Recovering from Spiritual Narcissism – Part 1
What is narcissism? The word originates from Greek mythology in the story of Narcissus, a man who was cursed to be infatuated with himself. He wasted away his life staring at his own reflection. This caricature epitomizes the essential nature of the narcissist—self-absorption, egoism. Narcissism involves how the self selfishly processes its own experiences. Here’s the kicker: everyone has narcissistic thoughts, desires, feelings, emotions, and motives. The only person who did not was Jesus, though he was tempted; He always did the Father’s will, and He was completely selfless (John 8:29).
If the word narcissist has a negative sound to it, that’s because it is. Narcissism is false self-love. There is a notion of self-love that is godly. Jesus told us to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:39). This godly sort of self-love is based upon God’s love for us. We should love ourselves like God loves us. Such love is based in the character of God. Narcissism makes self the standard for self-love and every other kind of “love.” Narcissists often do not know that they are being narcissistic because they are blinded by the selfish attitudes through which they filter all of their experiences. The first step in recovering from narcissism is to admit that you are one. Hello, my name is Kevin, and I am a recovering narcissist.