Re-Visioning Narcissism

<p>Since the early 20th century when modern psychology was in its infancy and attempting to establish itself as a legitimate medical and scientific discipline it largely divorced itself from its close cousins—the world’s religious and spiritual traditions.</p><p>The infant discipline had a mantra it was to follow: <em>Where Id is there shall Ego be</em>. But its egoic-primacy offered little aid either for <em>spiritual awakening</em> or <em>transforming narcissism</em> (the early psychoanalysts considered the former <em>illusory</em> the latter <em>untreatable</em>). It failed to see them as two wings of the same inner work.</p><p>And the clinical tradition was left with a very partial view of narcissism’s contours—like “blind people describing an elephant.” And a diminished sense of what its complete <em>opposite</em>—and thus its full healing—even <em>looks</em> like.</p><p>And so for the plethora of books written about narcissism ever since they haven’t much helped. If anything our collective narcissism has only <em>increased</em>. And now is oozing out of all the nooks and crannies of a culture—even its White House.</p><p>Yet for thousands of years there’ve been spiritual lineages whose perspective—and body of practices—would be helpful adjuncts for modern psychology. For they’d freed adepts from narcissism’s ego-centric erotically crippled and polarized vision. This book will provide some of this missing perspective and some of their practices in the attempt to heal the century-long divorce between psychology and spirituality. For we humans aren’t pie charts. Psyche and spirit <em>belong</em> together. And we need <em>all the help we can get</em>.</p><p>Given all narcissism can impact—our <em>eros</em> <em>politics</em> <em>global warming</em> and <em>pandemics</em>—it’s time to re-vision it. But this “re-visioning” and the skillful means it would offer can’t merely concern a few “adepts.” It’s now a planetary and <em>evolutionary</em> imperative.</p>