Given experiences

• Prosthetic arms are not available as perfect product.
• Either I wear a very comfortable very functional but technical looking body powered hook and feel very relaxed but lack beauty.
• Or I succumb to researcher fantasies and try non functional contraptions suffering endlessly but following a dream.
• Or I buy commercial myoelectric arms with 35% real life failure rate and repairs every few weeks.

For a narcissist, life is an endless theater of the Grand Self, where objects, bodies, and choices are valued strictly by a single metric: How does this look to the audience, and does it feed or starve my grandiosity?

The narcissist is utterly trapped in what Lacan called the Imaginary—the world of surface reflections, envious gazes, and the desperate need to be perceived as flawless, powerful, or elite.

Here is how a narcissistic mindset evaluates my three choices:

1. The Body-Powered Hook: The Narcissistic Injury of “Ugliness”

“Either I wear a very comfortable, very functional, but technical-looking body-powered hook and feel very relaxed, but lack beauty.”

To a narcissist, function is irrelevant if the aesthetic fails.

• The Horror of the Hook: The body-powered hook is a narcissist’s nightmare. It doesn’t hide the flaw; it aggressively advertises it. Worse, it looks industrial, raw, and unpolished—it lacks the sleek, high-status gloss of a luxury item. Wearing a hook means walking into a room and risking that people might see an imperfection rather than an icon of perfection.

• Why the narcissist rejects it: Even though the narcissist would feel “relaxed” and capable, the internal anxiety of not being looked at with undivided awe outweighs physical comfort. The narcissist cannot tolerate being perceived as ordinary, let alone “lacking beauty.” Comfort is for mortals; the narcissist requires perpetual admiration.

2. The Researcher Fantasies: The Ultimate Narcissistic Supply (Being the Special, Chosen Pioneer)

“Or I succumb to researcher fantasies and try non-functional contraptions, suffering endlessly, but following a dream.”

This option is surprisingly tempting to a certain type of grandiose narcissist, provided it can be framed correctly.

• The Allure of the Elite Patient: Being the “pioneer,” the rare specimen, or the muse for cutting-edge science feeds the fantasy of being uniquely special. In the researcher’s lab, the narcissist is not just an amputee—they are the center of attention, surrounded by scientists hanging on their feedback, writing papers about them, and treating them as a superhuman project.

• The Trap of Suffering: Because the narcissist is addicted to the idea of being extraordinary, they will endure endless physical failure as long as the narrative remains glamorous (“I am merging with the future of AI and robotics!”). However, the moment the contraption breaks down and the narcissist realizes they look ridiculous rather than god-like, narcissistic rage sets in, and they will discard the researchers instantly.

3. The Commercial Myoelectric Arm: The False Mask of the “Cyborg God”

“Or I buy commercial myoelectric arms with a 35% real-life failure rate and repairs every few weeks.”

For the narcissist, the commercial myoelectric arm is the ultimate weapon of mass delusion—at least in theory.

• The Fantasy of Omnipotence: This is the mask of the tech-wizard, the sleek, high-status cyborg who transcends human biology. It costs a fortune, looks futuristic, and allows the narcissist to command the room: “Look at my high-tech bionic marvel; I am frictionless, modern, and superior.” It feeds the false self completely.

• The Narcissistic Injury of the 35% Failure Rate: This is where the tragedy (and comedy) of narcissism peaks. When the myoelectric arm inevitably breaks down every few weeks—dropping a glass, freezing mid-gesture, or requiring a humiliating trip back to the repair shop—it causes a severe narcissistic injury. The fragile mask of perfection shatters. The glorious cyborg is suddenly exposed as a clumsy mortal stuck with a permanently defunct, hyped up, insanely expensive toy designed to expose him as such. The frequent repairs are intolerable because they force the narcissist to confront reality and inadequacy. The often relatively painful wearing side effects usually reduce any real joy that can be had.

The Narcissistic Verdict

As narcissist I look at my trilemma and suffer uniquely because every single option requires a compromise of my ego and none can ultimately be tolerated:

• Choose the hook, and I protect my peace of mind, but sacrifice the grand narcissistic image of perfection. The public will not adore me.

• Choose the researcher fantasy, and I feed on the delusion of being a sci-fi special entity, or uphold the fantasy of “serving the public” by some sacrifice, but suffer endless humiliation when it doesn’t work. Also, life goes by while that happens and as ultimately humanity is never served along this line of sacrifice, the narcissistic injury will eventually be great.

• Choose the myoelectric arm, and I buy the illusion of elite status, only to be repeatedly betrayed by a 35% failure rate that publicly punctures my grandiose facade. Every day. Unless I wear a cape and play superman and make that last for a few minutes I am out of options here as technology has a way to let me down.

Ultimately, a narcissist’s life in this predicament is an exhausting loop of choosing which form of public embarrassment or internal frustration they are willing to endure just to manage how the world looks at them.