But the flying monkey, the narcissist creates an attenuated version of the shared fantasy, a little like a cult.
It's a shared fantasy, but it is not as intense. It is not as effectively intense. It is not very detailed. It doesn't contain usually promises about the future. It has no vision. It's present oriented.
And it's a fantasy in the sense that the narcissist misrepresents himself, her self and co-ops the flying monkey into a narrative that is usually counterfactual.
So the narcissist constructs a story, constructs a narrative, introduces the flying monkey to the narrative, to the story.
The story and the narrative are fantastic. They're not grounded in reality. They are fallacious.
And the flying monkey buys into this narrative, into this story, and agrees to become a participant, a character in the story, a protagonist of some kind.
And this of course caters to the flying monkey's grandiosity because the flying monkey feels that he has been chosen. The flying monkey feels that she's special, unique somehow.
It's like an audition. You know, it's like going to an audition and then getting the part. The flying monkey gets the part in the narcissistic production of the shared fantasy.
It's very cult-like in the sense that the shared fantasy, the narrative presented to the flying monkey is usually paranoid. Not always, but usually paranoid. Or at least involve some kind of persecutory or paranoid ideation.
The narcissist presents himself as a victim, a victim of malevolent, conspiratorial, malicious forces. And the narcissist asks or requires the flying monkey to save him or to rescue him.
The narcissist is the flying monkey's role model.
But the flying monkey also serves in a drama triangle. Theflying monkey becomes the savior rescuer.
The narcissist is a victim, and the targeted person or targeted individual is the abuser.
So the narcissist would co-opt a flying monkey or a group of flying monkeys and then direct their rage and negative affects at a target.
The narcissist ex, the narcissist former boss, an institution, whoever.
Narcissus presents himself as having been victimized by these people or collectives or institutions and then uses the flying monkeys to inflict retribution to communicate in a way which would be intimidating and would cause behavior modification in the targets.
And so the flying monkey very often feels that he or she is a savior, a rescuer, a healer, a fixer.
There are protective feelings involved. The flying monkey is a kind of maternal figure, because all shared fantasies convert people into maternal figures.
And the role of the flying monkey is to somehow cosset the narcissists, protect the narcissists, defend the narcissists against the evil out there.
It's a morality play where the flying monkey is rendered on the side of good against the evil out there. It's a morality play where the flying monkey is rendered on the side of good against evil.
These are irresistible propositions. The flying monkey is idealized. The flying monkey is chosen. The flying monkey is unique. The flying monkey is all good. And the flying monkey is a savior and a rescuer.
These are narratives that are difficult to resist.
So the flying monkey is drawn into the shared fantasy inexorably. No matter what the flying monkey does and no matter how other people communicate to the flying monkey that he or she is being abused or used, it's hopeless.
Because the narcissist's shared fantasy caters to very important psychological needs of the flying monkey.
Not everyone becomes a flying monkey, as you will know.
Narcissists devalue, discard and punish vicariously by proxy through the agency of the flying monkey.
The flying monkey is the narcissist's long arm, an extension of the narcissist's omnipotence.
Vengefulness, the act of revenge is perceived by the narcissists as a restoration of cosmic justice, order and structure. It's a good thing. To take revenge is a good thing because it balances the books. It settles accounts.
So this is a narcissistic morality play. Every narcissistic injury, let alone narcissistic mortification, has to be avenged, an eye for an eye.
And the flying monkey fits into this narrative, into this storyline, into this script, into this movie, and becomes a star.
Flying monkeys, therefore, buttress the narcissist's grandiosity, on the one hand, because they multiply his power.
But on the other hand, narcissists idealization and the narcissists cult-like narrative we against the evil we against the world we against the perpetrators this narrative enhances and mattresses the flying monkeys grandiosity.
It would be safe to say that most flying monkeys are somewhat narcissistic.
The flying monkey experiences the shared fantasy the way an intimate partner does.
He feels chosen, unique, omnipotent in the know.
There's a lot of thrill and excitement. It's arousing.
The flying monkey feels useful and needed, almost indispensable.
And the flying monkey's aggression is legitimized and so it's a perfect feat.
The flying monkey becomes an extension of the narcissist in the fullest sense of the word, having suspended his or her own mind and judgment, having been gaslighted into an alternative reality, a flying monkey becomes nothing short of a virulent narcissist.