I'd say I was at risk of narcissism back in my teenage years. That is, until I laid brutal philosophical and spiritual assault on to my self-image (ego?) at the time, and gave in to the hard-hitting realisation that the map is not the territory.

Thanks for the write up. Clarity on subjects such as this are increasingly important in a world where everyone is seeking validation and to be told they're already on the right path.

"Most of our so-called research and reasoning consists merely of finding arguments to go on believing as we already do." - James Harvey Robinson, and I always find myself coming back to this one.

Intellectual materialism is what I refer to as something like one who collects thoughts and opinions to wear and display as readily and openly as a piece of clothing. It's especially prevalent in people who are interested in self-affirming belief systems and ideologies.

After having my fair share of experiences of literal religious cults, alongside a whole underground of people with divisive tribal political ideologies, it's no surprise I've also dealt with a ridiculous number of narcissists. I probably wouldn't be able to say these things if I remained uncritical myself and ended up becoming a narcissist. There'd be too much at stake!

Each of these "parts" is deserving of entire standalone pieces, but you have done a great job in summarising things here and detailing the interconnections between them.

Glad I found your work. I'll be keeping up to date.