Sinners of human history

Narcissism is a disease of human personality that causes problems in organisational, political and social affairs

In human history, not so much damage has been caused by pandemics, tragedies and wars as by self-worshipers and authoritarians. Let’s try to take a closer look at the self-worshipers and authoritarians. Let’s talk about self-worshipers. In the terms of psychology, it is called narcissism. This term of psychology is derived from an ancient Greek myth. Narcissus, the main character, is a beautiful youth, son of Cephissus (the Boeotian River) and Liriope, a nymph, who had no interest in his lovers and the world around him. One day he fell in love with himself after seeing his reflection in the water. He used to look at his reflection day and night. He could not touch water even though he was suffering from hunger and thirst, because he was afraid that his reflection would be broken, and his beauty too into thousands of pieces. He thus died of hunger and thirst.

Narcissism is a disease of human personality that causes serious problems in organisational, political and social affairs. People suffering from this disease cause torture and destruction in the surrounding world. The most dangerous aspect of this disease is that these patients never consider themselves sick.

American Dr David Thomas says, “It is difficult to recognize a narcissistic patient because he protects his ego through acting every moment. And he creates a false identity in front of the world hence such people become masters of fraud. It is not possible for them to put the collective needs before their own needs. He shows more anger and aggression than normal people that is, if he is praised, he becomes proud and if he is called inferior, he becomes out of himself.”

Now let’s talk about the authoritarians. Authoritarians are different from narcissists in the sense that they want to be powerful rather than only look beautiful. They want people to fear them more than giving them love. This tribe includes many manic and big men of human history. They are always unhappy or stupid, sometimes both. Men of authority who think they have a crown on their head may feel a sense of happiness in a sense, but their happiness is not of the kind that a wise man would envy.

Alexander the Great was physiologically insane. He had the ability to make dreams come true, but he could not make his own dreams come true. When it became clear that he is the greatest conqueror, he decided that he is God. Was he happy? His drinking, carelessness with women and his claim to godhood, all show he was not happy.

Napoleon used to feel inferior to his peers at school because they belonged to rich families and he was a poor boy receiving a stipend. When he reached the pinnacle of power, he would be delighted to hear his schoolmates praising him.

Genghis Khan, Hulagu Khan, Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and Joseph Stalin were all crazy about power, but all suffered from psychological problems.

Childhood deprivations, fear, cowardice and other psychological problems lead a person to authoritarianism. In fact, narcissists and authoritarians are as sick as with any other disease. These are also as worthy of mercy and sympathy as any other patient. The only difference is that other patients are aware of their disease, but they patients are not. If we examine the psycho patients of our country’s history, we will be forced to sympathise with them. Still they cannot be forgiven because the sufferings, tortures and agonies we have suffered due to their disease is terrible and painful.

If we want to be safe from more such patients in the future, we will have to eliminate all the reasons which render people narcissist and authoritarian. These are such terrible diseases that America, Europe and Great Britain were the first to eliminate from their societies all the reasons that forced people to become narcissist and authoritarian. They first eliminated all the deprivations from their societies, provided equal opportunities for all and created a transparent system based on equality featuring equal distribution of wealth and equal opportunities of employment, education, health and justice. They diverted the country’s resources to the people. With these tasks complete, the factories that were shaping narcissists and authoritarians were shut down.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2023.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.