On Apr 5, 2011, at 10:36 AM, curtisdeltablues wrote: --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <jstein@...> wrote:
> All this "you're an narcissist" "No you're a narcissist" talk flying around > does dilute the value of the term a bit. Well, I know *I'm* not a narcissist~~ I'm much too evolved for that. > When I came across this description applied to gurus (primarily to Rajaneesh, > secondarily to Maharishi) in a Secular Humanist magazine in the late 80's or > early 90's it helped me understand how some people could function so > differently. It also helps explain how people who come from such a different > internal place can have a profound effect on the rest of us. That kind of > internal certainty is foreign to people with a more humble sense of self > regard. If you don't buy into Maharishi's view of himself as the person of > the greatest importance in human history for bringing out the knowledge of TM > and sidhis, then the description of narcissism helps explain the guy for me. > And as we begin to understand brain chemistry better we can perhaps develop a > bit of compassion for someone so compelled to have an inordinately high > opinion of himself. > > On the other hand, there might be a bit of random haplessness to the whole > Maharishi deal. I mean how many other yogis who fell into such a fantastic > reception from the world could avoid thinking "damn, I AM da man!" So from > this perspective perhaps Maharishi was not a narcissist in the clinical sense > but more of an ordinary guy who rose the occasion of his celebrity (his > success surprising even him)whose personality got distorted by his rockstar > fame and fortune like many modern celebrities. Without a close family to > keep him real, and through the years ditching those who served that function > (buh by Jerry) he grew into a Seelisberg pampered little prince. Not anything > clinical really, but somewhere between the unhinged and unchecked ego of a > Jerry Lee Lewis and the wildly imaginative and ambitions Richard Branson. > > Fascinating human story either way. I remember in India when he told us "It > was the greatest good fortune for all mankind...that I decided to come out." > He would certainly get a gold star in the self-esteem building workshop for > that one. But for my taste he could have dialed it back a notch or 20. Great analysis, Curtis. Sure does bring back some great mems! Sal
