Waking Up To The Psychopaths Among Us
Where Science Meets Consciousness
As we swirl in the miasma that seems to be engulfing our society and threatening the planet, I invite you to pause and breathe for a bit. Ground back into your body with evenness of mind. There is a layer that many of us are not seeing which we need to perceive and understand so that humanity can survive and thrive.
From a scientific standpoint, there may well be a pathology to the current mess we are in.
Psychopaths In The Upper Echelons of Power
In Cameron Reilly’s book The Psychopath Epidemic, he makes the case that many of the behaviors that come naturally to psychopaths — lack of empathy combined with a high appetite for risk, lack of conscience, the ability to project magnetism, and an intense desire for power, make them attractive to corporations in the business world and organizations in the political sphere. Historically, these are the same traits that have enabled a small portion of psychopaths to ascend to positions of power in social, governmental and military hierarchies.
Far from what is depicted in movies, not all psychopaths are serial killers, nor are they all evil geniuses. There are plenty who have just the right combination of competence and deviance that are highly functional, and they are more numerous than we think. According to neuroscientist and senior lecturer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Dr. Tara Swart, psychopathy is a spectrum, and we all fall on it somewhere, but what distinguishes us from being psychopaths is our ability to feel empathy. The definition here of psychopaths includes sociopaths for the sake of brevity.
What Is A Psychopath?
The American Psychological Association defines Antisocial Personality Disorder (also known as psychopathic personality and sociopathic personality) as:
“The presence of a chronic and pervasive disposition to disregard and violate the rights of others. Manifestations include repeated violations of the law, exploitation of others, deceitfulness, impulsivity, aggressiveness, reckless disregard for the safety of self and others, and irresponsibility, accompanied by lack of guilt, remorse, and empathy.”
In the FBI’s definition of a psychopath, they further refute a common myth by saying:
“Psychopaths understand right from wrong. They know they are subject to society’s rules, but willingly disregard them to pursue their own interests. They also are not out of touch with reality.”
Psychopaths are aware that they are different from non-psychopaths and gravitate towards other psychopaths. They are also keen observers of non-psychopaths so they can mimic their behavior and fit in to seem unoffending and even very charming. As a result, they are able to push our emotional buttons and are experts at manipulating others to achieve their personal ends. Psychopaths do not accept responsibility for their actions and always seek to blame someone or something else. They also thrive on chaos and have a difficult time conceiving of the future or the past since they are focused on immediate gratification and adrenaline rushes.
How Prevalent Is This Pathology?
Psychiatrists estimate that around 1% of the population is classified as an essential psychopath, and an additional 5% have other psychopathies and characteropathies. In Ponerology, A science on the nature of evil adjusted for political purposes, a book by Polish psychiatrist Dr. Andrzej Łobaczewski, he writes that apart from this 6% there are about an additional 12% of the population who are not classified as psychopaths but are subjected to psychopathic behavior either through their family upbringing or societal influences. They are psychically weak and crater to the psychopath’s demands for self-serving purposes. “Ponerology” is an obscure theological term for the study of evil that has been adopted by Dr. Łobaczewski for the scientific explanation of evil.
A Scientifically Detectable Trait
Clinton Callahan points out in Beware The Psychopath My Son that if a lack of empathy and conscience equates to evil, then evil can be identified and understood scientifically. Neurobiology offers a way for us to do this. Recent studies have shown that psychopaths have great difficulty processing verbal and nonverbal affective (emotional) information. Emotional significance does not register and they are not capable of authentic deep emotions. However, because they study non-psychopaths they are able to intellectually manufacture an appropriate emotional response for show.
Nevertheless, there is a missing connection between the feeling heart and the thinking brain and brain scans can detect this.
The Gradual Shift Into A Soulless Culture
We have arguably been in the same ‘might makes right’ power paradigm and struggle for millennia, whether it is military, political or financial might. This struggle gets reiterated overtime in familiar cycles of war and revolt. However, history is written by the victors, and the vanquished adapt accordingly, developing a level of cognitive dissonance in themselves in order to accept reality and ensure survival. Inevitably, the predominant narrative and culture becomes the one that is shaped more often than not by the psychopaths.
In Silvia Cattori’s The Trick of The Psychopath’s Trade: Make Us Believe That Evil Comes from Others regarding Dr. Łobaczewski’s work, it is explained that under the appropriate circumstances, psychopaths and other deviants along the same spectrum can become the primary influencers in society that shape how we think, live, and even how we judge our reality. Soullessness comes to define our society because the people who lead and set the example in positions of power are devoid of empathy and a conscience.
Whether in the court of law, in business organizations or governments:
If fair-minded people are attempting to discern between a psychopath who tells brazen lies without flinching and someone with a conscience who feels guilt and has a much harder time lying, they conclude the truth must lie somewhere in between, when in fact it lies much closer to the side of the non-psychopath.
That is how we, as a society slowly tip towards creating a culture lacking in morality and ethics, that condones and rewards psychopaths, and one that unknowingly puts them into power as CEOs and policy makers.
The mistake we make is to project the same kind of moral compass and the ability to feel shame and guilt on those that simply do not have this capacity.
This offers up the possibility of a good explanation as to why after countless iterations of the same cycles of war or economic development in human history we never seem to learn from our mistakes, and circumstances never quite get better for the majority.
Where The Pathology Exists Is Also Where The Opportunities Lie
I am reminded of the 2003 Canadian documentary film The Corporation (followed by a 2020 film The New Corporation: The Unfortunately Necessary Sequel) that posits if the corporate entity were a person (since U.S. law treats the corporate entity as a separate “person”), it would have the same traits as a psychopath: the callous disregard for the feelings and safety of other people, the inability to maintain human relationships and conform to social norms, the continual deceitfulness (for profit), the incapacity to experience guilt, and the disrespect for the law. This is an example of where we have an opportunity to structurally reshape society. Social enterprise, B Corps and public benefit corporations are a step in the positive direction to include a purpose like social and environmental benefit, beyond just maximizing shareholder value. However, there is a lot more work to be done here.
Another interesting fact to ponder is that psychopathy occurs three times more often in men than women. Does this contribute to explaining why there are so few women in positions of power, and how cultural and systemic suppression of women continue to exist to this day? Further study is needed.
What To Do? A Necessary Observation and A Conscious Approach
What struck me from the research above were three things:
#1 Those of us who are non-psychopaths make up the majority of the world, not the minority.
#2 Having the awareness of how differently psychopaths function and how prevalent they are in positions of power gives us greater clarity on how to shift that paradigm. It urges the need to relinquish blinders we have regarding our consensus reality.
#3 A significant 12% of the population that somehow were shaped into sociopaths and psychopaths through their environment could possibly have had a different outcome if given the appropriate care and guidance.
This is an important piece of the puzzle and a wake-up call to revisit our societal values and transform our power structures.
#1 People with a conscience are the majority (remember this).
Why is there both obliviousness and obstinate denial of resolvable systemic social injustices and inequality? Why is it that despite clear scientific and empirical evidence of climate change there is still refusal to accept this reality? Why are we knowingly poisoning our food sources and land so that we consume toxic substances on a regular basis that make us sicker and sicker? Why the enduring suppression and oppression of women who “hold up half the sky”?
After all, don’t we all want to live in peace with our neighbors in a productive society no matter our skin color? Aren’t we all inhabitants of the same planet, the only viable home we have? Aren’t we all human beings that want to be healthy? Don’t we all have mothers, sisters, daughters?
These may seem to be rhetorical questions but not everyone is interested in what is self-evident to most of us. We must remember this. It’s ironic because those of us with a conscience it find it very difficult to imagine someone else entirely devoid of it. We get hypnotized and conditioned into the belief (often by the psychopaths in power) that things are bound to get better by themselves or that the next leader or CEO who is chosen or elected will be different.
The point I am making is not about going on a witch hunt for psychopaths hiding in plain sight, otherwise we would inadvertently generate more conflict and separation that is part of the same system of manipulation and control.
What is needed is an awareness and consciousness that leadership must come from us — the majority.
We need to refuse to submit to a harmful and selfish agenda that only benefits a self-selected group, and leads not only misery in the short term, but total destruction in the long term.
#2 Remove the blinders and take it in.
Unlike in eastern cultures and religion, western culture is somewhat allergic to the idea of dark forces. It is depicted in science fiction and horror films like Star Wars and The Exorcist, in entertainment and gaming, but that’s pretty much the extent of it. It is not really taken seriously. Over centuries and especially since the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century much of what remained as arcane pagan elements of worship were eliminated in the name of reform and a new religion. Those pagan elements included accepting and acknowledging the existence of darker energies in the world. The point I am making is not about religion, I am simply pointing out a plausible cultural and psychological bias that negates a more holistic view of the world where there is both dark and light, and that the dark is not something to be feared, but understood.
From Cattori’s interviews Dr. Łobaczewski proposes:
“The only way to protect ourselves against this pathological thinking is to inoculate ourselves against it, and that is done by learning as much as possible about the nature of psychopathy and its influence on us. Essentially, this particular ‘disease’ thrives in an environment where its very existence is denied, and this denial is planned and deliberate.”
Therefore, it is highly important for us to perceive and build awareness as to how we are being deceived and manipulated, how pathological thinking infiltrates companies and organizations, societies and governments, while at the same time not getting hijacked by extremist conspiracy theorists and losing the plot altogether. Having discernment and clarity that is not runaway with fear is critical.
Precisely because psychopaths do not have a connection between the feeling heart and the thinking brain, this is exactly how we need to approach the issues we face: with empathy and compassion AND rationality and intelligence. We need to use our heart-minds.
An example of where there is great need for this kind of approach and awareness is in technology. The recent eye-opening and somewhat disturbing film The Social Dilemma illustrates how we live in a technological control paradigm that is sociopathic. Although social media has resulted in tremendous good such as connecting families across borders, and is an organizational tool for positive activism that engages our common humanity, there is another, much murkier side.
The film explores how social media and search engines exploit users for financial gain through data mining and surveillance capitalism, nurturing addiction and influencing politics, contributing to mental health issues and undermining the empathetic trust that is part of our social contract.
The call and necessity for being more humane in the process of technological advancement is urgent as the speed of technological development has far outpaced that of laws and regulation. The tech giants are not paying attention to how they are affecting society in the long run.
#3 Disrupt the road from egoism to psychopathy.
Technology is neutral and can be used for harm or good, the same is true for all the other tools, means and knowledge we have at our disposal like the written word, money or science.
Being more humane is the point.
Even in the post-new age consciousness movement there are individuals and organizations that seek to use the banner of spirituality for aggression and exploitation. We live mostly in a dualistic world where there are two polarities to everything. When we are unhealed and unaware, it is easy to give in to fear and fall prey to manipulation where we become pawns for a sinister agenda.
Consciousness is not a luxury or a hobby like improving your golf swing, it’s a necessary part of critical thinking and perception that helps us discern truth from falsehood.
Conscious awareness requires constant vigilance, questioning and being open to change. It asks for self-examination and the healing of wounds and trauma so we can see past them to understand ourselves, and comprehend the greater good both on an individual and collective basis. Through this process we cultivate strength and resilience so that our integrity cannot be warped, and we do not succumb to negative forces that seek to divide and control us. Creating a conscious society means we must first address its ills and injustices.
The psychopathic erosion of society does not happen overnight, it is like a disease that spreads slowly until it takes over the entire organism, or in our case, our entire society and world.
Most people are not bothered because they have their modern equivalent of “bread and circuses” as in ancient Rome, too scared of losing their cheap thrills of sports and entertainment, and affordable escapism of alcohol and drugs. We must prevent ourselves from being lulled into a catatonic stupor while the psychopaths take over. This demands collective will and action.
“The psychopath’s only limitation is the participation of susceptible individuals within that given society”.
The message here is actually an uplifting one because not only are people with a conscience the majority, consisting of 82% of the world, that number could potentially be as high as 94% if we take better care of the 12% who lack the psychic strength to defend themselves — those who are children of psychopaths and the ones that are left behind by a compassionless and unjust society who have been conditioned by fear and lack. With the awareness and proper support they can strengthen their sense of self through positive community. I realize I may be simplifying matters here, but it’s worth considering nonetheless.
Psychic strength is the ability to see beyond one’s immediate ego needs and identity, the moral conviction to not harm others in satisfying those needs, and the understanding of the greater good.
The distance from egoism to psychopathy is a spectrum we all fall into and this is where spiritual development can be useful and beneficially applied.
It’s important to remember that psychopathy is a collection of traits that someone gave a name to and that these traits are malleable and not necessarily predetermined.
What Else Are We Being Shown?
Psychopathy and the lack of empathy as demonstrated by the power elite in many places is more obvious than ever before and plain to see by everyone. This should serve not only is a rallying point for change, it should also raise awareness for mental health that is under-addressed in many countries and is still taboo in many circles. Despite much evidence it is not absolutely conclusive that psychopathy is genetic, but even if it were, our DNA is not the deciding factor in everything. The same genes in different people can be expressed differently (epigenetics) depending on the environment and experiences.
Mental and emotional health is a critical component of our integrity as human beings and part of the integral health of a society and a nation.
We need to have compassion instead of revilement towards anyone who has mental illness including psychopaths, because we are all part of the same society and therefore we are each of us responsible, together. Any kind of ‘othering’ will only divide us further, and perpetuate the widening polarities instead of producing a more humane world.
How do we address all of the above you ask? By not letting fear dictate our decisions and hopelessness tranquilize us into indifference. By trusting that no matter how daunting the task, we can accomplish this if we have the will to act.
It’s The 11th Hour. Let’s Wake Up With A Sense of Purpose, Now.
Wrapped up in this entire discussion is the need not just for discernment and equanimity, but for self-examination and humility. As it relates to the United States, Americans are being presented with an opportunity to revisit American exceptionalism that has long been part of the country’s identity, and to do so in a constructive way. Although the idea of the U.S. being the moral leader of the world is a cliché that is increasingly irrelevant, the trope of the American spirit, one that defends freedom and justice, is still very much alive. If we are to live up to this, we must make the effort to make broad systemic and structural changes across industries and government. It obliges us to make our voices heard as voters and taxpayers. It compels us to non-violently refuse to comply with psychopathic agendas and co-create new frameworks instead.
As Buckminster Fuller said:
“You never change things by fighting against the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old one obsolete.”
Let’s do this together, individually and collectively, with fierce love and courageous compassion.