solipsist

Do you know anyone who is extremely self-absorbed and doesn’t think about the perspectives or needs of others? I sure do! Those people are called solipsists. We all have someone in our life who is selfish and narcissistic.

In Greek mythology, Echo falls in love with Narcissus, but Narcissus is not interested. Echo longs for Narcissus until she withers away and only her voice is left. Meanwhile, Narcissus stops for a drink and when he sees his reflection in the water of the pool, he falls hopelessly in love—with himself.

Even though the bible does not use the specific termn narcissism, there are many scriptures that do talk about it. Jesus encountered those people and dealt with them by not giving them time or power. We, as consumers of mass media, have given much of our time, money, power and cravings to social media, Netflix, HBO, Crave and technology.

And that leads us to the rebooted, modern myth of Narcissus:

Narcissus, while walking through a house of a king discovers an enchanted box—flickering with untold realities and enchanting stories. When Narcissus sits down and starts to watch, he quickly falls in love with the oh-so-beautiful people he sees. And while he often vows to get up, he decides that he’ll just finish this episode, this series, this spin-off. And over time he starts to transform, first losing his youth, his beauty, his luster, the spark in his eye. Then as the months go by, he widens, turns palid, and eventually morphs into a large brown tuber, often known as the couch potato, but whose Latin name is Solanum narcissum.

from: Reflecting on the Modern Myth of Narcissus - by Eric Assadourian (May 26, 2021 Gaianism)

And so, when we get transfixed on wanting to be like the images we see at the movies, on television and social media, remember that…

 …each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. James 1: 14-15