Tuesday, May 29, 2012

What, me crazy?

After laughing in recognition at the truth of the statement “we are all innocent by reason of insanity,” most people get quiet. They’re thinking, “What me, crazy? I don’t think so! I’m not in need of a straightjacket. I’m not a raving loony. Maybe I’ve got some problems but I’m not insane, I’m a normal, healthy-minded, rational human being.”

As we wrote in the earlier post, What do we Mean by Insane?, no one sees reality accurately. All we see is a mind-generated virtual reality. Most of us unquestioningly believe our virtual reality is actual reality. In other words, we are deluded, and delusional is just another word for insane.

Webster’s New Universal, Unabridged Dictionary defines “delusion” as: a fixed, false belief that is resistant to reason or confrontation with actual fact.

It’s easy to think of some common delusions. For example, how many of us have looked at ourselves in the mirror and been oblivious to the weight we’ve gained, seeing instead the thinner self of years past? Then when we put on a pair of pants we haven’t worn for awhile, feeling surprise when they’re tight?


Once I gained some weight and a favorite skirt was so tight I moved the buttons so it would fit better. Believe it or not, at the time I actually believed that something about the skirt had changed (I had owned it for years so there was no chance it had shrunk in the laundry). I was completely unwilling to admit the obvious fact that I had gained weight. I was seeing something not subject to objective confirmation by others. I was delusional.

Addictions—to alcohol, drugs, eating, sex, shopping, gambling—are enabled by the mind’s ability to “resist confrontation with actual fact.” Entire shelves are filled with books documenting the myriad ways people have been in denial—that is, deluded—about their addictive behavior. “I’m not an alcoholic, I just like having a drink every night because it helps me to relax.” Those of us who have experienced getting free of an addiction often look back on that time in our life and ask, “How could I have been so blind?”

How many of us have experienced being delusional in our love life? Usually our friends see our romantic relationships in a much more objective light than we do. A friend may ask, “How can you put up with your girlfriend, she’s such a boring gossip?” and we’ll just shrug it off as if we don’t see it—and we don’t, in our conscious mind. We block out negative thoughts about our lovers in an attempt to preserve the relationship, so we are oblivious to the problems our friends see. But later, when the relationship is over, we often realize we were aware of the problems all along.

Perhaps the most common delusion of all is the assumption that we know who we are. Look in a mirror and ask yourself who you really are. If you are like most people, you will find an abundance of unquestioned beliefs you hold about yourself (I’m pretty, I’m unattractive, I’m smart, I’m stupid, I’m a good person, I’m a bad person, I’m my job, I’m my history, I’m my possessions, I’m my name, etc.), which collectively comprise your identity. All of these beliefs create a mind-generated reality called “this is who I really am.” But with sufficient examination you will find that these beliefs in no way reveal the actual reality of your identity. These beliefs are simply what you have been taught and what you have come to believe about yourself.

You might ask: Am I a soul created by God that waited for a particular time and space to be born? If that’s true, where was that soul before I was born and where does it go when I die? If there is no God and no soul, am I just an arbitrary combination of genetic material? Is my life just a vehicle for self-replicating DNA to continue a mindless evolutionary progression? Or, as some physicists suggest, am I a bunch of subatomic particles randomly banging together, which means my life is just an inconsequential blip of consciousness in a completely meaningless universe?

After asking such questions it becomes clear that none of us, ultimately, has anyabsolute knowledge of who we are, what we are, where we are, when we are, why we are, what we’re doing, where we came from, or where we’re going.

But we go through life acting as if we know exactly who we are. Our personality is a life-long delusion. We are all insane.

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