How to be a Psychopath - chapter 2 - ego

                                                                             ***ego***

Do not read: Hopefully, chapter 1 acclimatised you to the isolating of self. Never fear if you do not have a clear sense of self as extending from somewhere within. For the purposes of this guide it is not necessary; if you would like to go down that Rabbit hole click here. However, accept that self is a construction or creation of your own crafting. It is difficult to distinguish between the crafter and the self it creates, even though we regularly 'talk' to self as the crafter of it. We have all admonished our-selves, often when looking in the mirror, we say to our-selves, I'm not happy with myself...for saying that dumb thing at the party. Consider, who is the ‘I’ that is not happy with the self? We are hardwired to refer to self in this way; like a puppet being manipulated by an essential or foundational version of you. Keep this in mind as we explore ego.

After your-self has become less sophisticated future psychopaths must then dumb down their ego. This is easy in some ways and less easy in ways concerning the true purpose of ego. Ego is your power pack. For wannabe psychopaths this is good news. Yes, ego can be the dirty word you want it to be - assertiveness, arrogance, domination and want appear to be available and necessary. It is important that the individual evolving, or devolving, into a psychopath adopt a one-dimensional view of ego. Like a three-year-old child, you must be ‘me’ orientated. Any perceived threat to your survival will trigger a contracted sense of ego. It is therefore, necessary to exaggerate and misplace your perceptions of a threat.

Do not read: Ego is not a dirty word. For those who have an expansive sense of ego it is a force that builds. Ego is necessary for the building of community. It can be understood as the energy that binds two agents of creation together. Or in other words, powers your complement of social tools; collectively they are known as self. Ego operates in the individual as the gunpowder that pushes the projectile; it is the motivation to engage love, compassion, concession, joy, etc. Intent, as determined by the social circumstances, gives rise to love and joy, etc. If that intent is working towards the expansion of your community congratulations, you are expressing a well-developed ego. The psychopath can mimic love and appreciation towards the controlling of others; this restricts community and leads to gaslighting. Their sense of ego is like that of a child, it is ‘me’ focused. In adolescence ego becomes a ‘we’ enabler; it wants to help strengthen the bonds that define its village. Later in life ego must become ‘us’ orientated; it must help build bridges between villages and develop global awareness. Psychopaths use ego exclusively to power their ability to mimic; their representations can appear to be very genuine. Often however, they will be exposed because they struggle to finish what they start or they become addicted to launching initiatives they quickly loose interest in.

The challenge, for the emerging psychopath, is to arrest ego development or to unlearn a multidimensional appreciation of it. In this way, a considerable amount of energy must go into the enslaving of others. These binds are best made by ensnaring those closest to you. In this way, family and friends are readily available for manipulation. The bridges you build that enables you to exploit their empathy will eventually burn. But empathetically, friends and family will let the bridge smoulder considerably before they let the flames take hold. So long as you give yourself time to scoot across to the next bridge first before they collapse. Be warned, all the bridges thereafter will burn much quicker. Eventually they will begin to collapse beneath your feet.

Do not read: It would be convenient, if there were x-ray glasses that allowed you to see an underdeveloped ego approach, before it was introduced to your parents, and you bought a dog together. Yes, looking for an adult who is energetically selfish, but not going as far as kicking and screaming in the shopping isle like a three-year-old, may not be too difficult. However, the adult tantrum can be a still-water-running-deep type of situation, and that water can be still for a very long time. Acting-out will eventuate but it will happen when they have control of the environment and cannot be observed to be compromising their social viability. So, where can you get a pair of those glasses? Fortunately, the still water does run and the devil we be in the details, literally. Look for Jekyll and Hyde behaviour; they are affable and self-depreciating in public, but in the privacy of your company they become harsh and immovable. I am not referring to a point of etiquette; there are some matters that a couple may need to discuss in private concerning what is fair and reasonable public disclosure. By Jekyll and Hyde I mean, a response that is disproportionate. Aggressive reactions to minor slights that appear to come from nowhere. 

 

The skinny: ‘Me’, ‘we’ then ‘us’; stop before ‘we’. This is no easy feat. You may need invoke the three-year-old you once were. Ego is another word for ‘I’, I is a word used to describe an essential version of your being; that enables oneness and community. The budding psychopath must ignore this dimension of ego. This contraction will be painful to sustain, and it will attract obstructions and aggression. But if you are prepared for isolation and ostracization then ego can be dumbed down. 

How to be a psychopath lesson 2: Ego can be a dirty word; very muddy. But using it as a beauty treatment is not worth the price you will pay for disrespecting it.