The Narcissist, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit

What goes on in the mind of the Narcissistic Boaster?

I wait for you to admire me, to reflect back to me my astuteness. Accomplishments. Attractiveness. I am quite irresistible, you know.

And because my essence emanates these extraordinary qualities, it will take no effort on my part before you recognize them.

And applaud me. Compliment me. Orient your attention on me. 

Me.

If you try to steal my glory, you will find yourself eclipsed.

After all, it is I with whom you are competing.

With omnipotent self-assurance, Boaster patterned persons follow in the footsteps of their namesake, the Greek god Narcissus, who according to legend, fell in love with his own reflection in a pool.

Paul understood the Narcissistic pattern. Of his years as Saul of Tarsus, Paul wrote: “I was so enthusiastic about the traditions of my ancestors that I advanced head and shoulders above my peers in my career” (Gal 1:13-14). 

Christ was unimpressed. On the road to Damascus, Saul was confronted and rendered helpless; made temporarily blind, in fact. This was followed by three years in the desert. 

And then…Paul writes, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit,” Paul says. “Let us not become conceited, competing against one another, envying one another” (Gal 5:25-26).

These are the words of one who chose to face and surrender his Narcissistic pattern to God. Of one whose core fear was being replaced by actualizing trust. “For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son” (Rom 1:9). The Spirit is the source of Paul’s serving God through his spirit. Paul’s spiritual core is yielded to God, flowing with the rivers of living water in an actualizing rhythm of weakness and strength, love and assertion. Paul did not secure such a life in the Spirit; rather, he risked realizing it imperfectly, as does anyone who grows in Christ.

Risking trust in the Lord. How? “The Spirit assists us in our weaknesses; for we do not know for what we should pray as we ought, but the Spirit makes appeal (in our behalf) with inarticulate groanings” (Rom 8:26-27). 

Fear is still present. Anxiety still spirals in wormy wisps within one’s spiritual core. But the Spirit employs the vulnerability one feels, gently handling the enormity of one’s weaknesses, and intercedes on one’s behalf. A person prays with the visceral immediacy of one’s whole being—mind and heart, body and spirit—by enlisting the help of the Holy Spirit, who understands the mind of God.

The Spirit’s aim is not to eliminate a person’s humanity, but to work through it with the “water of rebirth and renewal” (Titus 3:5). For it is the Holy Spirit who circumcises the heart so that the righteousness required by the Torah is fulfilled by those who walk in the Spirit (cf. Rom 8: 4).

The result of such surrender? Receiving as gift a growing core trust in the Spirit. Trust that erases core fear sufficiently for one’s personality to work for good; to be conformed by that same Spirit into one’s unique image of Christ.

As the spiritual core is opened to the cleansing flow of the rivers of living water, the core grows more free from the tyrannies of one’s narrowness (cf. 1 Cor 3:18-23).

For more, read:

COMPASS PSYCHOTHEOLOGY: 

WHERE PSYCHOLOGY and THEOLOGY REALLY MEET

How Does The Trinity Relate to One Another?

The New Testament in particular offers insight into the inner life of God: a life that can be understood in terms of the rhythms of the Self Compass.

The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit act in perfect concert, orchestrating the rhythms of humble strength and caring assertion in their interaction with one another (cf. Jn 1:33-34; 14:16, 26; 16:13-15; 20:21-22). “For there are three who bear witness in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit; and these three are one” (1 Jn 5:7 NKJV).

Consider how in the incarnation the Son humbly submits to the Father’s will, while the Spirit caringly asserts himself to impregnate Mary. “The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God’” (Lk 1:35 NKJV). And the baptism in the Jordan River. As Jesus was “coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. And a voice came from heaven, ‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.’ And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness” (Mk 1:10-12). 

Jesus surrendering. The Father gratified. The Spirit compelling.

Trust and courage. Humility and esteem. Three in one.

With an economy that could leave one breathless, Jesus says, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who comes from the Father, he will testify on my behalf” (Jn 15:26).

Surely the Trinity is a life of identity, intimacy, and community. Each person expressing the compass polarities of love/assertion and weakness/strength in rhythmic dialogue with the others.

Intradivine Love/Assertion

“Father,” Jesus prays, “I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world” (Jn 17:24). A heartfelt request. An assured response.

After the mission of the seventy was realized by the assertive power of the Spirit, “in that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Spirit” (Lk 10:21 NKJV). Love-filled jubilation, conjoined with all the might there is. Expressed too, in the Father’s joy as he pays tribute to his Son: “Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:9-11 NKJV).

Intradivine Weakness/Strength

“The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing,” Jesus says, “for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise” (Jn 5:19). Yet there is no doubt of Christ’s self-confidence in relationship to his Father: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower” (Jn 15:1). Strength, perfectly balanced with weakness, in non-competitive surrender.

Jesus explains that he has the authority to decide about his own life: “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father” (Jn 10:18). The Son is decisive and obedient. The Father, deferent and in charge. 

In his Jordan River baptism, Jesus surrenders in weakness to the Spirit’s strength. In his healing ministry, Christ is aware that his power comes from the Holy Spirit (Lk 4:18-19). Indeed, Jesus’ consciousness of the Spirit of God empowering him to speak and act is basic to his mission. In turn, when the Son is resurrected to the Father, the Holy Spirit acts on behalf of the Son, spreading the Word throughout the world.

For more, see:

COMPASS PSYCHOTHEOLOGY:

Where Psychology & Theology Really Meet