Psychopaths, Sandwiches, and Asuric Varnasrama-dharma

My apologies to Ekendra, and to anyone else who misread my last post as accusing Ekendra of being a psychopath. Everyone who knows Ekendra knows that he is a sociopath, not a psychopath - just kidding! :-)

On the subject of psychopaths, here is a check list to help you to know if you are one (I have some characteristics that look like these, but I'm missing a few of the internal mechanics, probably due to devotional service). Clinically there are 20 characteristics. Here are six principle ones:

• 1. Guiltless: The psychopath shows no remorse no matter how much they victimize, back-stab or steal credit.
• 2. Charming: They are very good talkers. They prefer to operate one-on-one and will avoid group meetings.
• 3. Manipulative: They bend the corporate systems and rules for their own advantage. They prey on people's weaknesses, particularly low self esteem.
• 4. Parasitic: They take credit for other people's work.
• 5. Pathological liars: The workplace psychopath is not a good liar. However, when discovered they can talk their way out of trouble.
• 6. Erratic: Psychopaths only experience primary emotions (happy, sad, anger). They will also shift between emotions very quickly, one minute being happy, the next being angry and the next sad.

Statistically 0.5% of women, and 2% of men are psychopaths. I guess that we would define them in the language of Bhagavad-gita as "demons", as distinguished from "devotees", and the majority of people who are characterised as "innocent".

Research shows that psychopaths are deficient in empathy - they are physically incapable of feeling others' pain. In clinical tests they show no involuntary reaction to pictures of people crying. This has a biological basis, rather than simply a psychological one.

From the wikipedia entry on Psychopathy:

It is thought that any emotions which the primary psychopath exhibits are the fruits of watching and mimicking other people's emotions. They show poor impulse control and a low tolerance for frustration and aggression. They have no empathy, remorse, anxiety or guilt in relation to their behavior. In short, they truly are devoid of conscience. However, they understand that society expects them to behave in a conscientious manner, and therefore they mimic this behavior when it suits their needs.

Psychopaths cannot be rehabilitated, according to criminal psychologist Dr John Clarke, author of The Pocket Psycho, a survival guide on how to protect yourself from the organizational psychopath.:

They don't care. They don't think of themselves as psychopaths. They don't think they are doing wrong. They just think they are smart and if everyone else had the same intelligence, they would do the same thing, When you rehabilitate them, you teach them social skills and show them how to deal with people appropriately. They will then use those social skills to better manipulate people.

Wikipedia again:

It has been shown that punishment and behavior modification techniques do not improve the behavior of a psychopath. They have been regularly observed to respond to both by becoming more cunning and hiding their behavior better. It has been suggested that traditional therapeutic approaches actually make them, if not worse, then far more adept at manipulating others and concealing their behavior. They are generally considered to be not only incurable but also untreatable.

Now the sandwich:

Venkata Bhatta recently wrote a great post about the feedback sandwich - a technique for delivering feedback where you first give some positive feedback (praise), followed by negative feedback (criticism), followed by positive feedback (praise).

In this post he talks about limitations of this technique:

Recently a colleague told me that she has started to grow wary of the sandwich -- that when she hears my words of praise she starts to cringe in preparation of the impending criticism! Her telling me this was a sobering reminder to me that merely "buttering someone up" before and after you "give them the sauce" does not a sandwich make.

Venkata then goes on to share some advice on how to use this effectively, and most importantly, with integrity. All forms of leadership or management technique become forms of manipulation in the hands of a person who is lacking integrity. Unfortunately, this is the core identity of the psychopath. As Venkata Bhatta concludes, ultimately it's a question of spiritual and emotional maturity of the person employing the technique - and this is something that a psychopath (demon) cannot have.

Teaching these kinds of techniques to these people is dangerous. Demons should never be given instruction in any form of knowledge, according to Vedic injunction.

In the hands of the psychopath (demon), every imaginable technique or ability becomes damaging to others. One form of asuric varnasrama-dharma, or demonic human life, is that practiced by psychopaths who use their knowledge of human potential development for their own egoistic purposes, crushing others along the way, rather than for serving others, and ultimately Visnu.

King Jarasandha, and one of the central characters of the great history Mahabharata, King Duryodhana, fall into this category.

As we discussed on Sunday's radio show, when development of bodily and mental potential takes place outside of the context of spiritual knowledge, the results are disastrous. As Akrura das from Bhaktivedanta Coaching put it: "Coaching minus Krishna Consciousness expands the material false ego".

The difference between demigods and sadhus, Srila Bhakti Tirtha Swami once explained to me, is that demigods will uplift others as they pursue their own sense gratification. It is a contamination of the sattva-guna to want to be the helper and benefactor of others. Real sadhus, or saints, on the other hand, will benefact others with no selfish motivation.

Varnasrama-dharma, human life, is established by sadhus, saints, for the majority of people to become devotees (demigods) by pursuing their sense gratification in a way that uplifts them and others. The same structures of human life, including knowledge of the development of the body and mind, is co-opted by psychopathic persons (demons), and this practice is known as asuric varnasrama-dharma.

Dr Clarke recommends education and team-building to neutralize the influence of psychopaths in organisations.

Related to psychopathy is sociopathy. Sociopathy does not have the same biological basis that psychopathy does - it is due to environmental causes. While a sociopathic person exhibits many of the same behavioural traits as a psychopath, they can be reformed. A psychopath cannot. If you are insincere, then no-one can help you.

Sociopathy represents a covering of karma from experiences in this lifetime. Psychopathy represents a base guna from activities in the past lifetime. Generally the overcoming of the guna of psychopathy involves the extinguishing of this body. There may be some other extraordinary manifestation of causeless mercy, but that is the general situation. Demonic mentality can be killed if it is a superficial contamination of the living entity's mental structure. If it is the structure itself, it's a different story.

As a recovering sociopath (demon turned devotee), I have some insight into it...