That lacks the power to nourish
It will eventually poison everything that you are
And destroy you
A simple a thing as an idea
Or your perspective on yourself or the world
No one can be the source of your content,
It lies within, in the center."
--"Liontamer" by Faithless
I've been listening to this song for the last few weeks. The words are simple, and they seem like common sense, but, then, I still wonder what is at the center.
Truth isn't exactly a knowable thing. It's not always concrete, and a lot of what we accept as truth takes a great deal of faith. Absolute truth takes faith. We have to take certain things for granted in life.
I was talking with my uncle today and I was teasing him with that line, "The definition of insanity is performing the same task over and over and expecting different results." It's really the last phrase is the kicker, right? Or is it?
After all, we breathe, generally without cease. We sleep, wake up, go to work, shower, etc. We don't really expect anything different to come from these tasks, but we don't expect it always to be the same. Does that make life insane--even the most mundane life? It could also be insane to perform the same tasks over and over and expect nothing to change.
After reading what I could of Naked Lunch I began to wonder if the world wasn't just one big asylum with us as its residents.
Though it may be cynical, we humans make things ridiculously difficult for ourselves. When you say we are residents of one big asylum, I have to think about how much we enjoy "insanity." Because the right events occurred to adapt our brains into something that functions on higher levels, we are capable of being selfish enough to think we ought to have things work out our way. We expect the desired outcomes to occur because we think we deserve something better, whereas my dog accepts her lot in life and if I never fed her she would not know to think I'm neglecting her no matter how many times I didn't feed her. If I hit her and made her fear me she would probably shrink away because she is operantly conditioned to do so, but I don't think she would hate me for it. Being a developed species with our expectations on what others should believe, which lands should be ours for religious purposes, etc. has invented a rather chaotic scenario. My garden outside, including all of its inhabitants, changes with the seasons and it is beautiful how perfectly it operates every month. The only real changeable factor is the weather, and it orchestrates everything. Then human beings get involved, build the house smack dab in the middle of it, and out comes the mouse pesticide and the planting of flowers that don't belong in Michigan. The whole thing is no longer running perfectly, and because of our "intelligence" the earth is verging on uninhabitable. The residents may just be the only reason its considered an "asylum" in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that means that the world is insane so much as it means that that definition of insanity is incorrect. Whenever somebody says that to me I tell them their definition of insanity is my definition of persistance, after all if you hit a boulder with a sledgehammer every day in the same place, eventually it will break. If you ask your husband every day to fix the leak in the sink, eventually he will tire of you asking and he will fix it! Insanity is an ambiguous term with no measurable criteria.
ReplyDeleteas someone who maintains (and clearly enjoys it?) an unbelievably busy lifestyle, i very closely relate to the notion of being a resident of a monstrous asylum.
ReplyDeletei say this because just yesterday, a good friend of mine brought to my attention, that i have in fact been doing this for the past two years of my graduate school career. i hadn't thought anything of it until he mentioned that every semester, i teach close to 50 hours a week in the ghetto, register for two graduate level math classes, freak out when i become overwhelmed because i have no time to do homework, tell myself i'm not doing it again, and then do the same thing the next semester.
now, that i think about a little bit...yes, that is pretty insane. but then, taking into consideration what janelle said, i also know myself to be extremely persistent, stubborn and determined. hence, in the end, because i refuse to give up, i guess that also makes me a little insane?
maybe insanity is relative...you know, like, normalcy.
Performing mundane tasks to get ready for a day that you know will probably not be like any other day, to me, does not constitute insanity. It is preparation for what is to come. However, if you continue to do act and respond in the same way to something that is making you miserable, it is time to make a change. Thus, insanity if you keep choosing to be miserable.
ReplyDeleteAs stated, your comment confuses biologic processes with life. Our biologic processes, for the most part continue with the same results. However, life, those things that we do daily, are different to some degree, plus there is the effect of other people on our life. Which is definitely not the same.
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