“Megalomania is a recorded psychiatric
illness that consists of overestimating ones abilities.
Megalomania translates into
an immoderate desire for power, the projected version of an irresistible love
of self. It should not surprise, then,
that from the hands of those megalomaniacs spring aggressive villas, palaces
festooned with Jacuzzis, pinnacles of Romanesque splendor, decadent,
extravagant, orgiastic. “
“To defy the years, to build
for the centuries, to construct to endure, to fashion the horizon for coming
generations, to imagine the world as a river whose shores you are forming, to
take both natural disasters and riots in stride. To believe yourself a demiurge, more eternal
than wars, than schisms, than revolutions.
To crush fellow humans, to engrave your name on the sides of mountains,
to erect statures and palaces, to launch fleets of airplanes emblazoned with
your signature, your logo, your face. To
be first; to speak loudest; to show off; to embrace vulgarity, to flaunt your
bankroll and throw you r money around; to dazzle with the glitter of diamonds,
crying “Me! Me! I know!” Me alone.
To be on a first name basis with God.
To be no more than your own overdeveloped ego; to become drunk with narcissism…to
be a megalomaniac.”
“Megalomania is universal,
timeless, always contemporary. To it we
owe bad habits, conflicts, and massacres but also small islands of extravagant
blisss, corners of paradise, masterpieces, poems ad monuments, songs and
laments.”
“Megalomania; Too Much Is Never Enough”
by Philippe Tretiack
An Assouline book
This is nothing new and will
never be over. As I travel the world I
am constantly reminded of this obsession, compulsion, and egomania. Is it part of all of us, human characteristic
that explodes in some of us? It is
obvious to realize as seen in the great emperors, politicians, the jet setters,
the rock stars, architects of constructs that change landscapes and cities,
even the man and the moon. It is obvious
we are devoured in this megalomania and narcissism with Facebook, MySpace,
twitter, reality shows, etc. I can go on
and on. It is our reality, especially in
the states. We “use” the neurosis to
create fame for ourselves as a “look at me” nation. Fashion, fame, and rock and roll. Bigger diamonds on the necks of rappers. Faster cars, even though we have nowhere to
drive them. Larger homes that we can
ever possibly use. Paying athletes (who
are deemed larger than life). Ridiculous
salaries to play a game a small percentage of people could ever play. Giving our next generations unrealistic
expectations to live up to because aren’t all the generations behind us
supposed to be better?
After going to the San Telmo
Museum in San Sebastian and visiting the film exhibit from the last 80 years,
it came to our attention the reality of this megalomania is like a plague. You have the ability to create yourself in
any light you want. The famous are so
vulnerable that we expect them to live up to our values, especially because
they appear to us in our living rooms, bedrooms, iPhones, and computers daily,
therefor they must be a literal part of our every day life? Right?
Why do we place the rich and famous on pedestals? Worship them, only to be let down by their
inadequacies, human behavior, and mistakes most of us make possibly more than once
in our lifetime. It’s like we are in
search of a spectacle and then when it happens, we react with disgust and
disappointment. When is it going to be
enough stuff, enough face time, fame, and all so real, megalomania? We have created an alter realism through
technology. How different is it from the
days of the gladiators? Maybe we will
just go back to that, everything right in your face because we have been so desensitized
there is nothing left to entertain our psyche.
How do you measure in this
megalomania? I surely can see some of
these aspects appearing in myself at times.
Seriously, I have a Facebook page, a website, a twitter account
too.
As a wise old man said "Be simple and sincere". Hmm?
