Ruth earlier posted the DSM-IV definition of
Narcissistic Personality Disorder:
The DSM-IV elements of narcissistic PD are at least five of the
following:
1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance
2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power,
brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
3. believes that he or she is "special" and unique
4. requires excessive admiration
5. has a sense of entitlement
6. is interpersonally exploitative
7. lacks empathy
8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious
of him or her
9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes
I'm not a shrink, just an observer of the
smorgasbord of spiritual practice, but I see
these descriptions/categorizations as fairly
significant, because they accurately describe
a LOT of spiritual teachers, and a LOT of
their students.
I might add a tenth criterion, one that IMO
is important to recognize when dealing with
products of the TM movement:
10. has difficulty knowing the difference between "this
is the truth" and "this is how I see it."
To me, that's probably THE most defining aspect
of narcissism -- the *assumption* that how one
sees things *equals* how things really are.
And that's one of the most recurring themes here
on Fairfield Life with regard to the TM TB (True
Believer) phenonmenon, and with regard to occas-
ional claims of enlightenment.
Nabby and some of the other rare TBs who appear
here seem incapable of seeing that there is any
*possible* way of seeing things other than the way
that they see it. It's probably the characteristic
that defines them the most. Any way other of seeing
things than the way they see things is by definition
wrong.
Some of those who have claimed enlightenment on
this forum have trotted out the same assumption:
if they perceive it or believe, it's not only true,
it's TRUTH. Because they are enlightened (or consider
themselves enlightened), they *assume* that all
of their perceptions are true. When it is pointed
out to them that many of them are factually not true,
they just "tune out" and descend into insults and
"You'll understand when you're as high as I am"
spiritual oneupsmanship language. It's as if they
CAN'T conceive of their perceptions as being anything
BUT equivalent with "truth."
So what I'm suggesting is that when looking at the
issue of narcissism or Narcissistic Personality
Disorder in a spiritual context, this tenth criterion
is a Big One. If the spiritual group being studied
tends to *create* this tendency to believe that one's
own way of seeing things is the *only* way of seeing
things, or the only "right" way of seeing things, or
the "truth," then I think it's safe to assume that
what's going on in that group is Narcissism Training.
