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[Nicholas]

What is narcissim, narcissistic personality disorder ? Do you have an understanding of this phenomenon ?
Is there such a thing as healthy narcissism opposed to pathological ?

It's a term, like many others that describe behaviours which lie beyond the parameters of what is understood. Some individuals that are imprisoned for a long, long time, display no remorse whatsoever. These individuals can be diagnosed as narcissistic or even psychopathic. But all of these made up terms are constructed from within a moralistic and/or investigative perspective. An entity that shows no sadness or sorrow for their actions might very well be focused on polarising towards the negative. I think Anthony Hopkins exemplifies this well in the Film "Fracture". 

Personally speaking, I believe narcissism to be a form of deep depression. Ernest Becker in his book The Revolution in Psychology terms depression as "cognitively arrested alternatives". This could also be termed personal thinking, or habitual thinking. This explains addictive behaviour from a psychological viewpoint, where a certain strategy or pattern (aka manipulative techniques) assist in the process of evading contact with the child within. ( I suspect that's what Ra were referring to when they said "...unready mentally to face the self for the first time" at 40.15 ).


Your second query is intriguing to me. By "healthy narcissism" do you mean focusing on meeting our own needs and blocking out distractions? If that is so then yes it is healthy if we are intending to show greater care and respect for ourselves. Self help books could be seen as "healthy narcissism" as they can facilitate the process to re-evaluate what our values are in relation to what has been previously explained. There might be some confusing elements to our early education that need some re-examination. If that makes sense then healthy narcissism could be seen as an orderly process, and the pathological version could be seen as a disorderly process.

Ultimately though, pathology's, illnesses, disorders, and all other mental constructions do not aid us in connecting with each other. They may alleviate our fears on an individual or social level, but they are strategies nonetheless.