Narcissus’ Cabinet of Mirrors

The mirror has long been a symbol of malignant self-love, but it is emblematic for narcissism in more ways than one.

Mirror, mirror on the wall…

A narcissist often blows a kiss to his own image, and won’t be able to resist the temptation of snapping a selfie while driving, but his favourite magnifying glass can be found only in the eyes of the admiring public. The applause animates the marionette that goes into “power” mode: gesticulating confidently, bullying the opposition and laughing at own piteous jokes.

Smoke and mirrors

If narcissists often manage to climb to the very top of the corporate or political ladder, it’s because they are ready to unashamedly crawl there on all fours, immune to ethical and moral values, juggling deception and confusion. Once installed on a throne, the ego-maniac simply becomes his job title, and therefore, will display depressive or suicidal tendencies when “unplugged” from power.

Cabinet of mirrors

No result-oriented structure will tolerate a narcissistic manager for the very simple reason: individuals with NPD wreak havoc and destruction. The only “leadership style” a narcissist knows and will implement could be labelled Cabinet of Mirrors. Narcissus the boss, will explore egotistic personality traits of his collaborators, purge the company of integrity and give plum jobs to the members of his mini-me squad. The system of rewards and sanctions will be perverted, the yes-men will be granted a bonus of impunity for humiliating and harassing dissidents.

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If given the opportunity, the narcissist will turn a company or a country in his private funhouse with distorting mirrors, using corruption and coercion as convex and concave.

Collective mirror

Narcissus will willingly play the role of “mutti” or “daddy” for the selected “golden child”, strengthening bias, and blaming the “scapegoat” for inter-group aggression. The narcissistic in-group members will quickly learn they can do no wrong; their behaviour will become increasingly arrogant out of a sense of entitlement. Quite ironically, it’s been proven and well documented that narcissistic parents actually strengthen survival skills of a scapegoat and destroy the pampered golden child. Historically speaking, human society inevitably ends up rejecting self-inflated in-groups that ooze with collective narcissism.

Broken mirror

Narcissists’ subconscious and constant fear of disclosure often results in recurring dreams about a broken mirror. What happens when the distorting mirror finally explodes and breaks into thousands of lies? The ancient Romans were the authors of the popular saying: the broken mirror brings seven years of bad luck. The length of the spell stemmed from belief that life renews itself every seven years. The superstition resulted in the creation of various antidotes, enriched over the years by peoples of the world, but there is one, invariable element of the remedy. A piece of folk wisdom that is equally applicable to more modern cabinets of mirrors teaches that we must collect all the pieces of the broken mirror and make sure that none of them can reflect anything ever again.