Philosophy Now Forum

A self-centred person can be off-centre, and yet demand to be the centre of attention.

-1- wrote: ↑Sun Jan 28, 2018 1:53 am A self-centred person can be off-centre, and yet demand to be the centre of attention.

Like him or not, this is an apt description of Trump. Moderates think he's off-center and possibly insane. Leftists think he's off-center and extremely insane.

duszek wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2018 11:43 am A self-centered person pays attention only or mainly to himself.

How do they manage to be self-centered without getting bored ?
Do they find new interesting aspects of their own personality all the time ?

Generous contributions from personal experience are welcome.

Recently in the news, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. I read Bourdain’s first book when it was published. He was gifted.

What the hell. These people had it all.

Was it self-centered?

Walker wrote: ↑Fri Jun 08, 2018 3:53 pm

duszek wrote: ↑Sun Jan 07, 2018 11:43 am A self-centered person pays attention only or mainly to himself.
How do they manage to be self-centered without getting bored ?
Do they find new interesting aspects of their own personality all the time ?
Generous contributions from personal experience are welcome.

Recently in the news, Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain. I read Bourdain’s first book when it was published. He was gifted.
What the hell. These people had it all.
Was it self-centered?

Suicide resulting from clinical depression is always self-centered and selfish.

The perpetrator/victim of suicide does not think of how others will be affected by his action. If he has any thoughts of others, they would be self-centered thoughts. They would be about the negatively perceived behaviors of others.

Depressed people often mask their symptoms. They may smile, but this would only be a performance. They may be social with others, although they would rather not be. There are other symptoms of depression, but these would likely be masked as well.

Suicide occurs when the individual is in pain and feels helpless, hopeless and sad.

-1- wrote: ↑Thu Jan 18, 2018 9:07 pm
Eccentrics and self-centred persons are not the same. All self-centred persons are eccentrics, but not all eccentrics are self-centred.

good observation.

duszek wrote: ↑Sun Jan 21, 2018 10:58 am
A question:

Is excentricity a conditio sine qua non for any serious achievement and for creative work ?

yes i think so.

In a world where we are bombarded with constant information and indirect critique, the natural defense of a strong mind is to ignore it and build a perception of itself, that is superior to its peers.

The weak mind will, instead of superiority, begin to self loathe.

Those in the middle, are most us I guess. We try to keep up. We have good and bad days. But generally we neither loathe ourselves or are self-centered.

A strong mind knows perception, and how to use it. A weak one doesn't even want to bother.

Greta wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:48 pm It does get boring. So then you start looking outside for something more fresh.

Then that becomes troublesome so you retreat and relate the new info back to the self and then do some recontextualising, perhaps something akin to -1-'s post. Then that becomes boring and ...

Express. Be impressed upon. Express. Be impressed upon. Just another growth cycle amongst countless.

Well put, Greta. I like your explanation.

Dalek Prime wrote: ↑Thu Jun 21, 2018 6:23 am

Greta wrote: ↑Tue Jan 16, 2018 11:48 pm It does get boring. So then you start looking outside for something more fresh.

Then that becomes troublesome so you retreat and relate the new info back to the self and then do some recontextualising, perhaps something akin to -1-'s post. Then that becomes boring and ...

Express. Be impressed upon. Express. Be impressed upon. Just another growth cycle amongst countless.

Well put, Greta. I like your explanation.

Cheers D. In a sense that was the cycle of my episodic depressions caused by an insecure and unstable ego. My head wasn't quite screwed on for a long time and thus it tended to wobble a bit until eventually shored by philosophical thinking*


* I don't call what I do "philosophy" as such. I can't reference and discuss the great texts of the leading thinkers of antiquity (or even name them half the time), just to generally yabber about life the universe and everything. So the best antidote for self centredness for me was to reconnect with my budding appreciation of nature as a child that was interrupted by the social disasters of the teens and largely forgotten in the maelstrom of relational and working life.