A.H. Almaas Diamond Approach
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y

 

Narcissistic Shame

We always find the student struggling with painful reactions to the emptiness as it is exposed. She feels deficient and inadequate, worthless and unimportant, weak and inferior, a failure, a loser, a nothing. She feels fake and unreal, lacking substance or value. She feels that she is a liar and a deceiver, an imposter. She feels her life has been a hoax, a waste. These feelings and reactions bring up the most painful aspect of them all, shame. The student feels ashamed of herself, embarrassed about herself; she wants to hide. The shame is a specific painful feeling of deficiency, exposure and judgment, all related to a sense of inadequacy in being oneself. (The Point of Existence, pg 334)