People I have difficulty with understanding are sociopaths. But I won’t find that out until later so I give everyone the benefit of the doubt.
One may find it difficult to truly understand a sociopath until they have taken the time to piece together their personality and identified the discrepancies that hold the different aspects together.
It might be easier to think of them as a selfish person that doesn't take other people’s human values into consideration, but I don't believe they need to be selfish in a traditional sense of the word. They can care about another person, as an extension of their own ego, rather than the subconscious admittance that another person may also have their own awareness.
Ego definition - "http://www.wordreference.com/definition/ego"
The part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity.
This would explain a desire for recognition with an inability to comprehend that they could be selfish people rooted deep down.
Ego definition - "http://www.wordreference.com/definition/ego"
The part of the mind that mediates between the conscious and the unconscious and is responsible for reality testing and a sense of personal identity.
This would explain a desire for recognition with an inability to comprehend that they could be selfish people rooted deep down.
It could be suggested that all humans are sociopaths when it comes to an instinctive and fundamental level. However the subconscious is supposed to be some sort of barrier between instinct and humanity. We all have selfish survival instincts, but the subconscious manages to keep those instincts where they belong, or self awareness just uses those instincts without question or thought
The feelings that a truly selfless person gets doesn’t need to be an extension of one's ego, a self gratifying measure. Displaying abandonment is not necessarily something required for survival. (Obviously pack mentality may complicate this, but I don't believe everything is like that. A belief that I can't prove, and may be proven wrong in the future. I consider TRUE selflessness to be anti-Darwin. How is this possible if we’re all selfish deep down? Our race just wouldn't survive.
The feelings that a truly selfless person gets doesn’t need to be an extension of one's ego, a self gratifying measure. Displaying abandonment is not necessarily something required for survival. (Obviously pack mentality may complicate this, but I don't believe everything is like that. A belief that I can't prove, and may be proven wrong in the future. I consider TRUE selflessness to be anti-Darwin. How is this possible if we’re all selfish deep down? Our race just wouldn't survive.
This explains my belief in the importance of the subconscious.
So it’s evident to me that sociopaths must have something missing, not the subconscious, but something I don't really know (Maybe somebody can comment below their ideas). They are people like the rest of us, and alienation is not the purpose of this at all! I’m establishing what I believe construes the difference between a sociopath and a non-sociopath. Whatever you decide to do with this, whether it's to fuel your underlying bias, or to take this with a pinch of salt and adopt a thought you might agree with is up to you.
I have a friend that’s a sociopath, and we get on most the time. It’s a bit odd sometimes knowing his connection to me may based on something I don’t understand, and possibly based upon something within his own ego boundary, but I’m cool with that.
The issue is that I don’t know if our friendship can be of the same type as some of my other friendships. I know that he has stolen from me, and has no trouble in lying about it, but I know he’s not doing it because he’s a malicious person. He doesn't hate me and he hasn't done anything nasty because it's not in his interests at all. I just have to make sure that he can’t steal from me, or take advantage of me in any way. Once I have established clear boundaries on what he can and can't do (And he’ll know about it if he breaks the boundaries), there is no possibility that he’d be interested by using me in that way. This would be the case whether he wanted to breach the boundaries or not. It's important to make sure you can't be manipulated by anybody, regardless of their personality etc.
This is a question that has been bugging me for a couple of weeks now… Is it morally wrong to manipulate a sociopath? Keep into consideration the drives that this person has. As long as he’s content, then there’s no problems on his end. So surely if I was to give him what he wanted, in exchange for anything he can give to get what he wants, it would be acceptable?
It could seem like an infringement of his human rights because it's a concept that could be considered degrading, but think of it like Feminists disagreements with the Porn Industry. Because he is thriving, doing something that he wants to do, it’s a glorification of his rights?
Please give your comments on your thoughts on the subject, and let me know if I’m way off the mark (Or if I’ve said something right!)
Update! - 18:30, 04/11/12
I was having an IM conversation with a close friend on the subject, and he had these views. I've copy pasted the convo:
No comments:
Post a Comment