So the other day I was reading William Shakespeare's Hamlet all over again; and suddenly an idea struck. I noticed that Hamlet possessed an inflated sense of self-importance and self ability; a sort of god com-
Oh wait. I forgot to greet you all 😄. Good day everyone! Right. Moving on..
-plex. And I thought to myself "I could probably write an article on this!". The term on it's own wasn't new to me, but I had never really dug deep into it - so to speak. Thus; I began the usual string of research, Googling and the like. Annddddd fast forward to now..
What's a God Complex?
Know anyone with delusions of self-grandeur? Someone who feels like they are God's gift to mankind? That nobody is more important than they are? That they are always in the right and you, always in the wrong? - I mean, we have them everywhere these days!
That colleague who takes all the credit for the work you suffered to come up with? That employer always bitching about this and that; who feels like they can do no wrong? That man or woman always going "Do you know who I am?!" Someone with an ego as fat as a fucking elephant? He or she probably has a god complex.
A god complex is an indisputable belief in the superiority of one self; characterized by inflated feelings of self-importance, personal ability, and/or infallibility. These individuals consider themselves to be gods, so much so - that even in the face of proven facts, they refuse to admit the possibility of error or failure. They tend to disregard the rules of society and person, believing themselves to be unquestionably right. All. The. Time. I call them narcissists. Allow me to repeat that again -
Narcissists.
You don't ever want to come across a man or a woman, who is wealthy; with a loaded god complex. Believe me, they will fuck you up. I happen to have met a few in my life, and arrrrrrgh! Seriously, you don't want to meet them. 😠
Now the god complex is not contained in the DSM - (oh you don't know what's the DSM? Okay 😄) - and is not considered to be a clinical term or diagnosed as a disorder. But if you look up "god complex" in the dictionary, it will give you -
a person with a narcissistic personality disorder.
You can look it up. While dictionaries define a god complex as a personality disorder, the DSM does not. Interesting.
(really, you're still wondering what's the DSM?) 😄
The DSM - short for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders - is a book containing every diagnosed mental illness known to man. Literally. I've read all the volumes. 😁
So here I ask: Is a god complex merely an over inflated ego? Or is it actually a personality disorder? The two are very similar in nature.
SHORT STORY: Once upon a time in Never Never Land, there lived a Greek river god who bore a male child and called him Narcissus. Narcissus was a very beautiful boy, so beautiful - that he fell in love with his own mirror image. He was always admiring himself. One day, Narcissus sat at a lake and was observing his beauty reflected in the water. He got so caught up in his own reflection; accidentally, he stumbled, fell into the river, and drowned.
The End.
Yeahhh, you're not getting any prettier than that.. 😂
Narcissism/Inflated Ego:
Everyone of us should have a healthy ego and here's nothing wrong with that. I have to admit - I kind of have a huge ego, (lol, don't judge me 😝) - but it becomes dangerous to us, and other individuals as well when our ego's gets too big. So big that we cannot see or hear anyone else's opinion, so big that we develop small ears that only listen to what our minds tell us, so big that we fall in love with our own inages - so to speak.
I mean sure, we're all cool in our own ways, sure we're all talented folks and have achieved some lofty goals, but that doesn't make us God. Neither does it make us better than everyone else. Let's get that straight.
Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental condition in which individuals have an inflated (I seem to be using this word a lot) - sense of self-importance fueled by a need for attention and admiration. They tend to exaggerate achievements and talents, take advantage of others to get what they want, have an inability to recognize the needs and feelings of others, and expect to be recognized as superior. This attitude can cause lots of problems in their relationship with people.
In essence, (and conclusion) I think the god complex, huge ego, and narcissism all have elements in common and are interrelated. They all have similar characteristics, but only NPD is diagnosed as a disorder.
So for those of us who feel like the biggest fishes in the ocean - (This is not a direct hit on whales, just a metaphor) - try to tone it down a bit, would you? And if you can't do that, go for psychotherapy; it helps.
