Narcissism and Isolation
Narcissism necessarily leads to isolation. Narcissism is the worship of the self. The self takes many forms. It can be the body, the appearance, the intellect, the impression of oneself. It could also be something much bigger, such as a country, an organization, an ideology, a belief, a faith, and so on. The self identifies with something and worships that thing. This is narcissism. When the self worships a thing, that thing becomes valuable. Because of value, the thing becomes protected by the self. The process of protection is the process of challenge and response. One is then always protecting the thing in response to external challenges. Protection is in nature isolating, because protection means to push away, kill, or distance anything that challenges what it protects.
Narcissism means to build a wall in figural speech. The wall becomes ever more impenetrable when the self continues to worship what it protects. Complete isolation is when the wall has become incredibly difficult to penetrate, therefore no connection to anything outside is possible. This lack of connection is isolation. When there is no wall, all connections are welcome. Communication is then free. Narcissism prevents communication, because it only listens to what it wants to hear. What it does not like to hear becomes the motivation to reinforce its protection. The more it reinforces the wall, the less communication is possible, until no communication is possible. What narcissism protects has no inherent reality, as it is easily swept away when the wall is not there. This is why narcissism is tremendously afraid to let anything touch what it worships. Narcissism protects illusions. Isolation is a product of protecting illusions. When there is no illusion, everything is open. No wall is necessary, as the wall in the psyche only protects illusions. To a completely open heart, isolation cannot arise. The open heart touches everything it feels. This touch is the radical intimacy of communion. This is the direct contact with another human being. Communication is the very movement of a heart that is open.
Cover photo by Aman Upadhyay on Unsplash
