Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Pornosophy: What Happens When You Fall in Love With Yourself?



“Narcissus” by Caravaggio
Have you ever looked in the mirror and got turned on by the sight of yourself naked? Come on. You can be honest. We’re only as sick as our secrets. But the fact is if your answer is yes then you need help. You’re a real sickie. It’s nice to be aware that the sight of your body may turn others on and it’s part of the reality principle when you realize that it’s time to turn down the lights, when the veins, little rolls of cellulite and wrinkles start to impinge on your once youthful frame. But if you move from the stage where you look at yourself feeling “that's not bad" to the point where you actually find yourself jerking off to the thought of your own naked body, then you have to see a therapist. In The Art of Loving Erich Fromm pointed out that you have to love yourself before you can love someone else. But he wasn’t talking about physical love. When you get the hots for yourself then it’s time to get help--since it’s going to make it hard to get interested in others. Self-involvement is probably not listed as a disorder in the DSM-5 and there probably are not enough people who display this physicalized form of self-interest for the syndrome to be recognized as a recognized pathology, whose treatment would be covered by insurance. Still it’s not something that should be left untreated since lusting after the self, as has been noted in the case of Narcissus, can lead to extreme behavior. Remember? The famous mythological character drowned when he fell for his own image in a pond.

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