The Inspired Narcissist

Clark-Kenny, Carrie Frances. (2005). The Inspired Narcissist: Recovering the Narcissistic Wound Through Renewed Individual, Cultural and Environmental Experience (Doctoral dissertation, Pacifica Graduate Institute, 2005). UMI _.

The proposed hypothesis of this study is that establishing a relationship with the world-other-than-self heals narcissism. The relationship between the ego and Self is proposed to mirror the relationship the individual holds with the world-other-than-self. The world-other-than-self is the means by which Self communicates to the individual through objects, people, and nature.

“Cultural structures” such as myth and art help to bridge the separations between individuals, the culture, and the natural world as human beings experience it. Book 3 of Ovid’s Metamorphoses provides the means for an integral approach to the relationship the individual shares with herself, the other, and the larger community. The myth of Narcissus and Echo especially is conceived of as an object that, once listened to, reveals a meaningful connection to life. The core theme of loss reveals the grief at play in the individual’s relationship to the world-other-than-self.

A phenomenological perspective replaces a seemingly isolated experience of life with one that reflects relationships with the world-other-than-self. Reciprocal relating heals the individual and the Earth. To know the world, one must discern distinct boundaries and simultaneously open oneself to experiencing it. The consequence of this opportunity is that communion and communication may arise in an authentic relationship. For the individual, discovering the dynamics that establish the narcissistic aspect of oneself initiates a process of Self awareness that creates life as a meaningful dialogue.

Through language and the story of suffering as we perceive it and speak it, narcissism is revealed as a potential root of awareness of the very meaning of life. The recovery of meaning in this particular myth establishes a relationship, direct and sustained, to the cyclic nature and rhythm of life and death.

“Cultural structures” mediate experience and meaning for the individual. The production of three artistically rendered medicine chests, each related to the themes explored in the study, affirm that inspiration is available to the narcissist who is willing to breathe in loss and the accompanying grief of an individual, cultural, and environmental experience in profound need of healing.