How to be a Psychopath - chapter 5 - happiness

                                                                     ***happiness***

 

Beginning psychopaths, must accept that contentedness is not permitted. I am not suggesting you must adopt a grumpy disposition; desperate would be a more accurate characterisation. Happiness, for the purposes of this guide is defined as contentedness. The closest a psychopath can be to contentedness is in the act of self-punishment. Yes, the contradictions pile-up quickly when discussing the difference between a well-adjusted sense of happiness and the psychopaths desperate urge to seek satisfaction. One leads to flow and the other leads to demise. 

 

Psychopaths cannot be happy because  self cannot be happy, including any well-adjusted self. Psychopaths are self-obsessed; more accurately, they are self-possessed. In this way, psychopaths are destined to be manic; an endless supply of energy emerges as they desperately seek to contort their environment as they pander to self. This is true even for the most, apparently, introverted manipulator. Introverted psychopaths mask considerable turbulence characterised by excessive sensitivity. All psychopaths are hyperaware; the antenna is scoping for data constantly. The filtering of the data requires energy beyond that which a reasonably well-adjusted person would expend. Energy used for this kind of filtering, that includes wrestling with reality, creates an excessive amount of ‘leftover’ energy. This imbalance leads to obsessions. All psychopaths obsess, and in this way can never be contented.

 

Do not read: We all have ambitions and interests to which we may be stridently committed to. However, the energy given to your interests is not characterised by a desire to constantly seek self definition and validation. In other words, Your Happiness is not inexorably defined by the pursuit of something.

Psychopaths achieve a corrupt kind of contentedness when they are in the act of self-punishment. This is because, their self is constantly seeking its own reflection. Noisemaking and acting-out must become more potent over time. Psychopaths are single-minded reflection seekers; this obsession means that a decentralised self will lose sensitivity. Something like a heroin addict becoming desensitised; ultimately to maintain normal functioning they will require the consumption of an ever-increasing amount of heroine. In a similar way, the psychopath will seek increasingly more compelling reflections. This may include the possession of others (next chapter).

 

Do not read: take a moment to consider the difference between obsession and enthusiasm. Or ask the question, what objects in your life help define your sense of who you are. Objects are tangible and intangible; consider material objects and the immaterial. For example; objects of thought, regularly arising in your mind, inform you happiness. These objects should be catalysts for curiosity and investigation, or processing. For example, ‘I want to get my blackbelt in Karate’, is a thought object. You might hold this object in your attention from time to time, consider your schedule, your availability to training, your energy levels, new training techniques; you are not trying to qualify for the Olympics. In other words, it is an enjoyable, life affirming, fitness endeavour. However, if your interest in Karate is motivated by aggression and not defence, to start fights not avoid them, to subdue not elevate others, you are obsessing. Understand, the version of you, that exists for social reasons, known as self, is a manifestation of the survival instinct. In this way, psychopaths will seek to compete. Not all sore losers are psychopaths, but their sense of self is underdeveloped.

 

The skinny: Emerging psychopaths must learn to be sore losers. You should strive to be the type of person no one wants to play board games with. You will need to become a stickler for the rules and, simultaneously cheat. When you lose be sure to pass-the-buck. Learning to allocate blame away from yourself is as close to happiness as you are ever likely to be.

 

How to be a psychopath lesson 5: The pursuit of self-gratification is no gratification. The donkey you are will never reach the carrot. But if the wind is blowing in the right direction, you might smell the carrot that could-have-been.