yourself. Or go soliciting money from Texas Oil or from Wall Street, I am sure they will rush for an offer to be a part of such a project. There is no reason why others should suffer in this situation. There are any number of ways to pay for that wall, and they don't have to involve shutting down the government and denying hard-working Americans their income.

It is this kind of behavior that feeds such beliefs as that Trump is a narcissist. What I know for a fact is that, whatever brain chemistry or psychology, people are capable of choice and that means, right choice. Whether Trump is a narcissist or not, he still has the capacity to choose rightfully. And here he is choosing in a way that is in every way wrong.

It looks like we are heading for a showdown, and I won't be supporting the person who acts like a spoiled child with American government. I suppose it then becomes incumbent on us to dig in our heels and stand strong against this irresponsible conduct.

Misreadings Of Responsibility

Many people speak in favor of personal responsibility; but many of them have confused ideas as to what that means.

If responsibility means being accountable for your actions, then that idea is a rightful one. However that is not how responsibility has been defined. Responsibility – and its sister concept success – have been defined as having a huge house and a Hummer. That is not responsibility; it is irresponsibility. It is reckless overconsumption that makes things ugly for the planet and its inhabitants. Nor is it success; it is letting your life be run by other people.

I had a counselor who told me that I needed to be responsible for my life. When I said what I wanted to do with my life, she said that I was grandiose. These two statements are mutually contradictory. If my life is my responsibility then it is mine to do with whatever I want to do with it. And if my life is not what I want to do with it, then my life is not my responsibility.

Far be it from me to impugn business. I am friends with a number of businessmen who are excellent people, and I find what they do to be right. Far be it from me to embrace Communism. I wrote a detailed deconstruction of Communist ideology (https://sites.google.com/site/ilyashambatthought/refuting-marxism-once-and-for-all). But it is completely rightful to impugn error. And here we see hideous error all across the board.

Once again, the correct path is to define what is responsibility. It is not driving a Hummer and having a huge house. And no, I am not driven in this by envy or anything of the sort. I lived in mansions on two different occasions. I find it happiest to live humbly, as I do now, even as I do my work for a political information site.

I am not lazy; I work hard, and I have proven my willingness to work hard in any number of ways. Nor am I irresponsible; I have a more thorough definition of what responsibility is. The true concept of responsibility is this: Leave the world a better place than you have found it. And until people are willing to do that they have no business speaking about responsibility.