I know personally that I could never date another narcissist. There might be the initial honeymoon period where you’re taken by the novelty of having somebody that understands your symptoms perfectly but trouble is sure to arise in the form of competition. This becomes troubling when one partner is significantly more successful or “active” than the other — the more “passive” party will likely develop resentment towards the other’s achievements. It is not, of course, impossible for a dynamic like this one to work. I think in some certain situations the jealousy/competitiveness symptom may be absent. For example, I don’t feel a need to compete at all with my girlfriend, although she is borderline and not a narcissist. My only experience with this dynamic comes from friendships and my own reactions in my interpersonal relationships with other Cluster Bs, so take it with a grain of salt. I’m interested to hear from any couple that consists of two narcissists, actually. I never considered how two would function in a relationship together.

I think he must be stupid. Or maybe the big Pavel is conflicted on which Pavel he is. If you look at yourself from the inside can you tell whether you are the Big or the Little You? I think I’d be the big Pavel. But what if there is another, bigger Pavel looking down at me laughing at me for thinking that of myself? And what if there is another Bigger Pavel looking and laughing at him? It’s a horrible ouroboros I don’t want to think about

My faith has been something that has persisted throughout my lifetime, even during times of hardship or when I'd given up hope. I believe that faith like this isn't something difficult to achieve if you view God as someone with a personal connection to you -- someone that you can talk to, rather than the unattainable higher power that He's advertised as in the modern day. He has that power, of course, but an inability to visualise Him as somebody that you can have a personal relationship with due to how much more important He is than all of us is typically what I see leading to loss of faith more often than not. I believe that the view of God as somebody who owes you anything is a particularly selfish way of thinking, one that is indicative of the attitudes of the time we live in. I talk to God regularly and trust that He listens, which has worked out for me thus far. I’m in a far better place because of it than I thought I ever could be. I don’t have doubts in any persistent way, but it becomes hard for me to hold on to what is real and what isn’t during episodes. When my psyche delves into the fear of death, it often spirals into visualising what comes after as something tangible, and even if that something is God it’s a terrifying thought. Human beings by nature cannot visualise death, or life after it, because we exist in a form that was made solely for this world, and for life. The thought that plagues me is the instant that I die itself – when my soul will move and shift to take an entirely different form than the one I lived my entire life with, and I will be forced to confront myself. I think that’s why death is so widely feared: The whole process of it is a confrontation of everything you had done over the course of your life. This is typically where the doubts creep in, and I start to fear what would happen to my soul if it turns out that I were wrong. I say that these doubts are not persistent because I am usually able to pull myself together when out of these thought-spirals and remind myself of the connection that we are able to share with God, one where we talk with Him, and it calms me. This opinion may be controversial, but I believe that by nature of human error the bible is in some ways flawed. Many of the stories in it were not written as primary sources but rather travelled by word of mouth before being written. This introduces a large margin of error in terms of authenticity as word of mouth storytelling has reliably proven to fall victim to exaggeration or reconstructive memory processes that would change how each person along the chain told the story that was eventually written down. Along with some of these stories having traveled through at least 2 languages before being written by the Greeks… it leaves us with a picture that is not very reliable. It’s worth noting as well that the Greeks were likely already prone to allegorical writing due to the nature of the language and the writings of Greek Mythology. That being said, I believe it’s a healthy mix of both. I believe a lot of the stories from Jesus’ life were literal in their writing, and the next time I do a read through I’ll mark down stories I believe to be allegorical in order to post a comprehensive part two here. One specific story I can point out as something I view as allegorical specifically is the story of Adam and Eve, though it is likely factual that all human life began in one concentrated area such as it’s told in the story. In general I use the bible as a guide for how to act in my day to day and I believe the stories told there have meaning whether literal or allegorical. A lot of what is written are guidelines that I believe even non-Christians would benefit from following, as a large portion of God’s teachings are guidelines to make the world a better place for more people. (Love Thy Neighbor, etc.) I believe, though, that the most important thing to prioritize in your faith is your own personal connection with God, and what you believe because of that. Morality is a subject I could debate for ages. A code of morality is something inherently personal to every single person and that interests me immensely. A ‘societal moral code’ is something that exists as well and has changed throughout the ages, often being influenced by religion. It’s difficult for us as humans to comprehend the idea of God Himself having a moral code because such a thing would imply that morality is either objective or that the morals preached by God in the bible are arbitrary. I think that interpersonal morality – not that spoken of in the bible – is something that is very based on the environment in which you were raised rather than something intrinsic to humans. A result of nurture, if you will. Somebody born in an environment where murder is normalized to them might not react the way that we would to witnessing it than we would – they might even react with something other than horror if it is happening To them. God tells us that murder is wrong, and we believe Him, but it happens either way. You cannot control every person on earth, and God does not make an attempt to. What then can be said for the morality of God? Can we, in our humanity, even judge that on a linear scale such as the one proposed in this dilemma? Can we judge our own morality on such a scale given that the public perception of what constitutes “moral goodness” is constantly shifting and changing? This question seeks more than what it proposes. The obvious follow up question to this dilemma is one that calls into question the moral code that God places for us, and by extension His own moral code. It’s a very interesting question indeed, and one that does not have a necessarily satisfying answer either way. I can’t form a concrete opinion on this within the timespan it would take me to write an answer to your question. Why don’t you tell me your opinion, and I’ll follow up once I’ve had a chance to think on it? I think the act of creation itself is one of the actions of God that makes Him most easy to empathize with. As an artist myself it is very easy to understand why a being such as God might be drawn towards the act of creation. He was given a blank canvas and created in order to share all of His love with the world, and to have somebody to share His love with. Many of humanity’s first ever conscious acts were acts of creation: fire, to name one, and cave art for another. The ability and desire for creation exists in each and every one of us. I am a very private person by nature and didn’t post my art anywhere online despite having been making art since I was a child. Knowing that the desire for creation is one I share with God is perhaps the most comforting thing to me when it comes to sharing my art. What refreshingly thought provoking questions these were. Thank you for this, anon. I’d love to hear back from you about some of your own opinions.

Oh hello you

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