Delusions of grandeur. I don't have any, cause I'm perfect.

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Ok I'm not. But, I really do have thoughts that cause me concern.

I often feel like I'm the smartest person in the room. I feel like I can tell people what they are thinking. I am a human lie detector. All of this is just by noticing patterns, which I'm sure a lot of you can do as well. I'm so confused as to why other people don't notice the same things.

I can't be as smart as I think I am, yet I'm often right and no one is ever able to prove me wrong about things.

I actually feel like I've discovered the meaning of life. It's one sentence, seven words long. I am completely unable to disprove it to myself.

Yes this all sounds horrendously stupid. I know. I promise I know.

Does anyone else ever have any similar thoughts at all? Any delusions of grandeur like that?

This is really embarrassing, so any input at all would be infinitely appreciated.

I'm pretty used to the "smartest person in the room" thing. not to be an ass, but I usually am. I've been told I'm the smartest person whoever is talking to me knows pretty much all my life. dropping out of school 5 times for non-academic reasons and having breakdowns because I can't handle menial retail jobs has kind of helped with the ego issues, though, and I'm somewhat less impressive at 24 than I was at 6, since instead of being years ahead of everyone now I'm just sort of above average but unaccomplished, since I can't stay stable and productive long enough to get anything done. blah.

Oh my god, you have no idea how much better I feel after hearing you say that.

Are you looking for a job now? Cause I have something that's perfect for people like us. I do it now. Total seclusion and 120k/year. Legitimate job. Not a ponzi/pyramid scheme or anything like that. I too was s**t at all previous jobs.

Also, what chemical is Ca2MgFe5Si8O22OH2?

Anyway, what is the attraction to asbestos?

Yeah, I feel like that sometimes. Especially when somebody is totally convinced of something and you just KNOW he's wrong, or somebody is veeery slow to grasp something and I'm like "GOD THIS ISN'T SO HARD".

Also, I'm very good at "looking right through people". I know when somebody is lying, I know when somebody is bored, I always know who thinks what of me. Rather unusual for Asperger's I guess. However it sometimes makes me want to manipulate people and rejoice in their ignorance. Sometimes I do.

I'm like this. I'm convinced that I can see straight through people.

I can micro analyse facial expressions & replay them over & over.

I'm fabulous at knowing when people are lying, & working out why they are lying & what their motivations are/were.

And I can recall conversations, word for word, years after they happened.

I'll PM you about it the job



haha, asbestiform actinolite is just one form of the group of minerals with that formula. it's also the chemical formula for Nephrite Jade. I made the email address to hit on a geology professor anonymously, never did so, and decided to keep it instead. I'm fond of jade because I'm fond of East-Asian Buddhism and could make a decent argument that most major inventions and much of the Enlightenment and Humanism can be traced back to China via the Jesuits, in which Nephrite is considered the prized stone of cultivated scholars. Jadeite is more expensive and popular today, (and has a completely different formula) but was not the traditional stone valued by Confucian scholars.

Sorry but I lol'd - that's pretty awesome

Okay. I'll bite. What is the seven word, one sentence meaning of life?

OP--yeah, you're right to be worried, but at the same time, it's a good sign that you're worried. It means you know very well that your feelings are leading you astray--that you are worth as much as any other human being, but no more.

One thing to check first: Do you also have increased energy, less need for sleep, higher activity, etc.? Hypomania (a mild form of mania) can cause you to feel like you are the best thing ever. Since you're not actually letting your mind run away with you, it doesn't sound serious, but there's no harm in asking a psychologist about it. I don't really see this as a huge possibility, but I had to mention it, just in case.

On the other hand, it could just be you trying to feel good about yourself, and going about it the wrong way. When a person grows up in an environment where people are categorized as either inferior or superior, and has been exposed to a lot of abuse by people calling them inferior, they might respond by declaring themselves superior instead and developing an overly strong sense of superiority and pride. This is damaging because it ties your concept of your worth to your abilities, and those are abilities that you could lose; so you're always insecure, deep down. It's an unpleasant way to live. I know, because I have that problem myself; I tend toward pride, even though I know cognitively that I am not actually a superior person; that yes, I have talents, but so does everybody else, and many of them I was born with and can't really be proud of because I didn't spend any effort to get them.

But once you are aware that you have this tendency, it is much easier to fight it. You can recognize when you are telling yourself that you're superior and remember that all those other people out there have wonderful, amazing things about them too--that you're valuable because you're a human being; that you value other people too. Once in a while, you will realize that you are even becoming proud of being so humble; and once you catch on to that, you'll find you're laughing at yourself for taking everything so seriously. It's kind of hard to have too big a head when you realize how ridiculous you can be. Perhaps that's the key--just not taking yourself so seriously, not worrying so much about being perfect.

Nephrite

I can't bother to read everything posted in this thread, I just want to say YES. I am like this ALL THE WAY. Have always been. Glad you made a thread about it. It's a very special phenomenon.

Edit: Callista, that is very interesting. You are talking about me.

I have to ask about this. Since you are Christian and a psychology student it makes me skeptical. Can't this also be a good thing? and can you explain this without making your beliefs and your loyalty to psychological theory dependant factors? Is that the reason you say those things? The best people I know of in the world are just like this, and they are impressive people. Like Friedrich Nietzsche.

Careful how you act in public. The world doesn't take kindly to the know-it-all attitude. Everybody has both strengths and weaknesses. Setting yourself up as better than others is false, and leads to others resenting your attitude. Pretty soon they don't want anything to do with you or with anything you have to say. So keep the the grandeur routine to yourself, for your own sake.

Yes, I definitely think that being able to laugh at yourself is a good thing. Life isn't meant to be all serious.

Psychologically, it's a bad idea to think yourself superior because you end up on such a shaky platform. Anything can knock you off it. Narcissism--even in highly skilled, talented people--usually stems from an innate fear of inadequacy. There's a fear of being "found out", of somehow losing your skills, or being superceded by someone else. That kind of stress can literally lead to an early death. And, if you do fall off the pedestal you've put yourself on--which is practically inevitable--you end up with serious self-worth problems. In the worst cases, you can even end up hurting others to try to sustain that feeling of superiority by declaring them inferior to you.

Theologically, the problem of pride is rather a simple one to solve: Everyone really is equally valuable, because everyone's soul is equally valuable. Whether you have been given a lot of talent or only a little, it's how you live your life with what you've been given that makes the difference. Pride makes no sense in that context.

It's important to remember that neither in psychology nor theology is it recommended to consider yourself inferior to other human beings, either. "Love your neighbor as yourself" presumes you love yourself, too. And feeling inferior is a common symptom of depression, anxiety disorders, and general self-worth problems.

Philosophically, I violently disagree with Nietzsche. He's got this idea "human being" as isolated from everything else, when in reality we live in a huge interconnected society where diversity and coordinated effort--not individual power--is the true source of strength. He seems to think we can rank ourselves along a single linear scale, when in reality such a scale is arbitrary and ultimately meaningless. He makes the classic error of assuming that evolution is a progression toward superiority rather than an adjustment to one's environment. As a scientist, I also disagree with his ideas about the meaninglessness of universal, objective truth. He's inconsistent even in his subjectivism because of how he constantly makes all of these absolute statements and expects people to agree with them, and never addresses the fact that "Objective truth does not exist" is a statement which must be either objectively true or objectively false. He doesn't have a clue about social psychology; nor does he take into account the human species' basically empathic nature. I don't see it as a consistent worldview at all. It's more like he's trying to upend established society simply for the sake of rebellion, and bases his ideas on the belief that we are a species of high-functioning sociopaths.

From a feminist perspective, it's even worse--the female viewpoint is entirely ignored; women in general are seen as "weak" because of their greater tendency toward empathy and emotional contagion. Most of what he said about women makes it obvious that he never actually took the time to talk to one as an equal; it seems he just ignored anything that didn't fit into his "weak-willed, emotional, generally inferior" idea of females. When someone cannot challenge his own misogyny and try to understand women objectively at least to some degree, I am not particularly willing to trust his opinions about the rest of society, especially if he seems to feel himself as superior to most men as to all women.

Even though society is what you say it is, it doesn't make it a good thing. I find that one gets weaker if he/she follows society. I agree with Nietzsche in that it is more strength in his view of the human being as something isolated. His ideas are radical, but they are very productive and necessary for getting the human being to evolve. It is probably not technically correct in terms of evolution for example, but I find his ideas to be something different than the biological, like in the existentialist tradition. I also find him experimental, not always objectively and technically correct. And this is something I think very highly of. He's more of an example. I love people like that for their faults.

I agree with the "He doesn't have a clue about social psychology; nor does he take into account the human species' basically empathic nature." part. I think that "trying to upend established society simply for the sake of rebellion, and bases his ideas on the belief that we are a species of high-functioning sociopaths" is a very good thing.

"women in general are seen as "weak" because of their greater tendency toward empathy and emotional contagion". Yes because his examples of the single linear scale you are talking about involves this. And I agree. If you have a world view like that, women often lose. And I kind of have that view. He is very masculine, which don't tend to be objectively and technically correct, and he has a masculine way of talking, and he refers to good traits and wanted types like they were scaled with only men in his mind. This is for me a demonstration of something very human and vital, I love it. I can't seem to find any women who have accomplished great things for the human race and been great human beings in accordance to the common ideals we have in the world today in terms of productivity, and this correlate to his ideas. The conclusion, though, is that women is completely different and should therefore not be viewed as something inferior, but as something else. Nietzsche is for men how feminism is for women. Both are wrong, but also right.

I'm sorry that I can't argue about this in an academic way, I'm not able to do that. I find other ways of expressing and orientating yourself better. I have to say you seem like a very intelligent person, and your psychological points are probably correct. I'm learning.

...Really?

Really?

You need to re-think that in a serious, serious way.