---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...> wrote:
--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, wrote:
>
> "Weber, in an oft quoted passage, defined charisma as a certain quality of an
> individual personality, by virtue of which [s/]he is set apart from ordinary
> [people] and treated as endowed with supernatural, superhuman, or at least
> specifically exceptional powers or qualities. These are such as are not
> accessible to the ordinary person, but are regarded as of divine origin or as
> exemplary, and on the basis of them the individual concerned is treated as a
> leader." 1"
I would suggest -- and in fact have, many times -- that a synonym for charisma
in many cases is Narcissistic Personality Disorder.
There is a weakness in many people and their basic *lack* of self confidence
and self awareness that makes them "easy prey" for those who have a surfeit of
it. They encounter someone who is so "taken with themselves" that they can
literally think of nothing and no one else and they project a bunch of
admirable qualities onto a disorder that is largely devoid of them.
I find this such a limited view and one that perhaps implies you are
threatened by smart, confident, strong people and therefore find a way of
analyzing them that makes these characteristics appear menacing and negative.
Some people on this planet are actually possessed of leadership qualities, who
are stronger and more interesting and arresting than others. These people are
not necessarily those whose world is focused around themselves any more than
anyone else. These can be human beings who are, seemingly, naturally
self-confident, look as if they were born with an ease and strength that many
others do not possess. The fact that you describe these kinds of charismatic
individuals as those who are "so taken with themselves that they can think of
nothing and no one else" is abysmally short sighted, Barry.
Think about the arrival on FFL of someone who is as classic an example of NPD
as has ever existed. Some people saw the endless "But enough talking about
me...let's talk about me" drivel as what it was and lost interest, and some
looked at the same drivel and somehow projected greatness onto it.
Now you're sounding resentful and mistaken. No one here thinks of anyone else
on this forum as "great" in the way that you mean it/imply here.
To this day, the most dismaying thing about my entire experience at FFL has
been the fact that many people here were completely *unable* to recognize two
classic psychopaths -- Ravi and Robin
This is a very heavy-handed diagnosis from someone who is not only not an
expert in any medical or psychiatric field and who lacks utter objectivity when
discussing either of these individuals. It is comically obvious that you have
never been pandered to by either Robin or Ravi and it pisses you off.
And while both of these men have given you lots of attention in the past you
didn't like the kind of attention they gave you, you simply write them off as
"psychopaths".
-- when they encountered them. Instead they admired them, became their
groupies, and in one case actually created a small cult following around them.
This is Barry's attempt at farcical interlude. But Barry, you are not a funny
man in the way you think you might be. Leave the humour to Bob, he does it
waaaayyyy better than you.
That is worrisome,
Another attempt at generating an audience chuckle or to elicit terror, I'm not
actually sure which.
especially in a group of people who claim to be
Alright, who are the one's "guilty" of "claim(ing)" this? Show of hands please.
"sophisticated spiritual seekers" who've been "on the path" for 20-30 years.
To have spent that much time theoretically studying the psychology of
enlightenment without being able to tell it from the psychology of
psychopathology is shocking.
Well, at least we know you have the low down and the situation in hand. We'll
make sure to use you as our enlightened guidepost on all things psychologically
suspect that might show up here. After all, you're the guy who never falls for
fakes.
That was fun Barry. Let's do this again.
