“It is not until you are dying of heatstroke that you’ll admit that the Earth is round.” -The Callous Daoboys
Lately I’m seeing a lot about “staying sane.”
How are you staying sane with everything going on in the world?
How are you keeping your head above water?
Are you logging off, staying distracted, listening to music or podcasts that make you feel more balanced?
I don’t think “staying sane” is something worth pursuing right now. That’s not just because I’ve already got a list of mental illness diagnoses of my own. It’s also because this world we live in is not designed for sanity.
This is the reality of power-loving men who want to destroy everything they touch. We live in Midas’ palace, where everything has been turned to golden statues. There is nothing of value to a world with these people in charge. We who know that it is more valuable to live than to be turned to gold are considered outcasts in this world.
What I’m getting at here has been said many ways by many others. The phrase “It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society” is often attributed to Krishnamurti, but this paraphrase is of unknown origin. His words certainly alluded to the idea, though, and it was echoed by Mark Vonnegut (son of Kurt Vonnegut) and Aldous Huxley. This information can be found in more detail on this page.
I am not sane, and I am grateful not to be in balance according to the standards of the powers that be.
I do not find it easy to process the horrific violence that the largest systems in this world utilize to uphold themselves. I am not alone in this.
Most people are struggling to adjust to the impossible expectations of this setup. Most of us are not the winners in this society. That’s by design.
I am not trying to stay sane. Sanity is for fools.
So, what does it mean to be sane, and what does it mean to be a fool? The basic definitions would imply that this is a contradiction in terms, a nonsensical phrase. I say this because if sanity is a healthy mind, it is impossible to have a healthy mind in such an unhealthy world.
A fool is someone who tries again and again to do the impossible. It is foolish to try and pursue sanity.
Even more foolish is the pretense of sanity, and so many people pretend to be sane. We pretend so hard that we convince ourselves we’re fine. I did this for a long time. I had to exhaust a great many other options before finally admitting that I was depressed. I would realize over the years that there was more going on than depression, too.
It’s okay to be distressed right now. It would be weird if we weren’t. The people who are pretending like the world isn’t on fire are the fools. They will act like things are fine, like the climate isn’t rapidly changing so fast that we are headed toward an uninhabitable planet. That is terrifying, and acting like sanity is possible is a kind of perfectionism.
The human condition is not an environment for sanity. It never was.
