/lit/ - Literature

>>18599543
>>18599501
Narcissism, or egoism, and it's self-reflection is one step described in the posts. The second, which can be--though in my opinion, doesn't have to be--brought on by higher education, or preferably life experience, is the ability to examine the narcissistic personality/ego/particular/I/subjective/whatever you want to call it, against the universal/objective/external reality of what is beyond the first stage.

The synthesis and perpetual navigation, or ability to observe and detail such a navigation, is what makes good artists good artists, and arguably good people good people. It represents physical, spiritual, psychological, and perhaps even natural, balance.

Failure to reconcile these two principles and balance them in the day-to-day is what leads to, in my opinion, a dysfunctional, unstable, and decaying personality, maybe even soul. That doesn't mean you have to be in perfect balance all the time--I don't think that's the point of the human experience, and even the people who are venerated to have accomplished such a feat clearly, in some way, display dysfunctional and unbalanced personalities.

But it's the pursuit of such a goal, and at the very least, the recognition of its significance, for both the individual, and the community, that is meaningful.