Mental...

I’m so late with this. This keyword was featured a few weeks ago, but only now have I been able to gather my thoughts. Since I find it hard nowadays to come up with ideas from a single-word prompt, I decided to start with a question instead.

Is insanity a loss of reason or is it a different kind of reason?

We’ve probably heard of famous geniuses or artists who were later believed to have been diagnosed with mental illness – individuals we hastily judged as mad or insane. I think this is where we, as a society, have failed. Instead of seeking to understand them, we put them in a box and give them drugs.

It’s much like reading a book without bothering to read the preface and then wondering why, halfway through, we still don’t know what the book is about. The preface provides context, background, and essentially, the author’s purpose for writing the book – all of which helps us understand the narrative. Similarly, when we label them as insane or mad without trying to understand their experiences or struggles, we miss the deeper story behind their actions. And so, we hastily judge them, failing to see the full picture.

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I don’t know if I’m supposed to add this, but I don’t want to leave it out and give the impression that they’re unimportant. I just thought maybe there are a few of you who might be wondering: what about those people in modern times whom we quickly judge as mentally ill – individuals who identify as cats or trucks? You know what? I don’t think they’re mentally ill, nor is it a matter of us failing to understand them. In my opinion, they’re simply seeking love and attention.

I remember, when I spent a large chunk of my teenage years babysitting my sister after my mother passed away when she was just three. Whenever she felt ignored, she’d act out quite ridiculously – throwing and breaking things – just to get my attention. Children often do extreme things (they’re notorious for it) when they crave attention or affection, and I suppose it’s not so different with these individuals today.

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Veering back, perhaps this all boils down to an inequality of understanding – the fact that we all have different levels of comprehension when it comes to grasping a concept or perspective. Some, whose minds are trained in analysis, tend to understand certain ideas more quickly and with ease, while others struggle due to limited knowledge or lack of exposure to certain experiences and ideas.

Sometimes our inability to grasp hard truths or difficult concepts gets in the way, tempting us to hastily and thoughtlessly dismiss them as insane.

More often than not, these people simply have a different way of perceiving things. They often engage in out-of-the-box thinking. It’s not that they have more experience than us or seek more experience than the rest of us; rather, they think profoundly about the experiences they have. And they thought about them extremely well – that’s what sets them apart from the rest of us. They were able to formulate the most profound questions that could be asked, and they strive to deliver clearly worked-out answers.

So, are they really insane? I don't think so. In my view, they’re simply great thinkers, the kind who rarely settle for doing the bare minimum. We could be like them if we stopped labeling them as ‘insane’ and instead sought to think as profoundly as they do. And maybe one day, we won't be the ones calling others insane; instead, we’ll find others calling ‘us’ insane.

How about that? Wouldn't that be interesting?

I’ll leave you with Nietzsche’s words:

"Madness is rare in individuals - but in groups, parties, nations, and epochs, it is the rule."

photo by discogs.com