Are You Insane?

[Abramul]

By my definition of the word, I, and hopefully most of you, are insane. As I see it, sanity would mean a person does whatever most benefits themselves, rather than what is right...of course that ain't the dictionary definition, though. Insanity, by the same token, would not necessarily mean being delusional, but rather would include those who would to do what is right rather than what they WANT to do. Any thoughts?

[UberBender]

Sanity is popular opinion. Along with most things…

[Malchik]

The problem with your definition is that human beings only ever do what they WANT to do. If your conscience prods you may well do something to appease your conscience but that is why you do it.

 

Other people may judge your actions 'unselfish' or 'altruistic' but strictly speaking they cannot be. So your 'insane' peope are those who have an awareness of being only part of a bigger picture and consciences that alert them to this on a regular basis.

 

And if most people thought that way, it would be 'normal'.

[loveme4whoiam]

You bring up an interesting point about selfishness Malchik. As we witnessed in Friends, and in daily life (hopefully), any action that we take that affects someone else has to be selfish, since we are doing it to satisfy our own need for gratification/preservation/add ...tion word here.

Then someone will say "but what about things you do for other people? If you do something you don't want to do for someone else, doesn't that have to be selfless?"

But in those cases, you are doing something to make someone else happy, which will then make you happy.

 

As for my own opinion of sanity, i would hope i never met someone who is truely "sane". Almost every one of my friends has some sorty of problem which makes then who they are; anyone with no problems for fears would be, to my mind, incredibly, incredibly bored.

 

Oh, and, er, hi Malchik. Long time no see, eh? *scuttles off quickly before he's noticed*

[Zmid]

Actually, even taking the dictionary definition of 'sane' and 'sanity', how does anyone truly know they're sane? If you believe you're sane, that could just be a demented delusion produced by the insanity you're suffering.

[Darnoc]

Hm, interesting thought. But personally I wouldn't believe everything what the dictionary says.

 

I say this, because I would define sanity different. A person can be called "sane" as long as this person tries to stay alive at all costs, except under very special circumstances (like when someone sacrifices himself so that others can live). A person can be called "insane" when this person has lost all instincts of survival.

 

I would also asociate sanity with reason. A person who doesn't act reasonable is insane, a person who acts reasonable is sane. By this definition, all of us are insane sometimes (when we act purely emotional of course).

[Malchik]

I dare say insanity comes at several different levels! If I walk around sober yelling obsenities in the street from some prompting in my mind no one else knows about, I can still be keen on surviving and go about doing my daily shopping.

 

I suspect real insanity, as opposed to Darnoc's 'moments of madness' that I agree we all have, has a physiological cause.

 

More interesting to me is how much of our exhibited nature, on which others may judge our sanity, is programmed by sub-conscious self-interest. Get someone drunk or high and they behave as they would without this self-protection. That would be the time to judge them! :lol:

 

Anyone who wants to ply me with free booze as a test (I don't do other drugs) PM me!

[loveme4whoiam]

Actually, even taking the dictionary definition of 'sane' and 'sanity', how does anyone truly know they're sane? If you believe you're sane, that could just be a demented delusion produced by the insanity you're suffering.

 

This is the exact point of the most knowledgable philosophers on the plant, Mr Terry Pratchett. If you've read the Discworld books (and if not, do so. Right now. I mean, turn off the PC, get off your backside and go to the nearest bookstore and buy the complete set. Go, go.) you'll be aware of the Bursar and his condition. The wizards decided that to cure him, instead of actually curing him they should make him hallucinate that he is sane. Not a bad solution if you ask me.

 

Malchik makes a good point though; we never really know what people are thinking until they are uninhibited, whether through booze or whatever. These moments of complete candor and clarity could be turned as "insanity" because it goes against all social stereotypes and unwritten laws.

[Gabbemaster]

I think this is a question, not about if the person is Insane, but if the people around him think he is insane.

 

Translation:

You are all both Insane and Sane.

 

Example:

A nazist is insane in the eyes of a anti-nazist, and a anti-nazist is insane in the eyes of a nazist.

 

 

 

You are insane in some peoples eyes, and sane in other peoples.

So, as long you can't prove that every living being in the universe think you are sane/insane, you are both sane and insane at the same time, and will allways remain so.

[Harver]

in·san·i·ty

n. pl. in·san·i·ties

Persistent mental disorder or derangement. No longer in scientific use.

Law.

Unsoundness of mind sufficient in the judgment of a civil court to render a person unfit to maintain a contractual or other legal relationship or to warrant commitment to a mental health facility.

In most criminal jurisdictions, a degree of mental malfunctioning sufficient to relieve the accused of legal responsibility for the act committed.

 

Extreme foolishness; folly.

Something that is extremely foolish.