A compliment paid reveals but what one desires, and a criticism brings to light what, within oneself, one most fears or reviles. The truth of one's remark lies, perhaps, only in the varying degrees of the generosity of the soul.
There is no generosity without self-knowledge. For only one able to view the world as independent of one's own self -- not indifferent but invested with responsibility -- can be generous. Generosity requires courage: to view the world as independent of oneself means to have envisaged a world from which one is absent. And that is also the highest form of self-knowledge.
Narcissism is the opposite of generosity. For the narcissist, the world's existence stands in causal relation to the existence of the self. A narcissist views the world selectively: only that which sheds a positive light on his person is worth preserving. It is in the nature of narcissism to destroy everything else and, in doing so, to feel justified by safeguarding a part of himself.
There is no generosity without self-knowledge. For only one able to view the world as independent of one's own self -- not indifferent but invested with responsibility -- can be generous. Generosity requires courage: to view the world as independent of oneself means to have envisaged a world from which one is absent. And that is also the highest form of self-knowledge.
Narcissism is the opposite of generosity. For the narcissist, the world's existence stands in causal relation to the existence of the self. A narcissist views the world selectively: only that which sheds a positive light on his person is worth preserving. It is in the nature of narcissism to destroy everything else and, in doing so, to feel justified by safeguarding a part of himself.
