Narcissus
Narcissus did not expect, when he looked into the stream, to find in his hair a serpent coiled to strike, nor, when he looked in his own eyes there, to be met with a look of hate, nor, in general, to discover in himself the center of inexplicable ugliness from which he would be bound to avert himself. On the contrary, he sought out his image everywhere because it was the principle of his nature to do so and, to go a step beyond that, because it was a principle of his nature, as it is of ours, to expect to find pleasure in what he found.
Narcissism, then involves something beyond the prime sense of the word. It involves, also, this principle, that as we seek out our resemblances we expect to find pleasure in doing so; that is to say, in what we find. So strong is the expectation that we find nothing else.
— excerpt, Three Academic Pieces p. 80-81, by Wallace Stevens from The Necessary Angel, published 1951
I included these lines from Wallace Stevens for a friend who added comment to a past post. The comment mentioned Narcissism, which usually has a negative connotation. These words from Stevens, a widely respected poet, suggest that it is our nature to seek pleasure in what we see, and that this is a driving force in the origination of metaphor in the composition of poetry.
2 thoughts on “Narcissus”
I would agree that our own image (for most of us) is one that is generally pleasing for the simple reason that it reinforces our sense that we still exist. It gives us reassurance that the specter of our own skin reflected back to us notes our continued existence. The negative connotation of narcissism, I believe, comes from some who become obsessed with themselves, either based on their own perception of physical “beauty” or the power that some perceive etched into their very being. This leads many of these uber narcissists to equate entitlement with a sense of self, going well beyond what is healthy for the community at large and for the individual who is mired in self-admiration. In addition, this view of the world and themselves has a huge deleterious effect creating people who have lost all empathy, sympathy, and curiosity as we see in character of the current resident of the White House and so many of his followers.
I doubt that the President has a high opinion of himself. I’d wager that he is constantly demanding that everyone around him, with no exceptions, accede to his wishes in order to certify that he is a worthy human being. I have been in the presence of a few people who have had such low self regard that their compensation was dangerous to others. Thankfully this is rare, as there are few such sociopaths.