Kay Cude: The Nature of Narcissus

By Elizabeth Prata

Poet Kay Cude said she felt compelled to write this piece after she happened upon the image and then several days later, happened upon a couple of blog essays about Beth Moore and her narcigesis. Narcigesis is defined, for example, at the site Church and Gospel,

Narcigesis, then, would be the practice of interpreting a passage of scripture where the pastor/teacher or the listener himself is inserted into the text. In other words, this is the act of interpretation where the meaning of the text is not only forced into the text, but is centered around the listener or teacher/preacher. The main idea of the text becomes the listener himself.

Here’s Kay Cude’s poem on The Nature of Narcissus. The Ancient History Encyclopedia explains that “Narcissus is a figure from Greek mythology who was so impossibly handsome that he fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. Even the lovely nymph Echo could not manage to tempt him from his self-absorption.”

Once you understand what narcigesis is you will begin to hear it in so many false teachers. It is the nature of the self-absorbed to look at one’s self. It is the nature of the Godly to look at God.