A person who threatens your well-being and health by trying to break you can be called harmful. You can't rely on them. They only see your flaws and are not happy about your successes. You may encounter the same type of harmful people throughout your life.
, Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Psychological Sciences.
A person who is trying to break you can be called harmful. A harmful person undermines your self-confidence and dignity, he poisons your entire being. It threatens well-being and health. You cannot rely on such people. They see only flaws in you. Envious and vindictive, they never rejoice at your successes. In fact, they get angry when you are lucky. Feelings of insecurity and inadequacy cause them to prevent you from living a happy and productive life.
Just as they differ in appearance, they are harmful people and behave differently. Socio-economic status, age, cultural heritage, religion or educational level do not matter. Intelligence does not play a role either. A genius can also be a harmful person.
A harmful person can meet you anywhere in life. It can be found both in the family and at work. Some will say nasty things to your face, others will spread slander behind your back. Still others can lavish sweet smiles, speak tender, pleasant, affectionate words, cherishing envy, hatred and anger in their souls.
Throughout your life, you have probably had to deal with people for whom you did not have tender feelings. Moreover, among them there could be such disgusting individuals that the mere memory of them gives you a headache. Although we were taught from childhood that we should love each other and not judge our neighbors too harshly, in reality everything turns out to be much more complicated. The reality is that there are always people who you can call harmful from your point of view. You may find that you encounter the same type of harmful people throughout your life.
Trampling in the mud
Those who trample into the mud are arrogant, mean, arrogant, contemptuously condescending, arrogant, unpleasant, sarcastic, disrespectful and secretive, they humiliate, threaten, criticize, they look only for flaws in people.
Those who trample into the mud have such low self-esteem that they will find fault with you and with anyone around them. They feel pleasant excitement when they humiliate and hurt others. They love to make fun of people, especially strangers. Sitting with you in a restaurant or at the airport, they will say: “Look how fat he is!” or: “What a freak!” You, in turn, may also become the target of such remarks and sarcastic remarks.
Those who trample you into the dirt need to humiliate you in order to rise in their own eyes. These people, insecure and full of self-destructive thoughts, feel threatened by both you and those around you. The only way for them to achieve self-respect is to humiliate others, to bring them down to their level.
Chatterbox
The Chatterbox is overly talkative, ignorant, annoying, poor at reading people, narcissistic, disrespectful, poor at communicating, and boring.
Chatterboxes can be called “talkaholics” who do not want to shut up. These “harmful” individuals pour out a free-flowing stream of their thoughts on the first person in their field of vision, hardly attaching any meaning to it. Once they cling to you, they will not stop, although in fact the Chatterboxes are talking to themselves and you do not exist for them. These people will talk about everyone and everything, and usually nothing can stop them. These chronic talkers love to indulge in idle chatter about their personal lives, the lives of their families, strangers, people they don’t know and whom they hardly want to get to know. Their meaningless, endless stories are unlikely to be of interest to anyone. They can spend a good fifteen minutes describing everything they bought at the store. Unable to understand the feelings of others, they become so caught up in their own narratives that they ignore signs of your irritation, impatience, or disgust. Chatterboxes are too selfish to recognize anyone else's right to speak.
Not allowing you to get even a word in, the Chatterbox forces you to do something you don’t want to do - listen to him.
Self-Destructor
The self-destructor is always the victim, he is unrealistic, weak, unstable, cowardly, wary, negative, selfish, gloomy, isolated, rebellious, out of control, he feels threatened from the outside, despairs, has a low opinion of everything around him and is prone to depression.
Self-destructors hate themselves so much that they are constantly ready for self-deprecation. They repeat the same things about their shortcomings and endlessly berate themselves. They usually say something like: “I’m too bad,” “what a stupid thing I did,” or “I’m the worst.” In essence, Self-Destructors try to humiliate themselves before others have the opportunity to do so. They do not know how to accept a compliment and will reject any kind and pleasant words addressed to them. They can get so caught up in self-flagellation that they sometimes become alcoholics, gluttons, and drug and sexual abusers. As a result, Self-Destructors do not believe that they are worthy of anything good and deserve pleasures in life. Their self-esteem is extremely low.
Trouble Avoider
The Trouble Avoider is a weak creature, unable to fend for himself, colorless, aloof, cowardly, unsociable, intimidated, dishonest, unfaithful, fussy, fearful, unmanly, untrustworthy, lonely and socially incompetent.
The Trouble Avoidant's way of dealing with stress is to avoid it. Unable to do anything, he disappears.
Because Trouble Avoiders try their best to stay away from conflict, they fail to understand the hurt they can cause to others by leaving at the right time.
Dormant but deadly volcano
A dormant but deadly volcano - unreliable, uncommunicative, secretive, picky, unstable, weak, incomprehensible, cowardly, inconsistent, fussy, vindictive, uncontrollable, inclined to blame others.
When such people are around, you never know what to expect from them. In essence, they can be compared to a time bomb. The dormant but deadly volcano seems extremely reserved, calm, smiling and cordial. He will never show that some kind of trouble has happened, that you have upset or angered him in some way. He will not allow himself to notice that you did something, from his point of view, wrong. Touched by his gentleness and meekness, one might think that he is not capable of offending a fly.
Then, suddenly, an eruption occurs: ash and lava fly in all directions. For example, you looked at him “wrong” or greeted him “wrong”, and this causes a completely inadequate reaction. He instantly explodes, screams in a heart-rending voice and blames you for all his troubles. This behavior is not only surprising, it is stunning.
A dormant but deadly volcano hides so much fury that sometimes you should be wary of the far from harmless bodily harm it can cause.
Of all the types of “harmful people,” Vulcan is the most dangerous, because it is impossible to predict when and where he will explode. Vulcans do not forget anything and immediately come into a state of “combat readiness” as soon as resentment and irritation overwhelm their patience.
Gossip
A gossip is indiscreet, untrustworthy, two-faced, secretive, critical, sarcastic, opinionated, empty-headed, angry-tongued, skeptical, cowardly, intrusive, hostile, closed, disloyal, mean-spirited, angry and unpleasant. He is inclined to look for shortcomings in everyone, accuse, interfere in other people's affairs, and see everyone as a potential rival.
Gossipers love to spread stories, which are often embellished, and sometimes they themselves make up.
The Gossip is an extremely fussy creature whose greatest pleasure is recounting the misfortunes of others. The gossip girl will delight in telling you how your mutual friend's husband was caught red-handed while cheating on his wife. Bursting with laughter, she will describe how your friend threw a lamp at the poor guy's head and injured his forehead.
Gossipers' own lives are usually colorless and uninteresting. But they just need to be noticed, to feel their own importance. They are confident that by presenting piquant information, they “grow” in the eyes of their interlocutor.
Fatal fighter
The Fatal Fighter is disrespectful, uptight, arrogant, brash, arrogant, pushy, sarcastic, tense, intimidated, angry-tongued, fickle, uncontrollable, insane, stubborn, rude, loud, uncommunicative, threatening, touchy, prone to depression and self-destruction . He is difficult to deal with, he is dangerous, he has sadistic tendencies, no law is written to him.
Fatal fighters behave defiantly, look for a reason to quarrel, constantly live in anticipation of a fight and are just waiting for you to allow yourself to make a mistake. They are on guard all the time - and are ready for battle at any moment. They love to contradict, even if they agree with you. No matter what you say, they will certainly find a counterargument.
They endlessly provoke others, and for no apparent reason. Most likely, their own insecurity and despair force them to get involved in disputes and thus rise in the eyes of people. Everything and everyone seems to irritate them. They criticize and scold everyone. These people can literally go berserk, punching walls and doors with their fists, leaving impressive dents on them.
It is natural for Doom Fighters to be in a state of rage, even if you do everything they want. They will manage to find the fly in the ointment and will attack you before you open your mouth. If you say or do something that pisses them off, they will attack you with their fists and rage until the situation corrects itself.
As a rule, Doom fighters had a difficult childhood. As adults, they often feel that life has played a cruel joke on them. Their belligerence is just a mask covering their hypersensitivity.
Sad and doomed victim
The sad and doomed victim is restless, passive, vindictive, stern, selfish, rejects everything new, sad, negative, petty, suspicious, stubborn, pathetic, weak, frustrated, unimaginative, scared, cowardly, prone to depression, gloomy, skeptical at the world, unattractive, distrustful, gloomy, lifeless, sleepy, sentimental. This masochistic nature continually accuses everyone and solemnly bears the burden of its difficult fate.
Sad and doomed victims become depressed at the mere thought of being born. Like spiders, they capture you in the web of their grief, telling you how terrible their life was, is and will be. At the same time, they need sympathy, not advice.
They prefer to wallow in the abyss of self-pity, confident that the world is cruel to them and everyone around them is to blame for their misfortunes. Nothing gives them pleasure. They say about such people that it is more convenient for them to see the glass half empty rather than half full. If the circumstances are unfortunate, the sad and doomed victim will blame everyone, but not himself - much more than the Doom fighter.
In fact, these two types of harmful people are very similar in their feelings of insecurity and belief in the worthlessness of life. But instead of throwing out these feelings, using their fists and an angry tongue, the Victims only shed tears and indulge in painful thoughts. They blame the weather, their personal lives, their own unhappy childhood. Eternal victims, they enjoy self-pity and seek to evoke pity from others with their endless whining.
Discouraged and doomed victims are constantly worried. They create disappointing scenarios in advance. For example, they probably know that they will have a terrible time at the party, that no one will talk to them, and that everything will go wrong as soon as they set foot outside their house. Once you spend even a little time with the Dull and Doomed Victim, you will quickly feel miserable and exhausted. You will want to cry or fall asleep because this terrible creature will drain all your strength.
Any attempt to give the Victim advice is doomed to failure; every time she will answer: “Yes, but...” - and will continue to explain why her problem is insoluble even with your help. In the end, she will continue to see the world in all the depths of its hopelessness, and no matter what you do or say, nothing will be able to shake her.
Unfortunately, there are now too many such Victims who have divorced. Listen to any casual conversation, and you will certainly find out who is completely impoverished, who is completely fat, who is too unhappy or too tired of life. When we encounter such people in everyday life, we not only become irritated, but we ourselves become depressed and complain of fatigue.
Smiling two-faced Janus
The smiling two-faced Janus is secretive, cowardly, clever, insincere, uncommunicative, dishonest, selfish, false, mysterious, evasive, uncritical of himself, lazy, mean-spirited, unceremonious, suspicious, cowardly, distrustful, double-minded. He may be friendly and obsequious, but he will betray you at the first opportunity; he cannot be trusted.
Many of us believe that there are no worse people than these Two-Faced Januses. Indeed, Dante's last circle of hell was intended for bearers of the most serious sin - betrayal and treason.
This type of harmful person is both passive and aggressive. Smiling condescendingly and making it clear with his entire appearance that he wants to become your best friend, he at the same time lays a network behind your back. Confucius, who was well versed in human relations, spoke of these people like this: “What a shame it is to have a grudge against someone with whom you are friends!”
These chameleons are in constant tension because they change their behavior depending on what they believe you expect from them. They keep a vigilant eye on you and are willing to make any effort to ultimately do what they want.
Never trust Two-Faced Januses! They use your gullibility against you exactly when you least expect it. All these schemers do is look for their own benefits in relationships. Deep down they don't love you, but they will never show that they are angry, upset or jealous.
Two-faced Januses are very secretive and will never admit what is on their mind. They may say sweet, gentle, reassuring words, but in reality they are just shamelessly lying.
Indecisive weakling
The indecisive weakling is both passive and aggressive, weak, quiet, flattering, unsociable, dependent on others, undisciplined, intimidated, obsequious, cowardly, unsure of himself, distrustful, secretive, cowardly, petty, blaming others, untrustworthy, threatened by others, conservative , disobedient, indecisive, full of despair, lifeless, empty, spineless, submissive, childish, boring, obsessed with his fears, unlucky, unable to refuse anyone.
Indecisive weaklings have neither willpower nor fortitude. They, like weathervanes, turn with the wind, unable to make any decision. Always quiet and unquestioning, they give the impression of people who only say “yes”. However, sooner or later you will realize that their “yes” very often means “no”. Today they can say one thing, tomorrow another. In fact, such people cannot really understand either others or themselves, and therefore it is extremely difficult to work with them.
Lacking willpower, unwilling to think about anything other than their own peace of mind, they believe that if they are patient enough, problems will disappear and the necessary solutions will come on their own. They waste time because they don’t trust themselves and don’t want to take risks for fear of making mistakes. When circumstances force them to make a choice, such people become furious.
The indecisive weakling is so paralyzed by fear and anxiety that he will not budge when the time comes to act. Even the need to save someone's life will not be a sufficient argument. Indecisive weaklings do not know how to fight. They are victims in their own eyes, so they are not going to bother and create trouble for themselves. In search of peace and comfort, they try to hide in the hidden corners of life.
Consumer
The consumer is selfish, two-faced, flattering, secretive, inconsistent, obsequious, dishonest, mean-spirited, unattractive, insincere, annoying and seductive. He likes to interfere in his own affairs and manipulate others.
Consumers are most often lonely in life. They are fickle friends, they only need you if they can benefit from your friendship. These people do everything just for their own success. If they are not able to take advantage of communicating with someone or have already received everything they wanted from him, then without hesitation they throw the person away from them like a used plastic cup.
Evil upstart tyrant
An evil upstart tyrant is caustic, bilious, hostile, strong, uncontrollable, angry, contentious, harsh, contradictory, rude, picky, demanding, sharp-tongued, inconsistent, cruel, difficult to predict, defiant, ignorant, arrogant, infantile, intimidated, ill-mannered, pugnacious, courageous, energetic, touchy, mean-spirited, agile, crazy, noisy, unable to communicate with people, arrogant, fickle, unsociable, hot-tempered and stubborn. He looks for flaws in you, conceals a threat, and has sadistic tendencies.
The evil upstart tyrant is a verbal terrorist and a stubborn know-it-all, his motto is: “Either I am right or no one is right.” Hot-tempered and unpredictable, they poke their noses into everything and are happy only when they are the center of attention.
Upstart tyrants have an irresistible need to control everything, even to a greater extent than the Mentor, with the only difference being that the latter is less evil, because he is not prone to cruelty and sadism. In essence, Upstart Tyrants are turned on by the mere sight of human embarrassment. They love to bully people, see them cower in fear like wounded puppies, and take out all their inner hatred on them.
They live with the desire to emotionally destroy anyone. With such people it is easy to get an ulcer. These energy vampires would undoubtedly rank first in the intensity of their hatred towards other people. Confucius said about them: “Most often no one obeys them, even when they give orders.” They may be feared and hated, but nothing will force others to respect them and follow their orders willingly.
Joker
The joker is tiresome, untrustworthy, weak, repulsive, unserious, selfish, tactless, touchy, sarcastic, poor at understanding people, ignorant, rude, inconsiderate, superficial, disrespectful, noisy, intrusive, and indifferent to others.
Jokers don't know how to speak seriously. They can start any conversation with a joke: “Have you heard the latest news about so-and-so?”
Jokers always make free, often flat, jokes at you, hoping that they will be considered the height of wit. Your reluctance to laugh causes one reaction from them: “Don’t you have a sense of humor? Everyone laughed at this - what’s wrong with you?” Such “humor” serves as a weapon for their hidden hostility.
When meeting you at breakfast, the Joker may say something like, “Hey, have another bun, it looks good on you,” thereby hinting at your fatness. Noticing your surprise, he chuckles and says: “Don’t you understand jokes? I’m fooling around!” He simply cannot express his hostility, because he is too cowardly to directly tell you why you do not suit him.
Whenever you want to talk to him about something serious, he will laugh and joke, since serious topics of conversation are beyond his understanding. If the Joker is upset about something, he will never show it to you, hiding his wounded feelings and even anger behind jokes. In essence, to protect themselves from grief, these people sit in the shell of their own witticisms.
Ignorant
An ignorant person has a poor understanding of people, is unreliable, rude, annoying, tactless, touchy, unpredictable, unimaginative, careless, stupid, cocky, arrogant, overly straightforward, whiny, selfish, slow, obsessive, stupid and undeveloped. You can't rely on him.
It is impossible to understand an ignoramus. Uncouth idiots who have absolutely no understanding of themselves or others, they often make questionable remarks with absolutely no thought for your feelings. They rarely make eye contact, shake hands sluggishly, and have a limited range of movements and intonations. They don't know how to behave in public at all.
In essence, they are infantile creatures who, like four-year-old children, do not care about your feelings when they spill everything that is on their mind. Even if it suddenly turns out that they are smart and successful at work, the lack of kindness and tact on their part only generates disrespect from others.
Most often, the Ignorant is remembered as a strange person who will come up to you, say something out of place and crazy and leave, leaving you perplexed: why is he doing this all of a sudden?
Madman
A madman may be unstable, overwhelmed by emotions, or completely devoid of them. He is mysterious, tormented, intimidated, unreliable, fickle, unpredictable, uncontrollable, harsh, cantankerous, caustic, withdrawn, sad, suspicious, incomprehensible, inflexible, arrogant, insolent, hateful, fussy, childish, cowardly, strange, superficial, prone to depression, sadism or masochism, quarrelsome, desperate, selfish, hot-tempered, angry or defenseless, insecure, stubborn, gloomy, mean-spirited, threatening or feeling threatened from all sides, crazy, contradictory, and sometimes gives the impression of being mentally ill.
Communicating with Mad Men is dangerous. They are mentally or emotionally upset and may suffer from manic-depressive psychosis and live in some kind of unreal world. They may have a borderline mental disorder that threatens their own lives and the lives of others, or they may be using alcohol or drugs that make them appear strange and out of control.
Mad people can change their behavior before our eyes. Of all the types of harmful people, they are the most difficult to deal with because, as in the case of the Dormant but Deadly Volcano, you never know what to expect from them and what surprise their behavior has in store.
Shameless liar
A shameless liar cannot be trusted, he is cocky, insincere, crafty, secretive, dishonest, obsessive, know-it-all, shameless, expansive, guilt-seeking, manipulative, unattractive, gossipy, unpredictable, unreliable, weak, naive, two-faced, an egoist who goes behind your back.
Liars themselves do not know whether they are lying or telling the truth. These people lied so much, tried so hard to strengthen their frail self-esteem, that they themselves finally began to believe what they were telling. They can swear to you that this or that is true and they are confident in it as they are in themselves, although you know for sure that this is not so. They won’t even blink, because they are inveterate manipulators. What is most surprising is that Liars sometimes tell some truth about themselves. They often do things to confuse you. Thanks to this, if you catch them in a lie, they will prove with foam at the mouth that they never lie.
Liars are very difficult to deal with because it is impossible to trust them and truly communicate with them. Since trust is the basis of communication, there is no way to respect them and reveal your soul to them. Liars can lie until countless amounts of evidence of their lies are collected. After all, these people are such that they can convince even themselves of the veracity of their inventions.
Dirty dog
A dirty person rudely interferes, invades someone else's life, he is self-confident, unfriendly, arrogant, persistent, wary, envious, unscrupulous, angry-tongued, gossiper, dogmatic, prone to blaming everyone, distrustful, selfish, angry, noisy, uncontrollable, rude, annoying, secretive. He is often called an instigator, an informer, a sadist and a scoundrel.
A Dirty Man is a cross between a Gossip and an Instigator, only he is more harmful. Such people invade your life (business or personal) and set about making it hell.
They don’t just rub your bones with others, like the Gossip does, and they don’t just push you to do something bad, like the Instigator. No, they intrude into your life by calling others and arranging a meeting with them specifically to tell them something about you.
Since the Dirty People's own life is poor and primitive, they often try to fill it with you, putting their claws into your life.
Miser
Miser, counting every penny, selfish, stingy, stupid, unself-critical, picky, empty, insincere, limited, uninteresting, narrow-minded, anxious, stubborn, dull, superficial, intimidated, boring, skeptical, undeveloped, restless, unreliable, weak, indecisive, indifferent, nervous and an eternal victim.
Hoarders have so little self-respect that they believe that they only deserve in this life what is cheap or free. They skimp not only on money, but also on compliments, on expressions of passion and love. All their conversations invariably come down to money - how much they paid for this or that thing, what kind of deal they made, how they negotiated with the seller. At the same time, they always admire their own resourcefulness and enterprise.
These pathetic little people are so petty that they often lose sight of the most important thing. They are so absorbed in counting pennies that until their death they cannot count how many they have accumulated.
Fanatic
Fanatic dogmatic, stubborn, annoying, insincere, arrogant, tenacious, assertive, narrow-minded, weak, inconsistent, secretive, empty, self-confident, unadapted to life, nervous, demanding, fastidious, fearless, frightening, touchy, repulsive, petty, unpredictable, impudent , pugnacious, unrealistic, threatening, contentious, inconsistent, picky, disrespectful, closed.
The motto of the Fanatic’s entire life, regardless of the opinions of others, is “Everything is wrong!” Like the Evil Upstart Tyrant or the Mentor, he believes that “either I or no one” is right. He is passionately devoted to his beliefs and is ready to curse anyone who does not share his belief in himself. A fanatic always tries to win you over to his way of thinking. If you dare to think differently, much less object to him, even very gently, he will become furious, accusing you of stupidity and betrayal. It is impossible to have a thorough, meaningful conversation with him, because he does not want to listen to anyone but himself. He seems to know the answers to all questions in advance and has secured the exclusive right to be the leader in the conversation. His inflexibility and outright pickiness seriously interfere with building a conversation with him on a friendly note.
Suck up
A suck-up, a sugar man - secretive, deceitful, insincere, frivolous, nasty, expansive, unkind, weak, two-faced, unself-critical, unscrupulous, cowardly, annoying, intolerant of loneliness, noisy, superficial, pretentious, repulsive, dishonest, inflexible, often called a dark personality, a sycophant, a dirty tricker, a manipulator, an instigator and a consumer.
A suck-up - a typical manipulator - will flatter you to the point of insanity, just to get what you want. He delights you with pompous speeches and acts as if you are his friend to death and he would do anything for you.
Deep down, Podliza may not have tender feelings for you at all, but she will never give herself away. In his flattery, he is extremely inventive, and if you try to interrupt him or besiege him, he will forcefully begin to assure you that you are the most beautiful, the smartest, the best. You can hardly restrain yourself from smiling, because deep down in your soul you are pleased to hear this and really want to believe that it is so. As soon as you smile, consider yourself hooked. It’s disgusting to watch Podlyza’s behavior: it’s always noticeable how obsequious he is and with what zeal he licks the boots of everyone who can be useful to him.
Self-righteous despot
A self-righteous despot is stubborn, insincere, dogmatic, critical but not self-critical, stupid, arrogant, uncommunicative, boring, picky, selfish, conservative, pretentious, undeveloped, inconsistent, unkind, petty, meticulous, sarcastic, superficial know-it-all.
A smug despot is confident that he is perfection itself and can never fail in anything, and therefore looks at you from the height of his greatness with a contemptuous eye. Dumb, narcissistic, picky, he expects everyone else to live according to the laws he established. For example, a despot may look down on those who smoke, drink, swear, and are not as well dressed or organized as him. Usually he seethes with anger, indignation and disgust, because he is not particularly tolerant of others. This angel in the flesh is very picky, rarely loves anyone and admires few things. His attitude to life can be expressed in the words of a Fanatic, an Evil Upstart Tyrant or a Mentor: “Either I am right or no one is right.”
It is extremely difficult to communicate with him and even more difficult to live with, because so few people meet his requirements. His own life is so miserable that the despot cannot allow the whole world to have fun, relax and smell the roses.
The despot's snobbery is also manifested in the fact that he is inclined to hide his “imperfections.” He does not admit that he was mistaken, that he experienced desires that ran counter to moral principles, therefore he is forced to be hypocritical and contradict himself. This weakens his position, shakes his confidence and makes him vulnerable.
Arrogant snob
Arrogant snob pretentious, narcissistic, empty, arrogant, arrogant, picky, detached, unreliable, weak, mean, unsociable, selfish, angry, intimidated, demanding, annoying, unfriendly, contentious, stupid, inconsistent, unpleasantly condescending, disrespectful, cowardly, rude , superficial and pretending to be the first violin.
An arrogant snob acts as if he is superior to everyone. This boosts his ego, although in fact, deep down, the snob trembles with uncertainty. He bends over backwards, trying to make acquaintances with the powers that be, to achieve a warm place, because this elevates him in his own eyes. If he doesn't need you, the snob will pass by without even bothering to say hello to you. He walks with his nose in the air and only talks to you if you lift your nose even higher. He addresses you with condescending majesty, looking down on you. Often Arrogant Snobs group together in snobbish clubs where you will only be allowed in if you look the part, are famous, or have enough money to bribe the doorman. For such people, such clubs are organically necessary in order to feel like people.
Arrogant snobs are very temperamental and require special attention. The snob will loom before your eyes and behave like a spoiled child, not noticing anyone around. The “I am better than you” written on his face actually hides the deeply hidden belief “I am the worst.”
The snob is tormented by a feeling of his own inferiority, he has such a fragile “I”!
Narcissus
Narcissist has delusions of self. He is selfish, self-confident, empty, unreliable, arrogant, boring, narrow-minded, maladjusted, tedious, repulsive, pompous, self-centered, immodest. It seems that he lives for show.
For Narcissus, the center of the Universe is himself. You won’t find more self-centered people: he hates conversations that he is not the subject of. A narcissist will only listen to anything you say if it is directly relevant to them. His vocabulary is replete with the pronouns “I” and “me.” Any of his phrases begins with “I”. Trying to communicate with a Narcissist can become your most bitter memory, because the conversation will turn into his monologue.
It is extremely difficult to establish any kind of relationship with a Narcissist unless you give up yourself in his favor. Narcissists only do what is convenient for them.
Competitor
A competitor is a fearless provocateur, fanatical, repulsive, suspicious, angry, assertive, aggressive, vindictive, immoral, strong, intimidated, wary, quarrelsome, feeling threatened from everywhere, unreliable, always ready for battle.
The competitor takes every opportunity to outsmart or defeat you. From trying to find a job to choosing a boyfriend or girlfriend, husband or wife - everything is a competition for him. Tell your Competitor what a wonderful dog you have, and he will immediately respond that his dog is bigger, better and smarter. Tell him how hard you worked today - he will immediately put you in your place, admitting how hard he himself worked, despite an unimaginable number of obstacles.
It is impossible to relax next to a Competitor. You always feel his readiness for battle. As a rule, he does not like people very much, because he spends too much energy fighting them. Try to notice that your mutual friend looks especially attractive today. The competitor retorts: “It happens that she looks much better. Right now there seems to be something wrong with her. Look at the circles under her eyes.”
The competitor often comes off as a pompous braggart who talks about his past and present achievements. He is constantly trying to impress you with how much better, smarter and luckier he is than you. The problem is that the competitor has such low self-esteem that he can only get your attention by competing with you.
Mentor
A mentor is an unceremonious manipulator, flighty, arrogant, aggressive, strong, two-faced, assertive, self-confident, impudent, contentious, dogmatic, selfish, stubborn, impudent, inconsistent, narrow-minded, fearful and threatening, disrespectful, uncommunicative, tenacious and limited.
A mentor will never leave anything to chance. Even more than the Evil Upstart Tyrant, he gets nervous if anything gets out of his control. However, unlike the Tyrant, the Mentor never resorts to meanness and does not fly into a rage in order to achieve what he wants. His weapons are sweet speeches and all kinds of manipulation of people.
A mentor is rarely the life of the party and does not enjoy much authority, because he prefers to act independently. If something does not go the way he wanted, the Mentor gets angry or loses interest in what is happening, because he believes that he is obliged to guide every action of those around him. He puts effort into everything and, when this does not lead to the intended result, he panics, becomes nervous and manipulates others even more.
The problem is that the Mentor does not know how to control himself if he cannot control the person or situation. He loses control over himself. When something does not go according to his command and desire, he will punch the walls with his fists out of anger.
You cannot control a person so that he cannot even move on his own. The person will break down emotionally or physically.
We can call a person bad or bad who experiences need to harm others and implements it, consciously or semi-consciously, which can be expressed in spreading nasty things, imposing feelings of guilt and morally dubious beliefs.
This does not mean that all people should be divided into good and bad once and for all - we all have strengths and weaknesses, everyone can do right or wrong - however, this does not negate the fact that in a particular period of time this or that person may be precisely for us, bad or decent. And this period can be very long...
Some people become instruments of God, others can become instruments of the lower worlds, undermining peace of mind those around you. On an intuitive level, they are able to capture our sensitive spots, areas of uncertainty and doubt and put pressure on them at the most inopportune moment. At the same time, outwardly everything may look random and unintentional, but it tends to repeat itself from time to time.
So, I once had to submit documents for review on a project that I had been preparing for a very long time and by the end I was extremely exhausted psychologically. After everything was formalized and they accepted me, with a clear conscience I went to meet my old acquaintances in a cafe.
I was not alone in my research: one of them also went through a similar project and was familiar with the document submission procedure. While I was waiting for the dish I ordered from the waiter, they started talking about technical difficulties, and this friend began to argue that it was necessary to submit another voluminous document. My cheekbones cramped. Have I really ruined two years of work by submitting the wrong package of documents?! Having overcome the feeling of awkwardness, I asked my friend about this and received an affirmative answer.
I walked home not myself. It was Sunday, and the procedure for submitting additional documents could only begin in the morning. But I was not sure that time was not lost forever. I tried not to get hysterical, but I didn’t succeed very well. The next morning, I turned to other knowledgeable people for advice, and also re-read the project requirements. It turned out that the documents in question were never required, and I did everything right.
I still cannot fully explain this incident to myself. But when similar accidents happened again with the same person, I thought hard. Considering other troubles that had previously arisen in communication, I decided to end the relationship, henceforth limiting myself to words of greeting and a polite question “how are you?”
Sometimes our path to our goal takes a lot of time, requires effort, concentration and the refusal of some other benefits and entertainment. The result is not always immediately visible, and our choice is not always clear to people.
For example, many women and men are looking for strong long-term relationships and true love. However, there are often “friends” and “well-wishers” who have long conversations about the fact that nothing like this happens in life. Others begin to blame us for not finding love because of our wrong behavior. Many people forget that not everything is going smoothly for themselves or that they themselves were recently single. Still others just talk about their wild life and constantly describe drunken parties and short-term relationships as a form of heroism.
Of course, every person has the right to choose his own model of behavior and live the way he wants. But does he have the right to constantly rub salt in the wound and devalue goals that are important to others?
The main antidote in such situations is awareness the true state of affairs And rejection of stereotypes alien to ourselves. The value of our good deeds must be clear, first of all, to ourselves, and we have the right to repel those who force us to do otherwise. If necessary, you can limit or exclude communication with individuals or dissociate yourself morally from them.
If a person on the way to his goal experiences doubts and worries about the result, it can be especially painful for him to listen to various bad reasoning. Sometimes there is a feeling of frustration and inner pain, it seems that the chosen goals are wrong, there is languor and uncertainty, even envy of the lives of others.
Here it is very important to distinguish what we envied: bad or good. If something has worked out for our neighbor, and we feel annoyed that we ourselves do not have it, this is understandable, although not very beautiful. This is treated by realizing that we are all individual, each with our own lives, with our own trials and achievements, and God has a plan for us all. Our neighbor is not to blame for our difficulties in this case. If we have envied the bad, been seduced by dishonesty and easy achievement of goals with the help of dubious means, it is necessary for ourselves to give an unambiguous assessment of these facts. We can fully condemn unseemly actions, while trying to be lenient towards human weaknesses, which is the meaning of the commandment “do not judge, lest you be judged.”
We need to return to the idea of what is truly important to us, what virtues we value and what we do not accept. As a rule, this dispels frustration and gives us peace of mind and strength to move on in the right direction. And if you can avoid unpleasant and bad people, then why create difficulties for yourself where they are unnecessary.
Well and We also shouldn’t forget about our own shortcomings and cockroaches and, if we have already acted as a bad person for someone, we need to repent and try to make amends for our guilt. And the Lord will be merciful to all of us sinners.
As they say, with the Reverend you will be reverend...
What you just said, I didn’t understand.
(c) Film "Island"
Letter from Nikolai Strakhov to Leo Tolstoy
I will write you, priceless Lev Nikolaevich, a short letter, although I have a very rich topic. But he’s also not feeling well, and it would take a very long time to fully develop this topic. You have probably already received the biography of Dostoevsky - I ask for your attention and indulgence - tell me how you find it. And on this occasion I want to confess to you. All the time I was writing I was in a struggle, I fought with the disgust that was rising in me, I tried to suppress this bad feeling in myself. Help me find a way out of it. I cannot consider Dostoevsky either a good or a happy person (which, in essence, coincides). He was angry, envious, depraved, and he spent his whole life in such unrest that made him pathetic, and would have made him funny if he had not been so angry and so smart. He himself, like Rousseau, considered himself the best of people, and the happiest. On the occasion of the biography, I vividly remembered all these features. In Switzerland, in front of me, he pushed the servant around so much that he was offended and reprimanded him: “I’m a man too!” I remember how amazing it was to me at the time that this was said to a preacher of humanity and that the concepts of free Switzerland about human rights were echoed here.
Such scenes happened to him constantly, because he could not contain his anger. Many times I remained silent to his antics, which he did completely like a woman, unexpectedly and indirectly; but I also happened to say very offensive things to him twice. But of course, in relation to insults, he generally had an advantage over ordinary people, and the worst thing is that he enjoyed this, that he never fully repented of all his dirty tricks. He was drawn to dirty tricks and boasted about them.
Viskovatov began to tell me how he boasted that ... in the bathhouse with a little girl who was brought to him by the governess. Note at the same time that, with animal voluptuousness, he had no taste, no sense of female beauty and charm. This can be seen in his novels. The persons most similar to him are the hero of Notes from the Underground, Svidrigailov in Prest. and Nak. and Stavrogin in Besy; Katkov did not want to publish one scene from Stavrogin (molestation, etc.), but D. read it to many here.
With such a nature, he was very inclined to sweet sentimentality, to high and humane dreams, and these dreams are his direction, his literary aura and road.
In essence, however, all his novels constitute self-justification, proving that all sorts of abominations can coexist with nobility in a person.
How hard it is for me that I cannot get rid of these thoughts, that I cannot find points of reconciliation! Am I angry? Envy? Do I wish him harm? Not at all; I’m just ready to cry because this memory, which could have been bright, only weighs me down!
I remember your words that people who know us too well naturally do not like us. But it also happens differently. It is possible, with a [long] close acquaintance, to recognize a trait in a person for which you will then forgive him everything. A movement of true kindness, a spark of real warmth, even one minute of real repentance can make up for everything; and if I remembered something similar from D., I would forgive him and be happy for him. But just elevating oneself into a wonderful person, just intellectual and literary humanity - God, how disgusting it is!
He was a truly unhappy and bad man who imagined himself lucky, a hero and tenderly loved only himself.
Since I know in myself that I can arouse disgust myself, and have learned to understand and forgive this feeling in others, I thought that I would find a way out of my relationship with D. But I don’t and I don’t find it!
Here is a small comment on my Biography; I could write down and tell this side in D.; many cases are depicted to me much more vividly than what I described, and the story would come out much more truthful; but let this truth perish, let us flaunt one front side of life, as we do everywhere and in everything!
I sent you two more works (doublets), which I love very much, and in which, as I noticed when I was with you, you are interested. Pressense is a delightful book, of first-rate scholarship, and Joly is, of course, the best translation of M. Aurelius, which delights me with skill.
Long ago, in August, I sent you a Clear Hebrew Bible. Please don’t be lazy and let me know if you received it? I have, if not doubt, then the possibility of doubt as to whether it reached you.
Forgive me and ask you to remember my devotion. Now, although I am not well, I feel quite well, freed from hard work. But whether I have become better, God knows - and this is the main thing.
I wrote several pages about Turgenev (for Rus'), but really you won’t write anything? After all, everything that is written is so false and cold! And I made peace with him - although I have no right to say so: I didn’t know him almost at all.
My zealous respect to the Countess, and if anyone remembers. How did you find I.P. Minaev? He is very delighted.
Yours with all my soul
N. Strakhov.
Today in class we will talk about the story by N.M. Karamzin “Poor Liza”, we will learn the details of its creation, the historical context, we will determine what the author’s innovation is, we will analyze the characters of the heroes of the story, and also consider the moral issues raised by the writer.
It must be said that the publication of this story was accompanied by extraordinary success, even a stir among the Russian reading public, which is not surprising, because the first Russian book appeared, the heroes of which could be just as empathized with as Goethe’s “The Sorrows of Young Werther” or “New Héloïse" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. We can say that Russian literature has begun to become on the same level as European literature. The delight and popularity were such that even a pilgrimage began to the place of the events described in the book. As you remember, this is happening not far from the Simonov Monastery, the place was called “Lizin Pond”. This place is becoming so popular that some evil-tongued people even write epigrams:
Drowned herself here
Erast's bride...
Drown yourself, girls,
There's plenty of room in the pond!
Well, is it possible to do it?
Godless and worse?
Fall in love with a tomboy
And drown in a puddle.
All this contributed to the extraordinary popularity of the story among Russian readers.
Naturally, the popularity of the story was given not only by the dramatic plot, but also by the fact that it was all artistically unusual.
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Rice. 2. N. M. Karamzin () Here's what he writes: “They say that the author needs talents and knowledge: a sharp, insightful mind, a vivid imagination, etc. Fair, but not enough. He must also have a kind, gentle heart if he wants to be a friend and favorite of our soul; if he wants his talents to shine with an unflickering light; if he wants to write for eternity and collect the blessings of nations. The Creator is always depicted in creation, and often against his will. In vain does the hypocrite think to deceive his readers and hide his iron heart under the golden robe of pompous words; in vain speaks to us about mercy, compassion, virtue! All his exclamations are cold, without soul, without life; and never will a nourishing, ethereal flame flow from his creations into the gentle soul of the reader...", "When you want to paint your portrait, then look first in the right mirror: can your face be an object of art...", "You take up the pen and want to be an author: ask yourself, alone, without witnesses, sincerely: what am I like? for you want to paint a portrait of your soul and heart...", "You want to be an author: read the history of the misfortunes of the human race - and if your heart does not bleed, leave the pen - or it will depict to us the cold gloom of your soul. But if the path is open to everything that is sorrowful, everything that is oppressed, everything that is tearful; if your soul can rise to a passion for good, can nourish within itself a sacred desire for the common good, not limited by any spheres: then boldly call on the goddesses of Parnassus - they will pass by the magnificent palaces and visit your humble hut - you will not be a useless writer - and none of no good person will look with dry eyes at your grave...", "In one word: I am sure that a bad person cannot be a good author." Here is Karamzin’s artistic motto: a bad person cannot be a good writer. |
No one in Russia had ever written like this before Karamzin. Moreover, the unusualness began already with the exposition, with the description of the place where the action of the story will take place.
“Perhaps no one living in Moscow knows the outskirts of this city as well as I do, because no one is in the field more often than me, no one more than me wanders on foot, without a plan, without a goal - wherever the eyes look - through the meadows and groves, hills and plains. Every summer I find new pleasant places or new beauty in old ones. But the most pleasant place for me is the place where the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Sin...nova Monastery rise.”(Fig. 3) .
Rice. 3. Lithograph of the Simonov Monastery ()
There is also something unusual here: on the one hand, Karamzin accurately describes and designates the location of the action - the Simonov Monastery, on the other hand, this encryptedness creates a certain mystery, understatement, which is very consistent with the spirit of the story. The main focus is on the non-fictional nature of events, on documentary evidence. It is no coincidence that the narrator will say that he learned about these events from the hero himself, from Erast, who told him about this shortly before his death. It was this feeling that everything was happening nearby, that one could witness these events, that intrigued the reader and gave the story a special meaning and a special character.
Rice. 4. Erast and Liza (“Poor Liza” in a modern production) ()
It is curious that this private, simple story of two young people (the nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Liza (Fig. 4)) turns out to be inscribed in a very broad historical and geographical context.
“But the most pleasant place for me is the place where the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Sin...nova Monastery rise. Standing on this mountain, you see on the right side almost the whole of Moscow, this terrible mass of houses and churches, which appears to your eyes in the image of a majestic amphitheater»
Word amphitheater Karamzin singles out, and this is probably no coincidence, because the place of action becomes a kind of arena where events unfold, open to everyone’s gaze (Fig. 5).
Rice. 5. Moscow, XVIII century ()
“a magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it, when its evening rays glow on countless golden domes, on countless crosses ascending to the sky! Below are lush, densely green flowering meadows, and behind them, along the yellow sands, flows a bright river, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats or rustling under the helm of heavy plows that sail from the most fertile countries of the Russian Empire and supply greedy Moscow with bread.”(Fig. 6) .
Rice. 6. View from the Sparrow Hills ()
On the other side of the river one can see an oak grove, near which numerous herds graze; there young shepherds, sitting under the shade of trees, sing simple, sad songs and thus shorten the summer days, so uniform for them. Further away, in the dense greenery of ancient elms, the golden-domed Danilov Monastery shines; even further, almost at the edge of the horizon, the Sparrow Hills are blue. On the left side you can see vast fields covered with grain, forests, three or four villages and in the distance the village of Kolomenskoye with its high palace.”
It’s curious why Karamzin frames private history with this panorama? It turns out that this story becomes part of universal human life, belonging to Russian history and geography. All this gave the events described in the story a general character. But, giving a general hint of this world history and this extensive biography, Karamzin still shows that private history, the history of individual people, not famous, simple, attracts him much more strongly. 10 years will pass, and Karamzin will become a professional historian and begin working on his “History of the Russian State,” written in 1803-1826 (Fig. 7).
Rice. 7. Cover of the book by N. M. Karamzin “History of the Russian State” ()
But for now the focus of his literary attention is the story of ordinary people - the peasant woman Lisa and the nobleman Erast.
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Creating a new language of fiction In the language of fiction, even at the end of the 18th century, the theory of three calms, created by Lomonosov and reflecting the needs of classicism literature, with its ideas about high and low genres, still dominated. The theory of three calms- classification of styles in rhetoric and poetics, distinguishing three styles: high, medium and low (simple). Classicism- an artistic direction focused on the ideals of ancient classics. But it is natural that by the 90s of the 18th century this theory was already outdated and became a brake on the development of literature. Literature demanded more flexible linguistic principles; there was a need to bring the language of literature closer to the spoken language, but not the simple peasant language, but the educated noble language. The need for books that would be written as people speak in this educated society was already very keenly felt. Karamzin believed that a writer, having developed his taste, could create a language that would become the spoken language of noble society. In addition, another goal was implied here: such a language was supposed to displace the French language, in which predominantly Russian noble society still spoke, from everyday use. Thus, the language reform that Karamzin is carrying out becomes a general cultural task and has a patriotic character. |
Perhaps Karamzin’s main artistic discovery in “Poor Liza” is the image of the storyteller, the narrator. This is coming from the perspective of a person interested in the fates of his heroes, a person who is not indifferent to them, who sympathizes with the misfortunes of others. That is, Karamzin creates the image of the narrator in full accordance with the laws of sentimentalism. And now this is becoming unprecedented; this is happening for the first time in Russian literature.
Sentimentalism- this is an attitude and a tendency of thinking aimed at identifying, strengthening, emphasizing the emotional side of life.
In full accordance with Karamzin’s plan, it is no coincidence that the narrator says: “I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow!”
The description in the exhibition of the decayed Simonov Monastery, with its destroyed cells, as well as the crumbling hut in which Lisa and her mother lived, introduces the theme of death into the story from the very beginning, creating the gloomy tone that will accompany the story. And at the very beginning of the story, one of the main themes and favorite ideas of the figures of the Enlightenment sounds - the idea of the extra-class value of man. And it will sound unusual. When the narrator talks about the story of Liza’s mother, about the early death of her husband, Liza’s father, he will say that she could not be consoled for a long time, and will utter the famous phrase: “...for even peasant women know how to love”.
Now this phrase has become almost a catchphrase, and we often do not correlate it with the original source, although in Karamzin’s story it appears in a very important historical, artistic and cultural context. It turns out that the feelings of common people and peasants are no different from the feelings of noble people, nobles, peasant women and peasants are capable of subtle and tender feelings. This discovery of the extra-class value of a person was made by figures of the Enlightenment and becomes one of the leitmotifs of Karamzin’s story. And not only in this place: Lisa will tell Erast that nothing can happen between them, since she is a peasant. But Erast will begin to console her and say that he does not need any other happiness in life except Lisa’s love. It turns out that, indeed, the feelings of ordinary people can be as subtle and refined as the feelings of people of noble birth.
At the beginning of the story another very important topic will be heard. We see that in the exhibition of his work Karamzin concentrates all the main themes and motifs. This is the topic of money and its destructive power. When Lisa and Erast meet for the first time, the guy will want to give her a ruble instead of the five kopecks Lisa requested for a bouquet of lilies of the valley, but the girl will refuse. Subsequently, as if paying off Liza, from her love, Erast will give her ten imperials - one hundred rubles. Naturally, Liza will automatically take this money, and then try through her neighbor, the peasant girl Dunya, to transfer it to her mother, but her mother will have no use for this money either. She will not be able to use them, since upon news of Lisa’s death she herself will die. And we see that, indeed, money is the destructive force that brings misfortune to people. It is enough to recall the sad story of Erast himself. For what reason did he abandon Lisa? Leading a frivolous life and having lost at cards, he was forced to marry a rich elderly widow, i.e. he, too, is actually sold for money. And it is this incompatibility of money as an achievement of civilizations with the natural life of people that Karamzin demonstrates in “Poor Liza.”
Despite a fairly traditional literary plot - a story about how a young rake-nobleman seduces a commoner - Karamzin still solves it in a not entirely traditional way. It has long been noted by researchers that Erast is not at all such a traditional example of an insidious seducer; he really loves Lisa. He is a man with a kind mind and heart, but weak and flighty. And it is this frivolity that destroys him. And he, like Lisa, is destroyed by too much sensitivity. And here lies one of the main paradoxes of Karamzin’s story. On the one hand, he is a preacher of sensitivity as a way of moral improvement of people, and on the other hand, he also shows how excessive sensitivity can bring disastrous consequences. But Karamzin is not a moralist, he does not call to condemn Liza and Erast, he calls on us to sympathize with their sad fate.
Karamzin also uses landscapes in his story in an unusual and innovative way. For him, the landscape ceases to be just a scene of action and a background. The landscape becomes a kind of landscape of the soul. What happens in nature often reflects what happens in the souls of heroes. And nature seems to respond to the heroes’ feelings. For example, let us remember the beautiful spring morning when Erast first sails down the river on a boat to Lisa’s house, and vice versa, the gloomy, starless night, accompanied by storm and thunder, when the heroes fall into sin (Fig. 8). Thus, the landscape also became an active artistic force, which was also Karamzin’s artistic discovery.
Rice. 8. Illustration for the story “Poor Lisa” ()
But the main artistic discovery is the image of the narrator himself. All events are presented not objectively and dispassionately, but through his emotional reaction. He turns out to be a genuine and sensitive hero, because he is able to experience the misfortunes of others as if they were his own. He mourns his overly sensitive heroes, but at the same time remains true to the ideals of sentimentalism and a staunch supporter of the idea of sensitivity as a way to achieve social harmony.
Bibliography
- Korovina V.Ya., Zhuravlev V.P., Korovin V.I. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Education, 2008.
- Ladygin M.B., Esin A.B., Nefedova N.A. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Bustard, 2011.
- Chertov V.F., Trubina L.A., Antipova A.M. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Education, 2012.
- Internet portal “Lit-helper” ()
- Internet portal "fb.ru" ()
- Internet portal "KlassReferat" ()
Homework
- Read the story "Poor Liza."
- Describe the main characters of the story “Poor Lisa”.
- Tell us what Karamzin’s innovation is in the story “Poor Liza.”
Probably none of the superstitions that arose thousands of years ago was as widespread as the belief in "evil eye".
If a person suddenly fell ill with an unknown disease, it was believed that he had been jinxed. If the chickens stopped laying eggs, the cows did not give milk, the cattle died, the house caught fire - the “evil eye” of some local witch was to blame.
Belief in this phenomenon was especially widespread in Europe in the Middle Ages. The fires of the Inquisition burned in all countries, burning thousands of women accused of causing harm through the “evil eye.”
The belief in the “evil eye” is widespread in our time. Many people are ashamed to admit this. However, once you gain trust, you can hear the most amazing stories about cases of the “evil eye” from the lips of highly educated and respected people.
In addition to the evil eye, people believe in the “slander”. For example, a child is growing up quite healthy, but suddenly a neighbor meets him and says to his mother: “What a healthy guy you have grown up!” These words are pronounced “at a bad hour,” and from that time on the child begins to get sick, lose weight and waste away.
Not only his enemies, but also close people can slander a person (for example, his own mother can cause such harm to a child). In rare cases, a person may even incriminate himself. Therefore, in a conversation, peasants often insert: “It’s time to say something,” “I shouldn’t make a slip of the tongue,” etc. It is believed that these saying words prevent slips of the tongue.
In his book “On Nature” Avicenna wrote: “Often the soul influences another’s body in the same way as its own - as, for example, when influenced by the evil eye.”
Back in the Middle Ages, the most advanced scientists guessed that the human eye is capable of releasing mysterious “od” energy, which can affect others. This energy was discovered only 120 years ago, after photography was invented.
One of the first to record the mysterious radiation from the eyes on a photographic plate was the Parisian artist Pierre Boucher. This happened by accident. As he himself said, in the evening he “got drunk as hell.” All night, in a drunken delirium, he dreamed of devils with pitchforks chasing him. Early in the morning, without sleep, he went to the laboratory: the customers could not wait, and therefore it was necessary to urgently develop the films taken the day before.
Cassettes lay scattered on the work table, both exposed and blank. Boucher didn’t bother to figure out which ones to show and which ones not to show—he showed them all. And he was dumbfounded: the same vile faces of the night guests with pitchforks were looking at him from the photographic plates.
Scientists became interested in this phenomenon and soon the first publications about “psychic photographs” appeared in the press.
Signs of people with the evil eye
The belief that the gaze has a mysterious power that can cause harm to other people, domestic animals and plants has been widespread from time immemorial among all peoples living on earth.
Back in the Ancient Roman Empire, there was a law according to which a person guilty of the evil eye could be sentenced to death. The “evil eye” is spoken of in Arabian fairy tales, Scandinavian sagas, and in the legends of the Australians and Aztecs.
The belief in the “evil eye” continues to this day. And since people are afraid of the evil eye, they want to know who it might come from, and therefore they strive to find external signs that distinguish the person they should be wary of.
What are these signs? How to determine whether a person is capable of harming you with his gaze?
The methods of identifying the owner of the “evil eye” are different among different nations. But it is always assumed that a person with the “evil eye” is identified either by obvious physical defects or by oddities in behavior and appearance. Thus, in ancient times, the Romans and Greeks were wary of people suffering from strabismus (by the way, strabismus is one of the signs of telepathic abilities), people with large protruding eyes, as well as people with deep-set small eyes. Particular concern was caused by people whose irises were of different colors (for example, one eye was blue and the other was brown).
Residents of the southern regions of the Earth, where black-eyed aborigines predominantly lived, usually avoided blue- and gray-eyed people, and, conversely, people from the north were afraid of people with dark eyes.
People with full eyebrows, as well as those whose eyebrows grew together, evoked a feeling of fear.
Other signs by which you can distinguish people with the “evil eye”:
1. One-eyed people (since a one-eyed person will always envy a person with two eyes; this is probably why in many nations the forces of evil are always embodied by a one-eyed giant).
2. Toothless people or people with bad body odor.
3. People whose complexion differs from normal (yellowish, sallow).
4. People suffering from thinness.
5. People seeking solitude (lonely, withdrawn, silent).
6. People talking to themselves.
7. In some countries, monks of mendicant orders (Italy), monks with long and flowing beards (Naples), blacksmiths, ropemakers, coopers (Brittany) and generally all beggars were considered people capable of casting the evil eye.
At all times, it was a common belief that old, ugly women had an “evil eye” and were witches. Pythagoras also advised not to go anywhere and stay at home if you met an ugly old woman at the door.
Witch's evil eye
During the Inquisition, those with the “evil eye” were searched throughout Europe and mercilessly burned at the stake. The concepts of “evil eye” and “witch” have always been inseparable from each other. There were more and more trials of witches and sorcerers. A scientific substantiation of the accusations was required, and it did not take long to arrive. All the major philosophers and theologians of that time studied witchcraft.
One of them was Saint Thomas Aquinas. Through philosophical reflection, he came to the conclusion that “due to strong mental stress, changes and movements occur in the elements of the human body.
They are mainly associated with the eyes, which, through special radiation, infect the air at a considerable distance.”
Thomas Aquinas was convinced that the view of people inclined to evil is poisonous and brings corruption. First of all, it harms children who are very impressionable. Saint Thomas added that “by God’s permission or for some other hidden reason, the devil’s malice cannot be avoided here if a woman has entered into an alliance with him.”
In the Middle Ages, it was believed that the owners of the “evil eye” were most often menstruating women. “New and clean mirrors become cloudy when a woman looks into them during menstruation,” this opinion was widespread in many countries. Some authors talked about cases when, in the presence of such women, the strings of musical instruments were broken, cucumbers and pumpkins were dried.
In December 1484, Pope Innocent VIII promulgated a bull in which it was stated that many people in Germany and some other countries “with their witchcraft, enchantments, spells and other terrible superstitious vicious and criminal acts, cause women premature birth, send damage to the offspring of animals, grain grains, grapes on vines and fruits on trees, as well as spoil men, women, domestic animals and other animals, as well as vineyards, gardens, meadows, pastures, fields, grain and all earthly growths; that they mercilessly torment men, women and domestic animals with both internal and external terrible pains; that they prevent men from producing and women from conceiving children and deprive husbands and wives of the ability to fulfill their conjugal duties; that, moreover, with blasphemous lips they renounce the very faith received at holy baptism, and that they, at the instigation of the enemy of the human race, dare to commit countless other kinds of unspeakable atrocities and crimes, to the destruction of their souls, to the insult of divine majesty and to a temptation for many multitudes.”
The fight against witches in Germany and France was led by members of the Dominican Order, professors of theology G. Institoris and J. Sprenger. They not only supervised the investigations and executions of thousands of people, but also compiled a manual for the Inquisition, “The Hammer of Witches,” which talked about methods of witchcraft and signs by which one could guess a witch. The same book also talked about the evil eye.
“It may happen,” wrote G. Institoris and J. Sprenger, “that a man or woman, glancing at the body of a boy, makes some changes in him with the help of the evil eye, imagination or sensual passion.
Sensual passion is associated with a certain change in the body. The eyes easily perceive impressions. Therefore, it often happens that internal bad excitement gives them a bad imprint. The power of imagination is easily reflected in the eyes due to their sensitivity and the proximity of the center of imagination to the senses.
If the eyes are full of harmful properties, then it may happen that they impart bad qualities to the surrounding air. Through the air they reach the eyes of the boy they are looking at, and through them they reach his internal organs. As a result, he is deprived of the opportunity to digest food, develop physically and grow.
Experience allows us to see this with our own eyes. We see that a person suffering from an eye disease can, at times, with his gaze cast a spell on someone who looks at him. This happens because the eyes, full of evil properties, infect the surrounding air, through which the healthy eyes of the one who looks at them are also infected.
Infection is transmitted in a direct line... At the same time, the imagination of the one who believes that he can become infected is of great importance.”