Covert personalities are not who they appear to be. They know how to look good but don’t care much about actually being good. By the time you figure out who they really are, you’ve already invested much and a lot of damage has been done.
Malignant narcissists are shameless characters. And they prove and important point: not all shame is inherently toxic or detrimental to one’s self-image.
Folks exiting toxic relationships with character-impaired charmers can easily fall into the trap of spending time and energy trying to get others to see what they came to see the hard way.
We once widely regarded truth as the “best policy.” That’s partly because we understood that it always outs in the end. But it’s also because the it mattered to us more than it seems to these days.
Some folks don’t just boast of greatness. They actually believe in their superiority. And they rarely waver in that conviction even in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
Narcissists cannot really love because they can’t get beyond themselves. Some can charm convincingly, making you think it’s all about you. But when you scratch below the surface, you’ll find that it’s always really about them.
Some narcissists primarily want attention. Others just want to be right, justified – affirmed. More pathological narcissists seek adulation. And the most pathological narcissists want to be adored. Legends in their own minds, they consider themselves worthy of worship.
For a culture steeped in egocentricity, entitlement, relativism, and permissiveness to change, hearts must change first. But as they do, this age of narcissism will eventually come to an end.