But, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Greed- one of the deadly sins - is plain old avarice, a perfectly human quality. Like other things human, this positive trait - the root of ambition, drive, and achievement - can and often does become malignant. It is then frequently accompanied by self-delusions, cognitive and emotional distortions, and flawed (irrational) decision making. But this is a far cry from narcissism, pathological or otherwise.

A jail term is a useless deterrent if it only serves to focus attention on the narcissist. As I told you earlier, being infamous is second best to being famous - and far preferable to being ignored. The only way to effectively punish a narcissist is to withhold narcissistic supply from him, to prevent him from becoming a notorious celebrity. Given a sufficient amount of media exposure, book contracts, talk shows, lectures, and public attention - the narcissist may even consider the whole grisly affair to be emotionally rewarding. To the narcissist, freedom, wealth, social status, family, vocation - are all means to an end. And the end is attention. If he can secure attention by being the big bad wolf - the narcissist will unhesitatingly transform himself into one.

The narcissist does not victimise, plunder, terrorise and abuse others in a cold, calculating manner. He does so offhandedly, as a manifestation of his genuine character. To be truly "guilty" one needs to have intention, to deliberate, to contemplate one's acts and then to choose. The narcissist does none of these.

Thus, punishment breeds in him surprise, hurt and rage. The narcissist is surprised by society's insistence that he should be punished for his deeds and be held responsible for them. He feels wronged, baffled, hurt, affected by bias, discrimination and injustice. He rebels and rages. Depending upon the level of pervasiveness of his magical thinking - the narcissist may develop a feeling of being persecuted by powers greater than he, forces cosmic and intrinsically ominous. He may develop compulsive rites to fend off this "bad", unwarranted, influence.

In many respects, narcissists are children. Like children, they engage in magical thinking. They feel omnipotent. They feel that there is nothing they couldn't do or achieve had they only really wanted to. They feel omniscient - they rarely admit that there is anything that they do not know.

They believe that all knowledge resides within them. They are haughtily convinced that introspection is a more important and more efficient (not to mention easier to accomplish) method of obtaining knowledge than the systematic study of outside sources of information in accordance with strict (read: tedious) curricula.

To some extent, they believe that they are omnipresent because they are either famous or about to become famous. Deeply immersed in their delusions of grandeur, they firmly believe that their acts have - or will have - a great influence on mankind, on their firm, on their country, on others. Having learned to manipulate their human environment to a masterly extent - they believe that they will always "get away with it". They develop hubris.

Narcissistic Immunity is the (erroneous) feeling, harboured by the narcissist, that he is immune to the consequences of his actions. That he will never be effected by the results of his own decisions, opinions, beliefs, deeds and misdeeds, acts, inaction and by his membership of certain groups of people. That he is above reproach and punishment (though not above adulation). That, magically, he is protected and will miraculously be saved at the last moment.

What are the sources of this unrealistic appraisal of situations and chains of events?

The first and foremost source is, of course, the False Self. It is constructed as a childish response to abuse and trauma. It is possessed of everything that the child wishes he had in order to retaliate: Harry Potter style power, wisdom, magic - all of them unlimited and instantaneously available. The False Self, this Superman, is indifferent to any abuse and punishment inflicted upon it. This way, the True Self is shielded from the harsh realities experienced by the child.

This artificial, maladaptive separation between a vulnerable (but not punishable) True Self and a punishable (but invulnerable) False Self is an effective mechanism. It isolates the child from the unjust, capricious, emotionally dangerous world that he occupies. But, at the same time, it fosters a false sense of "nothing can happen to me, because I am not there, I am not available to be punished because I am immune".

The second source is the sense of entitlement possessed by every narcissist. In his grandiose delusions, the narcissist is a rare specimen, a gift to humanity, a precious, fragile, object. Moreover, the narcissist is convinced both that this uniqueness is immediately discernible - and that it gives him special rights. The narcissist feels that he is protected under some cosmological law pertaining to "Endangered Species".