At first glance, the question of whether an empath is a narcissist might seem plausible. But once you delve deeper into what it means to be empathetic, and then to understand what it means to be a narcissist, the answer becomes clear.
In short, a truly empathetic person cannot be a narcissist. People with narcissistic personality disorder lack the capacity for genuine empathy and compassion, while empaths experience them at above-average levels.
But it goes deeper than that. Let’s explore the question: “Can an empath be a narcissist?”
Who Is An Empathizer
Empathizers are people born with an innate ability to feel the emotions of others as if they were their own.
Highly sensitive empaths possess a highly sensitive nervous system, enabling them to feel the pain of others as if it were their own.
Because of their high levels of empathy, highly sensitive people are capable of feeling a great deal of compassion for others. They can see beyond the outward masks people wear to hide their inner selves.
Highly sensitive people want to alleviate the pain of others, which makes them overly generous, always striving to “fix” others. This is especially true for those who are unaware of their own sensitivity.
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In reality, a highly sensitive person cannot bear all these emotions, most of which are unrelated to their own feelings. So, the only way they know to feel better is by helping those around them. In other words, when everyone else is happy, the highly sensitive person feels comfortable again.
WhoIsANarcissist?
A narcissist isn’t born that way; their personality is shaped by early childhood trauma. Perhaps it was neglect, physical abuse, a traumatic event, or even excessive pampering that led to an unhealthy inflation of their self-esteem.
Whatever the cause, the child was left with such profound feelings of shame, disgust, and unworthiness that they could no longer bear them.
As a reaction to their trauma, they unconsciously chose to sever their authentic self—the part of them responsible for experiencing all their inner wounds. In short, they had to completely relinquish their trauma in order to survive.
When they severed their authentic self, they also severed their connection to the divine life force that enables a person to feel the full spectrum of love, compassion, mercy, and kindness.
The narcissist was left with a soul without a conscience.
Where their authentic self now stands, there is a black void. What the narcissist failed to realize is that this black void will cause them even greater feelings of self-loathing, without anything authentic remaining within them.
For a narcissist to thrive in life, the ego must maintain control. The ego is devoid of any tangible or real substance, and it understands that its survival requires protecting the narcissist from their inner truth at all costs.
In other words, it must conceal from the narcissist the fact that they are a flawed and imperfect human being, like everyone else.
To achieve this, the ego creates a false self, deluding the narcissist into believing that this false self is their true self.
The narcissist’s false self is a “perfect and superior god.” In line with this new, delusional worldview, the ego constructs an entire imaginary world for the narcissist to inhabit. In this imaginary world, they are the center of the universe, and all other characters are merely tools used to achieve their personal gain.
But since the narcissist’s fantasy is nothing more than a figment of their imagination, the only way for them to remain real is to receive constant feedback from the world around them that confirms their validity.
This is where narcissistic gratification comes into play—their constant need for attention, validation, and praise. This might manifest as praise and admiration from others, or even in their reactions to his abuse and attempts to appease his (long-dead) conscience.
In both cases, receiving direct attention reinforces the narcissist’s delusion of importance, specialness, and power.
Narcissistic gratification serves two purposes:
It reinforces the narcissist’s illusion of power, superiority, and uniqueness.
It feeds the life force in his inner emptiness, preventing him from falling into his own darkness.
Of course, no sane person would allow their precious energy to be drained by an energy vampire. Therefore, narcissists resort to manipulation, coercion, and deception to force people to willingly surrender it. This is why they wear seemingly innocent masks to achieve their goals.
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To ensure their psychological survival, a narcissist’s fantasy world must be constantly amplified. Without constant confirmation from the outside world that their illusion is “real,” it will quickly crumble, leaving them to fall into a spiral of delusions. This is a fate worse than death for a narcissist, which is why they defend their false reality to the death.
Can an empath be a narcissist?
In short, empaths possess above-average levels of compassion and empathy, making them generous and eager to help and heal those around them.
On the other hand, narcissists lack conscience and are incapable of genuine love, empathy, or compassion. They view others as tools to achieve their goals and acquire resources, rather than as independent individuals with their own needs and desires. Narcissists are inherently opportunistic and constantly seek to control others.
The contrast between a narcissist and an empath is quite clear.
No, it is impossible for an empath to be a narcissist. Empaths possess high levels of compassion and empathy, while narcissists completely lack them (though they are adept at feigning them as a form of manipulation).
To clarify, this article addresses those with narcissistic personality disorder, not those who exhibit narcissistic behaviors without having the disorder.
Highly sensitive people, like everyone else, may act selfishly (overly self-serving), but this does not make them narcissists. It simply means they need to work on developing their self-awareness and personal growth.
True narcissistic personality disorder is a condition where a person, unconsciously, severs their connection with the divine source by severing their true self. It is a complete psychological split of the soul.
While highly sensitive individuals remain intimately connected to the divine source and their true selves.
What a Narcissist Teaches a Compassionate Person
The most important lesson all compassionates need to learn is that their mission is not to fix or heal others. The gift of compassion and empathy has its place and can be used for good, but not at their own expense.
It’s not uncommon for compassionates to experience multiple narcissistic relationships throughout their lives, whether with friends, family, colleagues, or romantic partners.
The universe creates these situations to show compassionates the dangers of surrendering control to external forces. They must learn to trust their intuition and guidance instead of being swayed by the perceptions of others.
Compassionates firmly believe that everyone is good-hearted and that love and compassion can heal anything. But the reality is that there are many different beings and entities on this planet, and not all of them are good.
Compassionates need to learn to protect their energy and be selective about whom they give their compassion and empathy.
The most insidious entities, operating at lower frequencies, are utterly selfish and do not seek the common good as the empathetic do. Instead, they exploit and abuse the empath, draining their vital energy, then abandon them and move on to their next victim without the slightest remorse.
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Narcissists are master manipulators, easily deceiving empaths to steal their vital energy by instilling fear, duty, and guilt. They know that empaths can’t bear to see others suffer or live in anxiety, so they will do anything to alleviate these feelings.
The narcissist will exploit the empath’s empathy against them every time.
Narcissists are without conscience, so they will always act exploitatively. They cannot be healed or repaired because their true selves have been completely destroyed. Without their true selves, they are merely a black void, absorbing the vital energy of others, which temporarily alleviates their emptiness, but never fills it.
When the empath finally realizes that they are sacrificing themselves for a pointless emptiness, they can then begin to heal their inner wounds. They learn that they must stop seeking validation and acceptance from others and instead become a source of unconditional love.
The true lesson for the empath lies in reclaiming their energy from the external world and focusing on healing themselves, rather than trying to fix others. Then, they begin to rise above the deceptive negativity and reach a high level of strength and self-confidence, becoming able to clearly distinguish between those who deserve their compassion and those who do not.
Once the compassionate person has fully recovered, they will never again be affected by the manipulative tactics employed by narcissists.
