Hi Geoff,
Insanity. First off you have to understand that it is a political
institution as well as health issue. In the not to distant past
homosexual behaviour was viewed as a mental illness.
I guess that in application insanity is the state of not accepting
that other people have a view upon ones actions and beliefs. You know
you have lost it when you don't feel the need to meet *any* standards
set outside of yourself. (Meeting in effect simply means being able to
communicate rationality about those standards you don't meet.)
This is entirely a social political construct. In the USSR all that
was necessary to meet the criteria was to be vocal about certain
aspects of that society. We in the west start to question those who
engage in bizarre beliefs ( too much conspiracy theory hypothesis
etc).
What is bizarre is also culturally affected. ie We do not consider
members of a church insane (in a legal sense) for believing in
something that could be said to bizarre.
Rich people who hold bizarre beliefs and act upon them are eccentric.
Poor people with the same beliefs are insane.
regards,
Ian
On Sat, 22 Apr 2000 23:40:45 +1200, you wrote:
>Greetings All,
>I have just returned from my interesting adventure/holiday in Vietnam.
> I am glad to be back home.
>New Zealand is certainly very, very different to Vietnam. I was a away for
>just over a week and have found that I have been overloaded by emails
>from MOQ and it seems it my take some time for me to catch up on everything
>that has happened. On to the real discussion, throughout LILA Pirsig talks
>about insanity. I found this subject interesting. My mother is a (not in
>action) phycologist. She did the degree but decided that phycologist are not
>quite 'sane' themselves and has decided not to be a phycologist.
>On with the subject line.
>
>--------The Definition of "Insanity"---------
>
>According to my 1991 edition of "Colins Pocket Dictionary of the English
>Language" the definition of the word insane is:
>
> 1. mentally ill; crazy; of unsound mind. OR
> 2. irresponsible; very foolish; stupid
>
>and the definition of insanity is:
>
> 1. The state of being insane
> 2. utter folly; stupidity
>
>I found this definitions rather unsatisfactory. I find that Pirsig's
>definition of insanity is a much more intelligent way of defining the word
>insane. This dictionary and probably every dictionary fails to even attempt
>to define why and how does one become mentally ill or crazy and they seem to
>use the connotation (association) between insanity, and foolishness and
>stupidness. I think insanity is a largely misunderstand subject. I believe
>insanity did not exist in ancient times when ape-men roamed the earth. Why,
>because the morals of the sane had not been invented therefore there was no
>way of telling a sane ape-man from a insane ape-man. In modern society this
>still exist in some ways. It is still very hard to define the difference
>from an insane person and a sane person but because of the certain morals of
>modern society we persuade people to conform to these basic morals and if
>they where to break these morals they would be classified as being insane as
>Lila was in the book. I find this idea of mine relates to the title.
>"LILA : An inquiry of morals"
>We portray Lila as being insane. The subtitle finally makes sense. Pirsig is
>inquiring into how morals relate to defining if a person is sane or not.
>Insanity is simply a evaluation of one's moral conformity.
>
>Thanks for reading I hope I will get some other people's definition and
>views of insanity and the insane.
>Geoff.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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