2004-10-23 - 9:09 p.m.
so i was pondering at what point insanity became an illness. It's fairly common in the past, or in "primitive" cultures of today, to consider insanity as some form of being touched by god or maybe as a sign of an undefined holiness. but things have changed, so now instead of a respect from the distance, insanity is something to be cured.
I wonder if it ties into the concept of society as an entity, and the concept of progress. Because, ultimately the issue with mental illness is that it reduces a person's ability to operate within society. To contribute to the double time march of history so to speak. when society did not, or does not have any concept of self or a goal, then an aberration, if not dangerous to other people, is harmless.
personally i hate the idea of progress. and I hate the idea of society as an entity. I remember all the many times teachers or peers told me I was wasting my potential, and that I owed it to everyone to try harder etc etc... it's never meshed for me. I don't see society as anything other than a collection of individuals each generally working for if not a direct selfish desire, then at the very least for a set of personal goals. the idea that we can somehow improve the human condition is ridiculous to me. the only way to improve it, would be to fundamentally change the way in which we perceive/interact with environment. To change the nature of our existence itself. Which I think is really only possible through death. So we're all naturally progressing in the status quo. No matter how many things you accumulate, how big a family, how much money, how long you cling to life, you're still subject to your own mind. I've held that opinion for a while, but it was really confirmed when I met people with money at brandeis... in the end, if life is really really easy for someone, minor incidents will be just as tramatizing as starvation or violence for people who are less well off.
society needs to get off of itself. go sideways instead of forwards, seek to regress at the same time it seeks to progress. after all, the only goal that truly makes sense, is to continually be able to think up goals to work towards. we limit ourselves too much by striving for universal employment, immortality, and a bigger television. whatever.
