Sanity vs insanity

[Crystine]

A totally lovely person once told me, "that there are a lot of perfectly sane people in mental facilities." I asked why. His reply, "they learned the truth."
That is frightening. Perhaps we avoid the "elephant" in the room. Look everyplace, but there. I looked up the two definitions.
Insanity seems to be closer to what we are striving for. Or the definitions are wrong.

Have you heard the one about the guy who thought he was dead. It seems his counselor was trying to get the man to realize he was not dead. So the counselor devised a test. He asked the man if dead people bleed. The man thought about it for a moment and replied,"no of course not. Dead people don't bleed." Where upon the counselor picked him with a pin. And the man who thought he was dead began to bleed. The counselor was elated. He had proven his point. He looked at the man, who looked back at him, and calmly replied, " we'll what do you know, I was wrong, dead people do bleed."

[Wind]

Up is down, black is white.

[Snowflower]

Wow. Freaky. I mean it - really freaky.

In 1968, I listened to a man speaking about the future of mental illness. He said, extrapolating the data from 1900-1968 and the rate of increase in mental illness, one of two things would happen by 1990. Either half the world would be in institutions for mentally insane or we would change the definition of mentall illness. Now, we see where we are, although he did not take into account the invention of mind-altering drugs.

[Nasu]

Posted by Snowflower (here)
Wow. Freaky. I mean it - really freaky.

In 1968, I listened to a man speaking about the future of mental illness. He said, extrapolating the data from 1900-1968 and the rate of increase in mental illness, one of two things would happen by 1990. Either half the world would be in institutions for mentally insane or we would change the definition of mentall illness. Now, we see where we are, although he did not take into account the invention of mind-altering drugs.

It looks like your expert was right, half the world is enslaved within an insane system, without even their comprehension, the other half are questioning their own sanity for seeing this... In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.... N

[Snowflower]

I WISH half saw the enslavement for what it is!

[Crystine]

Maybe that reversal has happened. Still begs the question. What is sane or insane. Does it matter? The answer seems to be in coping with what is around us. Don't quit. Don't give up. This is playing out like a game. But it is not. I believe the stakes are high. And I for one, can hear my knees knocking. Crazy Louie, are you about?

¤=[Post Update]=¤

Posted by Snowflower (here)
I WISH half saw the enslavement for what it is!

Snowflower, friend. A beautiful name.
Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. So we search for company. Lest we suffer battle fatigue.

[Robin]

I love the story of John Forbes Nash. Those not familiar with the name will be familiar with the film "A Beautiful Mind."

Nash, to me, is the perfect example of human ignorance when it comes to understanding somebody because they are different. A brilliant mathematician, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia for much of his life. He claimed to receive information from an ET race and to receive messages saying that it was up to him to save the world. He claimed that there were hidden messages in newspapers, broadcasts, and other media that only he could decode.

He claimed that he was often followed by men in suits with red ties. He claimed that the Russian government was trying to get information out of him and he also claimed that the US government was following him. He left the US in panic at one point and sought refuge in Europe.

Because of these experiences, he was diagnosed with severe schizophrenia. But those of us who are awake and aware know that these experiences are not unheard of at all. They really are not that abnormal at all.

One could be skeptical that he "heard voices" in his head from an ET race, but to me I think that it explains a lot. It also makes sense that a brilliant mathematician who has contact with an ET race, who has created brilliant mathematical formulas to make sense of economics and foreign trade (game theory, etc.), would be followed and monitored by world governments. I would imagine that men in suits with red ties would indeed follow him, threaten him, and force him to work with government intelligence.

No, I do not think John Forbes Nash was crazy. I do not think that he had a mental illness. He could have an ET soul, which would explain his awkwardness and level of understanding (in my opinion). He may have exaggerated things at times, but I would probably be in-over-my-head if such a monumental task was given to me.

The movie "A Beautiful Mind," based off the book of the same name, has done a huge disservice to humanity. Instead of opening their mind to possibilities of universal intelligence, they bash Nash () and claim that he is mentally ill. They place names on diagnoses that they do not understand.

I am also sure that the film "A Beautiful Mind" was sponsored by the US government so that they can mislead people into believing the fabricated story. I am sure that he was threatened with his and his family's life just like others who have such contact. To them, instead of Nash having contact with ETs, he had a mental illness that made him hear voices in his head that are out of his own chemical imbalance. What a joke.

[Fairy Friend]

Sanity/Insanity neither one's all it's cracked up to be. My grandfather told me, "if all the world was blind and only one could see, we would call him insane".
He also told a joke:
Man gets a flat tire next to the insane asylum and while he has the tire off and the screws loose, they accidently get knocked over and get lost in the tall grass. He searches and frustrates but doesn't find them and doesn't know what to do. A 'resident' who was watching calls to him, "use one screw from each remaining tires and use them to put the loose tire back on. That way there would be 3 screws for each of the 4 tires and he could at least get to the gas station". "That's brilliant" the man says, "how did you end up in an insane asylum?" The resident replies, "I'm insane not stupid." Fairy Friend

[Crystine]

Posted by Fairy Friend (here)
Sanity/Insanity neither one's all it's cracked up to be. My grandfather told me, "if all the world was blind and only one could see, we would call him insane".
He also told a joke:
Man gets a flat tire next to the insane asylum and while he has the tire off and the screws loose, they accidently get knocked over and get lost in the tall grass. He searches and frustrates but doesn't find them and doesn't know what to do. A 'resident' who was watching calls to him, "use one screw from each remaining tires and use them to put the loose tire back on. That way there would be 3 screws for each of the 4 tires and he could at least get to the gas station". "That's brilliant" the man says, "how did you end up in an insane asylum?" The resident replies, "I'm insane not stupid." Fairy Friend

It is good to laugh. Fairy Friend. Thankyou.

[conk]

Posted by Fairy Friend (here)
Sanity/Insanity neither one's all it's cracked up to be. My grandfather told me, "if all the world was blind and only one could see, we would call him insane".
He also told a joke:
Man gets a flat tire next to the insane asylum and while he has the tire off and the screws loose, they accidently get knocked over and get lost in the tall grass. He searches and frustrates but doesn't find them and doesn't know what to do. A 'resident' who was watching calls to him, "use one screw from each remaining tires and use them to put the loose tire back on. That way there would be 3 screws for each of the 4 tires and he could at least get to the gas station". "That's brilliant" the man says, "how did you end up in an insane asylum?" The resident replies, "I'm insane not stupid." Fairy Friend

This reminds me of the time we were trying to get the lawn tractor into a small space. The top of the little tractor only needed about an 1/8 inch to fit snugly in the shed. All the brilliant minds thought of everything, but a solution. finally, a little kid, the son of one of us, asked "won't it go lower if you let air out of the tires"? Doh!

[Jake]

You guys r crackin me up here. The best way to deal with the insanity is a good laugh. Dunno exactly how 'sane' that is, but it certainly seems to help.

I think you bring up a good point, C.L.,, We have to deal with what is in front of us, no matter what. We have to cope and keep going. We live in a topsy turvey world. (Just listened to the wee Matt Damon Speech that Begins with the supposition that the World is Topsy Turvey.) "The wrong people are in prison, and the wrong people are NOT in prison" "The wrong people are in power, and the right people are OUT of power"

On a lighter note. Insanity does not run in my family, rather it strolls through, taking its time to get to know everyone personally...

Cheers
Jake.

[onawah]

I have to remind myself occasionally that despite any and all good intentions, you just can't reason with insanity.

[Jake]

From time to time,,, I may be mistaken for insane! What if someone comes upon me while I am dancing? If they do not hear the music, all they will see is a smiling shaking and twitching,, and impulsively wiggly Jake. If one does not 'hear the music', then the world may seem insane!!!!
Jake.

[Nanook]

I'm afraid I can't agree with your view of Nash. I worked with someone who developed schizophrenia, went from a highly intelligent sane person to someone who thought they were seeing St. Jerome. However, while having the hallucinations they realized they were hallucinations, a realization Nash also came to later.

Nash didn't want to take his medication because it reduced his ability to do math and thus his work. So instead, he devised a strategy to recognize hallucinations and dismiss them. Now many many years later, after decades of poisoning peoples minds with drugs that turn them into walking vegetables, researchers are trying to replicate what Nash was able to do and teach schizophrenics to recognize hallucinations.

I have somewhat mixed feelings because while I think it's approach that is far better than drugging people into a near-coma, there is also the potential for the state to abuse it and try to tell perfectly sane people that perfectly real events, items, or people are hallucinations. Oh, that radiation from Fukushima isn't real, it's all in your head.