Evolving the Inner Narcissist
The word ‘narcissist’ is flung around quite liberally these days.
Phrases like “they’re such a narcissist” pop up frequently in conversation, often about someone I don’t know and so have no first-hand reflection of.
And while it’s true that narcissistic traits are being seen and named more clearly in others, what’s not happening quite as much is the awareness that if we recognize narcissism in someone else, and are triggered by it, there’s a strong chance that we have our own disowned inner narcissist waiting to be met and tended to.
Shadow work 101.
Yet, despite us being alive in this age of unprecedented awareness of our inner shadows - or unconscious parts - and the importance of integrating them, for some reason, not too many people want to look at the possibility of a narcissist lurking within.
As you probably know, the word ‘narcissist’ comes from the irresistibly handsome youth named Narcissus from the ancient Greek myth, also the name of the beautiful flower he eventually transmuted into at the end of the tale.
Echo & Narcissus by John William Waterhouse
This is significant. That the psychological condition of narcissism is understood in terms of the protagonist in a myth points to the narcissistic quality being archetypal in nature.
The alchemy loving wizard disguised as respectable psychoanalyst, C G Jung, (also the father of shadow integration), first coined the term archetype.
At the root of narcissism, as the unfolding of the myth shows us, is a deep wounding, a sense of fragmentation and separation from love and belonging.
And as with all shadowy wounds, they also contain the essence of their resolution and evolution: the hidden treasure within. How this treasure expresses and manifests will differ from person to person, depending on their soul’s chosen journey of individuation. The invitation of the mythic adventure is to invoke the wholehearted courage to turn towards that which we reject in self + other to discover the treasure concealed therein.
As we do this, we bring this wounded archetype back to wholeness not only in ourselves but in the world. We become the space for narcissism to transmute and evolve.
The rejected and unconscious wounded hero is one of the primary archetypal energies running amok and perpetuating systems of oppression and harm in our dominant culture today.
Shining the transformative light of awareness on the wounded hero archetype is one aspect of what we’re doing this summer in Root + Rise, guided by the story of Echo & Narcissus.
He wrote:
"The archetype concept derives from the often repeated observation that myths and universal literature stories contain well defined themes which appear every time and everywhere”.
Like Nature, Myth is a portal into universal truths. The archetypal energies within them are the organizing patterns within our individual and collective psychological structures. The patterns that we disown in ourselves become unconscious - individually and collectively - outpicturing into the distortions in our culture and society.
To zoom back in and put it bluntly, if we feel triggered by someone else’s narcissism, and/or at the notion that we too may contain narcissistic traits, then we most likely have frequencies of this archetype that we’re rejecting and making unconscious. When looked at, integrated and evolved, this rejected part will become a creative aspect of our Self, our wholeness.
Registration closes on June 30th.