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Thursday 28 December 2023 Baltazar Gracian's Aphorism #218: Never act from Obstinacy but from Knowledge. All obstinacy is an abcess of the mind, a grandchild of passion which never did anything right. There are persons who make a war out of everything--the real banditti of intercourse. All that they undertake must end in victory; they do not know how to get on in peace. Such men are fatal when they rule and govern, for they make a faction out of what should be a government, and enemies out of those whom they ought to regard as colleagues. But when others recognise their perverse humour, all revolt against them and learn to overturn their chimerical plans. Then they succeed in nothing but only heap up a mass of troubles, since everything serves to increase their disappointment. Nothing can be done with such monsters except to flee from them, even to the ends of the earth, where the savagery is easier to bear than their loathsome nature. My interpretation: Most of us have known people who act out of pure ego and the desire to control, which is the meaning I am ascribing to "obstinacy" based on Gracian's description of the characteristic. I would use the words "malignant narcissist" instead. This is a person to whom the needs for control and self-satisfaction are so core to his/her being that they leave no room for reason, empathy, restraint, or love. The person may mimic these emotions in order to function more effectively, but he/she never reallly feels them because people are either objects to be arranged for his satisfaction or they are enemies to be conquered without mercy. Feigning feelings in a realistic manner is the trickery part--the chimerical plans. Gracian is correct. When you recognize such a monster, you should go "no contact"...and mean it. | |
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