“It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” ~Krishnamurti
“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
As long as the majority of people in our society hold wealth, beauty, status, and fame to be preeminent values – while at the same time, social media and a debt-based economy offer an easy means of inflating the self – modern society will only become more narcissistic. When wealth occupies a higher position than wisdom, when notoriety is admired more than dignity, and when success is more important than self-respect, the culture itself overvalues the image and must be regarded as narcissistic. The persistence of narcissism shows that humanity is far away from reaching its most serious potential – not only is critical thinking scarce, but emotional intelligence is not a state of mind that is accepted by most people. Our culture promotes, encourages, and rewards narcissism and anti-social behaviors such as greed and egomania. This causes people to cultivate these traits even if they aren’t natural to them.
