Psychopath

Because of my circumstances, I spend a lot of time reading. And again, thanks to all who have forwarded reading material to me from the various bookstores. Anyway, while I was reading a book entitled "A Lonely Heart Learns to Love" by Priscilla English Walton, and I came across the term "psychosomatic". I grabbed my dictionary and began thumbing through it and the like term "psychopath" suddenly occurred to me. I love language and expanding my vocabulary, so I decided to look up that term instead. And guess what? After perusing the definition, and much to my dismay, guess who I saw? Yeah, big surprise...me. At different times in my life, I have manifested some of these traits...not all, Thank God, but enough of them.

So the dictionary defines psychopath as: an emotionally and behaviorally disordered state characterized by clear perceptions of reality except for the individuals social and moral obligations and often by the pursuit of immediate personal gratification in criminal acts, drug addictions or sexual perversion. Uhm...WOW!

I have always thought of this as a derisive and disparaging characterization of someone; however, one of my battles is to face my demons and character flaws and at least I am now aware of these past and present proclivities. Back in 1995, one of my ex-wives frequently challenged me to "know thyself" and there has been a bit of a lag, but I am catching up now. And I really hope that the adage that states "knowing/understanding is truly half the battle" is right on the mark.