Eckhart TolleNYT Bestselling author of the Power of Now

The Ancient Root of the Selfie

7 May 2026 · 1 min

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In this brief reflection, Eckhart Tolle draws a parallel between the ancient myth of Narcissus—who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool—and today’s selfie culture. He notes that modern technology has replaced the water’s surface with the pocket‑sized camera of a smartphone, and platforms like Facebook enable people to manufacture and polish a projected image of themselves. While he acknowledges not everyone uses social media in this way, he points out that millions unconsciously curate a crafted self‑portrait for the world.

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The myth of Narcissus, the young man who falls in love with his own image looking at a lake, a little pond, that was the world's earliest selfie. But now you don't depend on the pool of water anymore, you have it in your pocket. You now have something like Facebook where you can actually manufacture this image and polish it here and there. This is the image you want to project into the world of you. And again, I'm not saying that everybody uses Facebook is doing that, but millions are using it in that way without knowing it. They manufacture an image.