--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, TurquoiseB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "curtisdeltablues" > <curtisdeltablues@> wrote: <snip> > > I got a lot of peace from the article in the Skeptical Inquirer > > in 89 or 90 that compared these personality traits [Narcissistic > > Personality Disorder] with popular gurus. > > I think it's a valid way to see many of the teachers > in today's spiritual world, and possibly in the whole > history of spirituality. It's not the most *flattering* > way to see them, and so of course the True Believers > are going to react to the non-flattering-ness of it > and not be able to see how *accurate* the description > of NPD is when applied to most spiritual teachers.
To reiterate: the *characteristics* may apply (in the layperson's view), but this by no means is sufficient to conclude that the teacher has narcissistic personality disorder. It means only that he or she may share some characteristics with those who have been in therapy and have been diagnosed by professionals as having narcissistic personality disorder. And again, it's a "disorder" because the people who have been diagnosed with it *were having trouble coping with ordinary life*, to the point that they felt they needed professional assistance. <snip> > I think we're seeing it here on this group. > There are quite a few people here whose way > of reacting to grief at the loss of their > teacher is to GET INTO ARGUMENTS. Gee, Barry, I thought you said you weren't experiencing any grief. > Why? So they can declare themselves "right" > about something, and try to assert themselves > as "more right" than someone else, and get > other people to focus on them. It's how they > have consistently reacted for years here. Well, I guess one is free to diagnose *oneself* as having narcissistic personality disorder. It seems a little strange to do so in third person, however. > What I'm suggesting is that this tendency > was learned from their teacher, Maharishi. > Everything always came down to *him* as the > ultimate authority, *him* as the person who > "knows the truth." How could a bunch of > students, having seen this in their teacher > for over 40 years, not pick up on the trait > themselves? It's *amazing* how many people in the population at large must be suffering from narcissistic personality disorder when you look at it this way. <snip> > The whole role of the "guru" as proposed by > many if not most spiritual traditions, IMO, > has been a process of putting Narcissistic > Personality Disorder up on a pedestal and > glorifying it, as if it were a good thing. Or, Another Way of Seeing Things: To *be* a leader, spiritual or otherwise, requires one to have at least some of the personality characteristics that are also found in people with narcissistic personality disorder. If they didn't have these characteristics, they wouldn't be leaders in the first place.
