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Peacock
Narcissism, entitlement and hubris are at the root of many human ills and evils. The worst behavior in our species usually arises from those with over-sized egos coupled with a maniacal sense of their own importance and power. However, the best treatment for those with egomania isn’t always in a shrink’s office. Sometimes, it’s right over our heads.
Long ago, our ancestors gazed at the heavens and imagined what we now know as stars were holes in a “roof” over the world. Lacking a sense of proportion for their surroundings, they perceived the universe as a much smaller realm and themselves as much bigger parts of it, and that helped shape an inflated sense of self. Blinded as the ancients were by a myopic vision of the world but bolstered by their increasing mastery of the environment, their heads got bigger. A few, such as pharaohs, kings and other potentates, even proposed they were divine. Some of their modern counterparts embrace a similar self-serving delusion.
But then scientists began messing with this hubris, albeit with limited success. This began in earnest with Copernicus, a 16th century astronomer who refuted the fallacy that the Earth was the center of the universe and that everything in existence revolved around us. He died shortly after publishing his evidence that our planet orbits the Sun, not the other way around, which spared him the condemnation and, most likely, persecution of religious leaders.
His revelation, while incomplete and later refined by Galileo, Kepler and others, let some air out of humanity’s ballooning sense of “Aren’t we special?” Predictably, he and others following in his footsteps were branded as heretics by those puffed-up Homo sapiens who didn’t want to lose their self-proclaimed eminence as masters of the cosmos. This “made in the image of god” mentality is alive and well today.
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Big Universe
Our presumed exceptionalism shrunk even more in 1923 when Edwin Hubble, an astronomer whose namesake telescope is orbiting our planet today, realized our galaxy, the Milky Way, did not comprise the entire universe. We have since determined that the cosmos contains countless billions of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars, making the Earth and we inhabitants indescribably miniscule. Granted, one’s standing in life is a function of impact as well as size, but when you compare human accomplishments with galactic ones or even those of the forces of nature on Earth ... well, we’re still incredibly small change.
So, one way to treat an overdose of “Aren’t I or we special?” is to become acquainted with our place in the 13.7-billion-year-old cosmos that just recently spawned our species. This can be done by learning about cosmology, stargazing or, if you’d rather stick to our planet, becoming an amateur naturalist or meteorologist. Understanding and experiencing the wonders, magnitude, power and beauty of the natural world, both in the heavens and on Earth, helps us keep our pride in check.
When egotists grace my psychotherapy office, I often recommend they acquaint themselves with ecology and astrophysics, both locally (nature) and in a galactic fashion (outer space). Most self-aggrandizing persons I’ve met harbor little understanding of or appreciation for the scope, age and majesty of the existence we inhabit. Either that or they are too drunk with self-importance to acknowledge it.
However, this isn’t a perspective-altering exercise for the self-inflated alone. Maintaining a cosmic frame of reference, rather than one based entirely on “my own little world,” helps us be our better selves by dispelling the fantasy of our dominance and prominence, both as individuals and collectively. One need not gaze at the heavens to promote this perceptual shift. The forces of nature on our planet can prove equally humbling.
As St. Augustine reminded us, “It was pride that turned angels into devils.” And it is cosmic perspective, and the humility it engenders, that can sometimes change them back.
For more, visit philipchard.com.
