Narcissus: behavioural perfectionism

Are you a perfectionist?

Here is a test for you to find out.

Some of the statements in this questionnaire  are related to your behavior:
Notice how some of them are to do with being second rate, or No 2. ( Remember that Narcissus cannot cope with being No 2, because in the Dream of the Womb the Beta twin does not survive.

• Organization is very important to me.
• If I do not set the highest standards for myself, I am likely to end up a second-rate person
• It is important to me that I be thoroughly competent in everything I do.
• If I fail at work/school, I am a failure as a person. 
• If someone does a task at work/school better than me, then I feel like I failed the whole task.
• If I fail partly, it is as bad as being a complete failure.
• Even when I do something very carefully, I often feel that it is not quite done right.
• I hate being less than the best at things.
• If I do not do as well as other people, it means I am an inferior human being.
• I expect higher performance in my daily tasks than most people.

Now lets look at how this may relate to low self esteem:


In an article about a study of workaholics, most of whom show perfectionist traits,  the author found

What I think we see in this study is another confirmation of how a number of negative ways of being in life coexist. In fact, I think we see these relations between perfectionism, narcissism and workaholism because they are all related to a third underlying variable - a weak sense of self that is plagued with many irrational thoughts (e.g., "I must be perfect to have worth," "I must work to have worth.") and an overcompensation for this low self-esteem with a paradoxical narcissism (individuals protect their weak sense of self with an overcompensation that portrays the self in a grandiose fashion).

But what is this weak sense of self? If a person in able to reach such high standards and work such long hours,  they are evidently strong individuals, for only string people could manage such a work load.  I must assume therefore that the "weak sense of  self " that drives this grandiosity is none other than the lost memory of one's own beta MZ twin,  the other half of yourself who was not strong enough or capable enough to survive, even to birth.