Narcissus & His Lack of Touch

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 Narcissus & His Lack of Touch

By Ava Barry


Last year I was offered the opportunity to study abroad in Athens Greece for a semester. And you know us study abroad kids will take any chance to tell talk about it, so here is me doing just that! During this experience, I was able to learn about stories I never would have known being a sociology major. Greek mythology rings true in our everyday lives, and we can heed many lessons from them if we listen close enough. 


When learning the unit on touch, my mind was drawn back to those days sitting in the warm Athen's air listening to my professor tell us of the story of Narcissus. I will spare you the details if the story and give just the important points. Narcissus was a beautiful young man, yet throughout his life he was never allowed to look at himself, and therefore did not know his true reflection. One day he stumbled upon a puddle and was completely enthralled with the reflection in it. He fell madly in love. He was driven crazy by the thought of not being to touch his love, for every-time he touched the pool the ripples caused the reflection to go away until he stopped trying to touch it. 

"He spoke, and returned madly to the same reflection, and his tears stirred the water, and the image became obscured in the rippling pool. As he saw it vanishing, he cried out ‘ Where do you fly to? Stay, cruel one, do not abandon one who loves you! I am allowed to gaze at what I cannot touch, and so provide food for my miserable passion!’ "

Narcissus ended up killing himself by the pool in order to be with his love forever. From my interpretation of this story, it was the fact that he could never touch his love that sent him over the edge. He could not imagine a world without touching his love, and therefore ended his own. When he died, a flower grew where his body laid- the flower we know as narcissus. This story speaks to greater themes on the danger of self obsession and ego, yet it also conveys a powerful message about the importance of touch.


The story of Narcissus resembles closely to one that Glucklich writes about in the book Sacred Pain and the Phenomenal Self. 


"I would rather be sawed in half 
Than see You turn Your back to me.
Come, embrace me,
And listen to my plea.

If You want to saw my limbs,
I will not flinch.
Even If You kill my body,
I will not stop loving You.

There is no difference
between You and me."
Glucklich, 400





This notion of voluntary physical pain instead of emotional pain is prevalent in both the stories when the characters are denied touch. As she explains, voluntary physical pain is a way of suppressing negative emotions while also becoming an instrument for self-transcendence. Could one interpret the death of Narcissus in the story as a metaphor for sacred transcendence? Maybe, for the ancient texts can be interpreted in a nuanced of ways. We see these themes in the story of Narcissus, yet we also see these themes in the stories of sacred pain in religious practices. 

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