thoughts on insanity

insanity

[-1]. Anyone who thinks they are sane is the worst off when it comes to being insane. So the most insane people are those labled "sane".

As adult, fairly normal humans, we are all mentally ill by default given our awareness. Perhaps children and animals are sane, or, at least, more sane.

Children are doomed to become adults and lose that magical quality life has for many of them- not to overlook the suffering and deplorable conditions some children endure. Most typically have no qualms with their circumstances as it is usually all they know.

Some people's insanity comes in the form of working two or three jobs or working one job endlessly, so that one day they can sit around and do nothing in their late sixties. Many don't make it that far and the ones who work the most tend to drop dead from stress or being overworked.

Insanity can come in the form of conspicuous consumption of goods that, if the money were spent otherwise, could feed the population of a small country for a week.

Insanity comes in the form of staying with a significant other you can't stand or through putting one's happiness in the unattainable and never-to-come future imaginary time and place.

Americans are by far some of the most insane people as they are totally unaware of their political situation and just how bad it is in 2011.

[0]. I am completely aware of the negative connotations associated with the word "insane" or the word "madness" and I have elsewhere (psychology) made mention that I prefer specific terms of mental illnesses or disorders or disabilities.

But, I think there is something useful analytically and philosophically about insanity and I am not advocating that anyone be referred to, medically, or actually, as just "insane".

Everyone who is insane is insane for a specific reason and with a specific set of mental features but my attempt was to look at the general or universal features of such minds.

Also, please note that I have spent the better part of the first decade of the 21st century as someone who would certainly qualify, to one degree or another, as "insane". This, I hope, gives me the right to use the word in the following examination.

[1]. Insanity is the state in which an individual's mind has become unfamiliar to other people, so much so, that their beliefs about the world can appear incomprehensible.

Whether or not this description fits many philosophical writings in general is debatable though I would say that a lot of deconstructionist work has, at least, twinges of insanity and, at most, defined the term.

[2]. I can write about these things because my bipolar disorder has caused in me a manic state, on a regular cycle of about every two years, in which the furious and unbridled connectivity of my mind has certainly caused me to write, think, speak, and act in ways that could easily be defined as insane.

[3]. But, there is something unique in the belief patterns of the insane mind. In order to understand insanity, we should look more closely at its negation of sanity.

[3.1]. The sane mind, I think, is unsure, uncertain, reasonable, balanced, calm, deliberate, and slow to make conclusions about the world. The insane mind, I think, is sure, certain, unreasonable, unbalanced, disquiet, accidental, and hasty to make judgements about the world.

[4]. Insanity can be mild, as in the form of mild religious faith. Insanity can be extreme, as in the form of extreme religious faith.

I would say that we find those who are both extremely religious and extremely peaceful people to not be insane but genius because the result of their faith is so calming and helpful to the world.

[4.1]. That said, we should look closer at some of the darker beliefs of those, like Mother Theresa, who did not always have generous ideas about some people, such as homosexuals and the benefits of suffering.

The entire Christian heightening of suffering is only for the mental subjugation of the powerless by the powerful.

[4.2]. The Dalai Lama has hardly ever provoked a negative thought about the world in my mind though I do not think his philosophy need be mixed with mythical ontological structures.

[5]. On this reading, more people in the world of 2010, then, are insane, to some degree, than sane. But, this would, perhaps, undermine what we usually mean by sane as in what is meant as the psychological state of the most people.

[6]. Insanity in its most severe form becomes a mental world in which what is possible becomes actual, but not in any way that anyone else has access to or can observe.

 

"Shattered Ontology", painting by Anthony Peter Iannini
"Shattered Ontology", 2003, by Anthony Peter Iannini

[6.1]. The insane mind sees truth in everything, in all thoughts, in all beliefs, and runs with each newfound discovery of truth as if each idea is some unfound holy grail of understanding.

The insane mind can often be found in unbridled connectivity, perhaps overly-connected, and the great products of creativity can become the disturbing and overly subjective products of creativity mixed with a lack of any coherent theory of mind about others and how they see or experience the world.

[6.2]. Insanity can be thought of as an unreasonable lack of skepticism about the world. Too much skepticism, I think, can also be a form of insanity and an obsession with skepticism can be likened to paranoia.

[7]. Mood, whatever it is and whatever causes it, can be, if extreme, the underlying substrate through which insanity progresses. An extremely high mood leads to thoughts of unreasonable grandeur. An extremely low mood leads to thoughts of unreasonable self-deprication. Both of these extremes of mood lead to complications of relations with other people to some degree or another.

[8]. Insanity can be a kind of solipsistic assumptive state and I think many psychopathic rulers of history have fit this particular facet of an insane mind.

[9]. Insanity can be perceiving that which is, at least, to others, not there. But, this does not and never does necessitate that these things are not real but only that they are foreign to others.

[10]. Insanity and genius are closely related, perhaps sisters even. One sister amazes and helps the world while the other disturbs and makes less the world. Insane ideas and genius ideas can both be seen as insane but the genius will only shine through if others eventually or contemporarily begin to understand such ideas.

[10.1]. I imagine that Newton and Einstein were both seen, from an immediate perspective, as insane. And, we should not forget that Newton suffered mental illness and Einstein suffered from an egotism that caused him to relieve himself of the truly important parts of his world- namely his wife and children.

[10.1.1]. If I were to attempt to list the great artistic, scientific, political, philosophical, or mathematical minds that have or do suffer from some degree of insanity, I would be forced to write a list so extensive that the limits of my space would be exceeded.

[10.2]. Insanity is dark and genius is bright. Insanity is helpless and genius is helpful. Insanity scares and genius enlightens.

[11]. We should not hold accountable the mentally ill who go insane, either temporarily or permanently. Such things can often be caused by factors completely out of an individual's control even where we think they may have caused it themselves.

If insanity leads to bad decisions that only increase the insanity, then this is absolutely to be expected and normal for someone of this type of mind.

[11.1]. This being said, we can not allow dangerous people who have demonstrated dangerous behavior, while they are dangerous, to be free. This would include anyone who harms the property and/or person of others due to their illness.

This is why the psychopathy of leaders should be considered more seriously.

[12]. What is called "insane" is ultimately determined by a contrasting of who and what we call "sane".





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