The dark triad in psychology refers to the (considered negative) traits of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. Skillful writing has a bit of narcissism and a tiny amount of Machiavellianism, not psychopathy. I was reading Barthe’s Death of the Author  while considering Nietzsche’s theory on lying when I wrote Death of Strauss.  The struggle of an author to release a piece of work into the universe is defeating, at times, and exhilarating on other occasions. To keep writing you need a healthy ego and the art of subtlety… influencing your audience for entertainment purposes only. 

My writing has often brought out my shadow self. There was a great deal of disapproval of my writing from the start. I became unafraid of showing the dark side of my experiences. My professors insisted my writing was a symptom of burn out instead of a need for truth and the ugliness that entailed. My peers were shocked and curious. The few people I shared my writing with were supportive. People are frightened of showing the imperfect nature and rather be seen as noble humans. Shadow writing is hard because you encounter uncomfortable emotions. The benefit is a writer is often able to build connections with other people through honesty.    

In my experience, everyone has those dark traits to a differing degree, and most of the time, we feign ignorance of having been manipulative, cold, and egotistical. These character flaws keep us from getting into bad relationships, being robbed, and occasionally we get what we need. Those personality defects are dependent on the nature and nurturing of the individual. Learning from the times when we win at love, work, and life encourages the person’s indulgence in those pursuits.   

A true psychopath tends to have no empathy or remorse; they do things others would never consider doing while feeling nothing. The richest and most successful people have those traits. You could rationalize it if you chose, and I will. I am sure that even the elite have their seconds of worry over how they appear to the populace, but it is not remorse. When it comes down to it, we need people to make the decisions that we cannot make if we have a conscience. Begrudgingly, we must admire people who never second guess themselves because their decisions would keep most of us up at night. Normal people might want to take the loss and sleep soundly. 

No matter how hard it gets to hold on, losing is difficult to accept for anyone. Endless wars are fought, twitter battles run forever, the news is biased towards one side, but what if we could settle disputes and admit defeat occasionally? There will be times in life when we will have to choose to let things go and take the “L.” When it is unhealthy and it hurts on a physical level or is mentally draining all our resources, we need to abandon it. The ego will survive the occasional failure, but it is a mistake to hold out hope for something or someone to change, it is up to you to decide when your effort is wasted. We could save lives, restore sanity, and enable trust if anyone could take a loss these days. The Socratic Method of argumentation involves simple questioning until an answer is reached by mutual consent. If only we could reason our way through problems instead of insisting on no middle ground.  

Narcissists have high self-esteem and are known for their ego. Most writers are selfish, but it is momentary, and we come back to our senses eventually. I loathe answering emails and phone calls when there is a flow (rapid succession of thoughts inspired by heaven only knows). There is a neglectful person inside that writes and the guilty one that picks up the pieces of all those broken promises. It is a compulsion…an obsession…an unbearable burden that must be unloaded by the simple act of typing words upon a page. So many authors of the greatest works of all time were drunkards, addicts, conmen, and good old reprobates because they only cared about themselves. The typical writer does what is necessary and ignores everything else. This is a case of slight narcissism that is harmless. 

We throw the word narcissism around so much it has lost meaning. Everyone is one, so no one is. They are the eternal victims in families, the worker who never makes a mistake, a person you can never disagree with or run the risk of isolation. I know many and they virtual signal about popular causes without lifting a finger. They punish you for not taking their side, they love you lavishly, then drop you on a whim. The true narcissist makes their own story, and you are always the bad guy. The past is invented, and you start wondering if you are crazy. The narcissist will always shrink away from criticism and never acknowledge fault.  Most writers have a wealth of criticism coming at them and they cannot avoid it. It keeps you honest and striving for a small slice of perfection. 

Some writers are selfless human beings who care about the human condition. Authors who are not subject to addictions or follies are looked upon with suspicion. There must be some skeletons in the closet somewhere! Presence is the ability to be in the now and pay attention and respond with gratitude for the smallest things. Technology has created a society that lives in the past and future. Talented writers make you think, feel, or change the person. The first significant work for me was The Cave by Plato. There were so many emotions: recognition, happiness, and fear. Recognition of seeing my own naivety, the happiness of understanding, and a fear of unworthiness of this precious knowledge. I started loving philosophy and digging deep into my own motivations. I was a morally upright individual in my mind, but that was not it…no, there was more going on than I had anticipated, it was the dark side. There is this ugly side that examines things through an opaque lens, the lens sees me as honest and trustworthy.  

Machiavellianism is when a writer tricks his readers with clever ploys. Nietzsche was right about the moral implications of lying. It is so damn comforting and tempting to lie about anything and everything.  Hiding from the truth is easier, but I try to confront the truth in fictional form. Non-fiction involves tedious research and the possibility of lawsuits, and it requires honesty. When I write, ‘writers were liars and thieves,’   it is because fiction is based part on experience and inspiration from other greater authors. Fiction writers can only write half-truths and outright fabrications.  It was not an insult to writers, but more of a questioning of why people write.  ‘The winners write history,’ and I want to write that history, but do it in a way that gets the reader considering my point of view. There is a manipulative person that writes these passages of historical fiction and revels in deceit. 

Telling the truth is harder than lying because of the consequences. If you ignore the truth about a matter, you might feel no one is wiser…but your conscience notices. A person could live their life without commenting on any injustice and be kept whole, yet how would it make you feel if another person faced the same circumstances? My father used to tell me, ‘You never have to be sorry if you do the right thing,’ yet I have found out for every action, there is a reaction, and an unforeseen outcome, you can never fully prepare for, so you do your best and hope the repercussions do not ruin your faith in being honest.   

Barthe introduced this concept: the author when he releases his work has no control over how it is perceived by an audience. What a frightening concept.  Each reader takes his own meaning from any piece of writing. They might be wrong, and you will never be permitted to affirm or deny their evaluations without appearing overly sensitive. It means freedom with responsibility. I always have doubts, yet striving for a small amount of honesty, self-reflection, and faith is worth the time.