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.

In Depth

Will “boundary violation” ever be restored to its pristine meaning of a border dispute between countries, rather than the current psychological jargonese referring to an intrusion into someone's personal space? It makes you wonder about how language gets hijacked to describe inner states. What is anxiety? What depression? What the depraved indifference to human life of the sociopath? 

   

To be human is to be neurotic, so why refer to something according to Merriam Webster if it only constitutes a slightly lesser form of distortion than psychosis itself? Why does narcissism get such a bad rap? Narcissus was no different than a lot of other people who fall in love with themselves. Those whose interests fall consistently within the self are described as “self involved,” but how do these egotistical individuals differ from so called “normal,” perceiving selves, filled with appetites and desires that are reflective of bodily needs? Is the need to defecate or urinate a sign of self-involvement? Is sexual discharge selfish?

   

An epistemological cop is needed to police the systems of knowledge gathering and categorization. Pop psychology lacks depth, while depth psychology merely describes the epidermis, but lacks guts.

   

Sea Hunt, the popular ‘50s radio program and TV series, was more than an adventure series. It was one of the first televised attempts to represent unconscious thought processes, succeeded by The Avengers with Diana Rigg and Patrick Macnee. Is it more profitable to visit the Museum of Broadcasting than to undertake therapy? It’s certainly less expensive, especially if your disposable income is invested in tax-free municipals.

   

This or that pronunciamento is regarded as a profound meditation on man’s place in the universe. But what can be deeper than the sound of the bubbles an aqualung makes as it accompanies divers under water? What’s more fearful than the clash of metal as a submarine torpedo makes contact with a destroyer? Speaking of depth psychology, Jacqueline Bisset’s opening wet tee shirt seen in The Deep (l977) should be added to the syllabus.