The Mindful Bard: Listen Up Philip

by Wanda Waterman
the Voice, Volume 22 Issue 45 2014-11-14

Film: Listen Up Philip

Director: Alex Ross Perry

“The need to feel superior, though common to all neuroses, must be stressed here because of its intrinsic association with detachment. The expressions ’ivory tower’ and ’splendid isolation’ are evidence that even in common parlance, detachment and superiority are almost invariably linked.”
– Karen Horney in Our Inner Conflicts

“Look, it’s nothing personal, but I’m really trying to do my best up here, and part of that means not getting involved with anybody—in a, say, a human way.”
– Jason Schartzman as Philip Friedman in Listen Up Philip

You may have known someone like this. They send messages that suggest: “You must put up with my dastardly ways because I’m so great and you are somehow less than me.” When you refuse to go along with this, the message then becomes: “You must put up with me because I’ve suffered so much.” (Read the rest here.)