The 11th in the series of summarizing the Laws of Human Nature.

Know your limits.

“The gods are merciless with those who fly too high on the wings of grandiosity, and they will make you pay the price.”

Throughout history, humans have had a deep need to consider themselves important. A little bit of success can go straight to our heads. We feel superior to others and we amplify our successes and take all the credit. We also can downplay the role of luck, or the contributions of others, may have played in our success. As soon as the perception of our greatness differs too much from reality, we become grandiose.

Seek out signs of grandiosity in yourself and others. It’s become more prominent today as a result of a few factors:
Excessive pampering of children.  
A growing number of people are showing no respect for authority, or experts in general.  
Social media works as a platform for aggrandizement, creating the illusion that we can attract lots of adoring followers. More than anything else today, it is social media that spreads the virus of grandiosity.  

The Grandiose Leader
Grandiose leaders may reach levels of authority. They have some talent and assertive energy that allow them to get there, but they also distort reality to fit their perceived greatness.  

Six common illusions grandiose leaders like to create:
Greatness is my destiny.
They will tell stories of their childhood and youth that demonstrate their uniqueness, as if fate had chosen them.  

I am the common man.
Public figures must present themselves as representatives of the average citizen. The trick is to put the emphasis on their cultural taste, not the class they were raised in.  

I will be your savior.
These types rise to power in times of trouble, in order to deliver people from the troubles they are experiencing. They need to make large but vague promises. Messages need to be simple to understand, yet stir the emotions. When followers become part of the cult, they are mesmerized and ready to excuse any of the leader’s faults.  

I am able to rewrite the rules.
Humans have a secret desire to do away with the rules and conventions in every field, and to be empowered just by following their intuitions. Secretly, we are excited, and wish to believe grandiose leaders when they claim to have such powers.  

Everything I touch turns to gold.
In order to create the legend that they don’t fail, those with grandiose tendencies will exaggerate their success. Setbacks or failures in their career will usually be blamed on others.  

I am invulnerable.
The grandiose leader likes to take risks, but this boldness is often reckless and mismanaged. Their decisions aren’t influenced by rational decisions, but by the need for fame and attention. Reality eventually catches up with them.

Practical Grandiosity
Grandiosity is a form of primal energy we all possess.  
Here are five ways of redirecting this energy and attaining a high level of fulfillment.

1) Be honest with yourself about your grandiose desires
Only then can you channel your energy into something useful and productive.  

2) Focus your energy
Avoid scatterbrained thinking and moving from one idea to another. Don’t try to solve too many problems at once. Break your goals into smaller steps.  

3) Keep in touch with reality
Let your imagination run free, but don’t expect your ideas to be perfect. You’ll be able to create something practical, powerful, and realistic by listening to criticism and maintaining an ongoing dialog between your imagination and reality.  

4) Challenge yourself according to your abilities.  
Continuously seek challenges just above your current skill level. Projects at, or below, your skill level will be boring.

5) Don’t hold back your grandiose energy
Think of your energy as a wild animal that needs to roam free now and then or it will go made from restlessness. Try learning a new skill in a different field, or start that business you once considered unattainable.  

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My own notes:

Recognizing our own pride is of course one of the primary issues within Christianity. We are told to humble ourselves.  This could be interpreted as “just don’t let any pride or grandiosity have any sway in your life”. I do like the idea here that recognizing this primal energy, and redirecting it, is a good way to deal with it. Trying to stuff down basic nature is impossible, but of course all things are possible through Christ, who strengthens us, so we don’t expect dealing with our pride is something we do on our own anyway. Nor do we really expect it will ever be dealt with this side of heaven.

That said, pride is the feeling of pleasure derived from one’s achievements. It swings into negative when one has an unmerited high opinion of himself, and it crosses into arrogance or haughtiness. As a sin, it is forgetting that everything we have has come from the Lord, and thinking it is due to our own brilliance or efforts.  

So focusing this desire to achieve something, what Greene calls using the energy to attain a high level of fulfillment, can be a good thing.

His five ways of redirecting this energy seem like they could be useful tools. What they lack in terms of the church is the recognition that God, as head of the church, is the one that will direct us in the way we should go. But if we let Him lead us, then using these steps can be productive.