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History gives us many examples of narcissism being symbolic of the decline of previously great civilizations. The Romans threw back barbarian invaders a multitude of times until the self-absorption and immediate self-interest of the Roman Empire's rulers spread down into the populace. The Greeks, the Persians, the Assyrians and the Egyptians all suffered the same fate. And in other parts of the world as well, various Indian dynasties, the Chinese, the Mayans; even the Aztecs may have been able to resist the impact of the Spaniards if their rulers hadn't been narcissistic.

So what does history tell us about the future of our own society? It is said that those that fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them. Have we learned anything from the collapse of previous civilizations and societies?

It would appear not. Materialism and self-interest seem to be the driving forces, money and the achieving of it, all important. Decadence runs riot. We don't have obviously threatening external barbarian forces, not even the fundamentalist followers of Islam desiring a jihad really qualify in this regard, but our societal pressures and the structures that facilitate them rather than easing them are creating internal barbarians to do the job for us. Criminals that care not a whit about our society, they have absorbed the concept of the American Dream and judge it to mean grabbing as much for themselves as they possibly can, by any means necessary.

People are willing to shower the warmth of human feeling on those close to them while closing themselves off from strangers. Is this not still self-love, those close to them being included in their own self-image? Many will give both money and time to charities, but how many say "charity starts at home" and even those that give, how small a percentage of what they have do they actually give?

After the dire times of the Great Depression, soon followed by the horrors of World War II and the rationing it necessitated both during and immediately after, the survivors only wanted to give to their children what they had never had. But it is intrinsic to human nature that rare treats and luxuries soon become expectations, and the expectations then become classified as rights. The individual's rights now override those of the community.

While those parents strove to provide the material aspects their own childhoods had lacked, a more insidious evil ate away at the fabric of our society. It is hard to remember now, I nearly forget myself; with the War on Terror in full swing, the Cold War seems a distant memory. But in those years of political crises and even in the relatively calm periods, a great many people expected the world they knew to end in the blast of nuclear oblivion. Not a concern or a fear, but an expectation. How could narcissism not blossom in such an environment?

The ability for human fellowship still exists in all of us, our regard for those near and dear shows this clearly. If we are going to turn our society around and avoid a repetition of the past, we all need to expand those feelings, spread our sense of decency to encompass strangers as well as those known.

Perhaps we need to turn our attention to those indigenous communities that have not succumbed to the blandishments of materialism or bowed and broken under the injustices of their national governments. There we can see how human communities are meant to be structured. Where the welfare and benefit of the community is the primary concern, all working together in a supportive and caring society.

We can do it during disasters, in fact the governments of nations ask us to in these times. So why is it, that in other times, competition is meant to be better than cooperation?

Learn more about this author, Perry McCarney.
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