Superiority - Inferiority Syndrome

I pay due respect to Adler, A. 1933 here, with his thoughts on an aspect of narcissism that he calls the Superiority-Inferiority Complex, in my view, I see as some kind of a syndrome.  I had at first wondered what he meant when reading Adler, but the symptoms became much clearer as the reading got much more interesting and I could see myself in a phantasy as a character on one side of the polarity in the past!  Maybe someone is wondering what is it with narcissism that I keep talking about it?  Even I am beginning to wonder whether it is growing in me.  I would rather like to think that it has matured - normally.

So here we are in this moment ruminating about how we 'choose' to live our lives. For some of us it has rather become an 'even though ...' excuse for attention seeking behaviours, which does make me wonder what the mother's gaze with her baby might have to do with all of this.  Especially in terms of the duration or lack of duration of the gaze and how this may have an effect on how an individual feels inside and towards the other, if he/she is able to recognise the 'other'.

Having entered a competition some time ago it was good to receive a letter from Poetry Rivals that I had been selected and my work would be featured in the Poetry Rivals' Collection 2010 - The Passions of the Poet - a collection of poems for adult writers.


May I add this poem is featured in my second book that I need to publish, which does make an interesting read.

Superiority - Inferiority Syndrome

I can assure you that had I had a good start
Things would have been so different for me.

You see, firstly, if I was able to do things
On my own, I would not have become so

Dependent on others doing things for me.
Even though I am fully aware of my patterns.

You see, it serves my purpose having others
In servitude to me. It helps me perpetuate

My ‘lifestyle’ that I am so accustomed to
In this world that I find so uninteresting

And boring, to the extent that I need to
Event dramas to bring my whole world alive.

You see, it all goes back to a much earlier
Time when I felt ignored and insignificant

So much so that I vowed that if ever the
Opportunity arises for fame then that will

Be me, First. You see it doesn’t really
Matter whether I was born first, middle or last.

The fact is I was born to be superior
Even though somewhere along the line there

Is this gnawing feeling of feeling inferior.
That I find myself constantly battling.

It had dawned on me recently though that
If I focussed on the world in terms of two people

Instead of only one, I might gain an understanding
Of where my relation to the other begun.

(c) Jennifer Hooper 2010