According to some, it is the source of everything that poisons our minds and society. But a dose of narcissism is necessary for our development…
Long before the war in Ukraine, the media were already trying to decipher the psychological springs of Vladimir Putin. And commentators point to the Russian leader’s propensity to put himself forward in heroic postures: on horseback bare-chested, scuba-diving in Lake Baikal, at the controls of a water bomber during the summer fires 2010… A good example of an oversized ego, considers Toulouse psychiatrist Laurent Schmitt in his book The ball of ego (Odile Jacob, 2014).
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“Self is hateful”wrote the philosopher Pascal in the Thoughts. In Greek mythology, the congeners of Icarus affected by hubris, excess, those who wanted to compete with the gods, risked the worst punishments. The first of the seven deadly sins is pride. This “quiet assurance of being different from ordinary mortals, of feeling superior and of holding the truth”constitutes for Laurent Schmitt a real « prison ».
Our ego…
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