Individual narcissistic behaviors are as old as man. The great novelty of our time is that culture and society are also narcissistic.

The narcissist is recognized by his egotistical behavior, and by the desire to be admired. He cares only about himself. Since he also lacks empathy, he neither feels compassion for people who suffer nor remorse for his detachment.

It is necessary to distinguish between a healthy "esteem of the self", which is not narcissism, and an abnormal "inflation of the self". In turn, this inflation is, in some cases, narcissism as ego worship, and in other cases narcissism as ego denial. The latter is a personality disorder that tends to affect mainly adolescents, because they still have a weak and insecure self that they deny. It is characterized by excessive preoccupation with their image at the expense of what they are and feel.

 Lowen argues -contrary to popular belief- that narcissists do not love themselves: "These are people who cannot accept their true personality and instead construct a permanent mask that hides their lack of emotional sensitivity. They are more concerned with their appearance than with their feelings" (Narcissism: the disease of our time, 2000).

The "hyperesteem" that is usually attributed to those suffering from a narcissistic disorder is apparent, since in reality it is very much leave; it is only an outward facade behind which an insecure and vulnerable personality hides; it is simply a defense mechanism of a self that feels helpless. This is the great tragedy of the narcissistic adolescent: needing financial aid, he does not show it.

Narcissism as a cult of the self tends to occur more in adults than in adolescents. They are immature people dominated by a vanity and arrogance that in today's society is presented as normal. This leads them, for example, to pay exaggerated attention to their physical appearance and to prioritize economic success over other values. They are often strongly influenced by famous movie and television personalities; they want to look like them and live like them, and since they do not succeed, they pretend to be like them. Some create false images of themselves with photos on social networks. For example, fake beauty (with plastic surgery), fake athletes (with financial aid drugs).

Narcissism is currently spreading in epidemic form, affecting people of all ages. "Narcissistic qualities - a general patron saint of grandiosity, need for admiration and lack of empathy - are on the rise. Just look at rampant consumerism, self-promotion on social media, the pursuit of fame at any cost, and the use of surgery to slow aging."- (Pat McDonald: Narcissism in the Modern World, 2014)

 Alexander Lowen considers that individual narcissism runs parallel to cultural narcissism: the individual shapes the culture according to his own image and the culture shapes, in turn, the individual.

At the end of the 20th century, Christopher Lasch detected a radical change in culture: the emergence of a generalized individualism that entailed an exaltation of the vision of the self. He considered it a culture of narcissism.

At the same time Gilles Lipovetski discovered the cultural change generated by postmodernism: the B increase of an individualism of subject narcissistic and hedonistic, linked to a vacuum of ideals, beliefs and convictions and a relaxation of social and family ties. He described it in two works: The Age of Emptiness and The Empire of the Ephemeral.

Today, the errors of narcissism continue to be denounced: "We live in a culture that exalts image; capable of destroying the environment in which we live, contaminating the water, air and land; capable of putting money and material wealth before human lives (B.Velasco, high school de Psicoterapia de Andalucía).

One of the main causes of narcissistic behavior is overvaluing and over-flattering children in order to artificially raise their self-esteem. Therefore, Education should highlight only real achievements.

Psychiatrist Glynn Harrison states that a preventive Education is needed today that promotes "a realistic self-perception that focuses not on asserting our own importance, but on serving a purpose greater than ourselves." (The Great Ego Journey, 2017).

It is essential to demystify the pseudo-values of the narcissistic culture and promote in the family, at school and in the media, the culture based on the study of the Humanities and on the internship of virtues. In this way it will be possible to prefer the "good life" to the "good life".