A study on narcissism and projection in the story of the Hunting and lion of Rumi's Masnavi

Abstract

The word narcissism was first used by Freud. Of course, others, before Freud, used it in the sense of selfishness and humiliation to describe the psychological attitude in clinical psychology. This personality disorder often leads to projection. Projection is one of the psychological mechanisms through which one can understand the conscience and inside of human beings and gain a relative knowledge of their personality. Mawlana Jalaluddin Mohammad Balkhi (Rumi) in his works, especially in Masnavi, has paid attention to the psychological aspect of human behavior. This study tries to analyze narcissism and projection as one of the new concepts of psychology in the story of the Hunting and lion of Masnavi, with a descriptive-analytical approach and using library resources. The findings show that the disorder of narcissism and pride in our psyche leads to not seeing the facts and death. Rumi considers narcissistic personality to be the general problem of humanity and the way to cure it is self-knowledge and polishing of the soul. In the story of the lion meets himself and comes to his truth. In fact, the rabbit did not kill the lion, the lion's anger and narcissism and his lack of trust in God caused his negligence and eventual destruction. The issue of meeting in Rumi's language is sometimes expressed with interpretations and signs such as water, spring, stream, face, seeing one's reflection in water, etc., which evokes the myth of Narcissus in the world of myth.