Personal responsibility. At first glance the philosophy espoused here seems to be saying no one should be held responsible for their actions. The song
Not Right in My Mind from Time Capsule Video on Vimeo.
seems to provide the excuse for every charge from the most minor bit of rudeness to premeditated murder: “For every time I’ve scowled at you in traffic, Or honked or cursed or given the high sign, I just want to say I couldn’t help myself, The truth is I was not right in my mind.”
After listening to some of the songs from “We Are ALL Innocent by Reason of Insanity,” a person commented:
It’s also a path to personal responsibility. When I realize I’m crazy I realize my thinking is confused, therefore it’s easier to question the thoughts that led me to take an action that turned out badly.
If I believe in free will and sanity, when I do something wrong it means I am wrong. This is why it’s hard to admit an error—it means there was something wrong with me. But if I don’t have free will and I’m insane, when I do something wrong it just means I am confused in my thinking.
When I recognize that I’m insane, I’m aware of the limitations of my knowledge; I realize there are unconscious impulses that affect my thinking. Recognizing my limitations also means I’m humble, so I am much more willing to look at an action and say, “I was wrong to do that.”
For example, recently I caused a problem with a non-profit board. I produce videos for a living, and in this case I created an informational video for free as a contribution to the group.
I had already become irritated with some members of the group because they had given me very little feedback during the development phase, but then the day came when the final video was shown at the annual meeting for approval. That night I heard from a friend on the board, who said the response was mostly tepid, with some negative comments. I wrote her an angry email about how rude the board members were. I thought I was completely justified in my opinion and in my anger. It was self-evident to me that the members of the board were uncaring of my efforts. (The staff loved the video so I knew there weren’t any major problems with my work.)
The next day I found out my friend had forwarded my email to the whole board, because she agreed with some of my opinions. I was horrified because I had used some harsh language. An email from the president of the board showed I had really hurt some feelings, and that I was mistaken in my assumptions about what happened at the meeting. That same day I sent an email to the entire board apologizing for my unkind words.
I used to be a very stubborn person who would argue a point to death, mostly because I hated to ever admit I was wrong. If this had happened a few years ago, I wouldn’t have taken responsibility for precipitating a crisis when I received the email from the board president; I would have stuck to my guns and fought back. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I would have claimed, “my friend was the one at fault for forwarding my email!”
However, because I have been living this philosophy of universal human insanity for some years now I easily recognized that I was confused in my thinking. I realized that I jumped to conclusions without giving other people on the board time to comment to me directly, and I realized that I took my friend’s comments at face value without considering whether she had some misperceptions of her own (which she admitted to later).
Realizing all of these things, and more, made it easy to write the email to the board apologizing for my angry words. Recognizing my insanity made it much easier to take responsibility for my actions.
When I accept that I am insane it removes the energy from the admission of fault. It doesn’t mean I’m bad or evil. I was confused, that’s all.
As counter-intuitive as it may seem, recognizing our insanity will boost our ability to be responsible for our lives.
Not Right in My Mind from Time Capsule Video on Vimeo.
seems to provide the excuse for every charge from the most minor bit of rudeness to premeditated murder: “For every time I’ve scowled at you in traffic, Or honked or cursed or given the high sign, I just want to say I couldn’t help myself, The truth is I was not right in my mind.”
After listening to some of the songs from “We Are ALL Innocent by Reason of Insanity,” a person commented:
The notion behind not being responsible for any actions, while a bit intriguing, just doesn’t jive with my beliefs; I believe only some of us are truly insane and the rest of us, who occasionally (or some, frequently) behave badly, are somewhere on the continuum of just immoral, all the way down to lazy, when we don’t behave well.The basic premise of “we are all innocent by reason of insanity” is that everyone is delusional because we all confuse our subjective opinions with objective fact. Our subjective opinions slant our perception of reality. Everything we do and think is rationalized and justified in our minds. This is the path to compassion: we realize that people “behave badly” because they are confused in their thinking.
It’s also a path to personal responsibility. When I realize I’m crazy I realize my thinking is confused, therefore it’s easier to question the thoughts that led me to take an action that turned out badly.
If I believe in free will and sanity, when I do something wrong it means I am wrong. This is why it’s hard to admit an error—it means there was something wrong with me. But if I don’t have free will and I’m insane, when I do something wrong it just means I am confused in my thinking.
When I recognize that I’m insane, I’m aware of the limitations of my knowledge; I realize there are unconscious impulses that affect my thinking. Recognizing my limitations also means I’m humble, so I am much more willing to look at an action and say, “I was wrong to do that.”
For example, recently I caused a problem with a non-profit board. I produce videos for a living, and in this case I created an informational video for free as a contribution to the group.
I had already become irritated with some members of the group because they had given me very little feedback during the development phase, but then the day came when the final video was shown at the annual meeting for approval. That night I heard from a friend on the board, who said the response was mostly tepid, with some negative comments. I wrote her an angry email about how rude the board members were. I thought I was completely justified in my opinion and in my anger. It was self-evident to me that the members of the board were uncaring of my efforts. (The staff loved the video so I knew there weren’t any major problems with my work.)
The next day I found out my friend had forwarded my email to the whole board, because she agreed with some of my opinions. I was horrified because I had used some harsh language. An email from the president of the board showed I had really hurt some feelings, and that I was mistaken in my assumptions about what happened at the meeting. That same day I sent an email to the entire board apologizing for my unkind words.
I used to be a very stubborn person who would argue a point to death, mostly because I hated to ever admit I was wrong. If this had happened a few years ago, I wouldn’t have taken responsibility for precipitating a crisis when I received the email from the board president; I would have stuck to my guns and fought back. “I didn’t do anything wrong,” I would have claimed, “my friend was the one at fault for forwarding my email!”
However, because I have been living this philosophy of universal human insanity for some years now I easily recognized that I was confused in my thinking. I realized that I jumped to conclusions without giving other people on the board time to comment to me directly, and I realized that I took my friend’s comments at face value without considering whether she had some misperceptions of her own (which she admitted to later).
Realizing all of these things, and more, made it easy to write the email to the board apologizing for my angry words. Recognizing my insanity made it much easier to take responsibility for my actions.
When I accept that I am insane it removes the energy from the admission of fault. It doesn’t mean I’m bad or evil. I was confused, that’s all.
As counter-intuitive as it may seem, recognizing our insanity will boost our ability to be responsible for our lives.
Hi Katie. Jennifer's sister here! Wanted to tell you again how much I enjoyed the performance last night. Just reread the blog on personal responsibility and am resonating with the concept of sane/insane/subjective/objective. I'm loving how the ability to shift between the two provides a space for reflection--a breathing room so to speak. The only thing I'm not tracking with, however, is how "free will" weaves into this notion. Is it not free will to shift perspectives and consider objective rather than subjective truths? I'm the first to admit that much of what you all covered last night is probably way over my head, and any light you would shine on this free will notion will be gratefully accepted. Thanks!
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