Recontextualing Crazy: Enlightenment Beyond The Borders Of Judgement...

in #psychology7 years ago (edited)

"He's crazy. She's crazy. I'm crazy. That's crazy."

How many times we've used this term. And what clarity has the linguistic choice created? What has been the benefit of reducing complex human behavior into a single word as this?

Probably, because it provides rationalization for laziness, and serves as a self-righteous tool for inflating one's superiority complex in the face of confronting a reality one remains ignorant about.

Bam.

Of course, this is a matter of cultural definition.

People throw around the word "crazy" quite loosely to describe that which escapes their understanding.

If it seems chaotic on the surface and we can't make sense of it, it is far easier to deem it "crazy" than dig beneath the surface to find the myriad of factors driving the dynamic in order to grow our awareness such that what appears disorderly on the surface is seen as perfectly understandable.

"Crazy" removes the responsibility to engage in educating oneself.

It's a crazy word...

No, it's not, actually. There are very specific, precise reasons why things are the way they are. Most humans do not possess the capacity to process the copious amounts of information within the complex systems governing surface phenomena. Yet, the universe is not so random to create "crazy" - it's merely cause-and-effect. Even if we are too stupidly ignorant and judgemental to begin opening to the broader scope of overwhelming data composing the algorithms at root of what appears on the screens of our realities.



photo credit: http://www.alexdoodles.com

Why do people "go crazy?"

First, consider "crazy" as simply a label on an unknown state of seeming chaos.

Most would agree the state could fit the category of "dysfunctional." Yet, most would be unable to explain why. And rather than humbly admitting ignorance of the "why," the label "crazy" comes to the rescue to boost one's ego with some sense of control in being able to box this unknown into a familiar frame of reference that makes the reality of not knowing a little less uncomfortable.

But, there are causes behind the effects. Even if our institutions of modern psychology are still too primitive to accurate diagnose and describe them.

The universe is not random.

And though few of us would want to admit it, we may be not a whole lot more than biological robots.

The conditioning we went through as kids... the belief systems instilled in us through educational institutions programs and television programs... the habits engrained into us through our upbringing by parents, culture, society, religion... all programs in our memory system.

What might appear "crazy," is nothing more than the effect of one's programming.

All those traumatic experiences instilling fear in a person... all those conflicting values absorbed from external influences... all the unresolved emotions accumulated over years that never got fully processed to extract information required to upgrade one's genetic system... all kinks in the system, obstructions in the neural circuitry, compounding as bugs in the operating system of the human being to result in backing up of energy that must inevitably drive the system into self-destruction without the constructive outlets opened through effective conversion of memory as per the requirements of one's innate goals of health, wealth, and contribution to the optimized functioning of the greater whole.



Of course, cognitive bias is a perhaps necessary function of the human mind, allowing us to function in the face of incomplete knowledge. And thus, labels like "crazy" enable us to deal with what we don't yet have the capacity to know by falsifying a construct of reality that we can "get by" in dealing with. Yet, there are costs to engaging with fabricated delusions linguistically crafted to save ourselves the effort of having to dig deeper, rather than being direct in the seeming-madness - which only seems mad due to a lack of awareness.

When we reduce another to "crazy," we cease the effort to understand. By judging, we disconnect from the wealth of knowledge awaiting discovery that could potentially upgrade our consciousness of system dynamics we do not yet understand. Hence, we get stupider.

Observing others lose control of themselves in a violent rage, it's easy to call them crazy and conclude we ought to lock them in a cage to preserve our sense of security. But, what lessons are lost in cutting them out?

Behind the behavior, lies complex programming.

Diving into such a person's history, one would be guaranteed to find hurts, pains, and countless inner conflicts stemming from past experiences, conflicted desires, and faulty belief systems culturally-inhereted. And while the behavior of different "crazy" people or situations might vary, under the surface, there would be many common patterns to be found in these memory systems which might provide society far greater opportunity if sought to be understood rather than awareness denied access through exclusive linguistic programs such as the word "crazy."

The disorderly "problems" throughout our societies cannot be solved through isolating that and those failing to comfort to our ideals, who/which challenge us to stretch our understanding of dynamics into the uncomfortable territory of the not-yet-known.

The systemic roots stem far deeper back into genetic coding existing in all of us simultaneously.

And so long as we fail to understand the memory programming languages in which we are encoded and may begin to recode - failure that is nearly-guaranteed so long as we continue judging and condemning that we do not understand through coding language such as "crazy" that restricts access to countless layers of valuable information within - "chaos" will continue to appear, given the causes have been avoided while we attempt excluding the effects from our reality due to their unsettling effect upon the delusionary sense of control we've led ourselves to believe we have found in the capacity to judge - despite the judgement itself being the primary disabler of our true capacity to gain control through accessing and integrating the information within that we've cut out through judgement.

Yes, that was quite the long, heavy sentence. So go back and read it slowly as many times as necessary to grasp the keys within.



Crazy? No.

Complex? Yes.

And in a society where many value magic pills, bite-sized answers, and drive-through solutions enabling the least amount of personal responsibility possible, opting for the easy way out has been the norm. Thus, fuck the complexity, let's just call it "crazy" and move on with a delusionary sense of superiority in having risen above it as we put it down.

Yet inevitably, delusions fall apart. And reality is persistent - unbudging in the face of childish desires to remain ignorant and in control of phenomenon far more complex than we have the ability to understand.

Nonetheless, we are evolving.

Of course, we can't know it all. So, we do the best we can. We trip, fall, fuck up, and get back up. Hopefully, wiser and more aware.

And herein with this reading, you were both gifted and cursed.

For now, we each have a choice of increased responsibility in how we choose our words to evolve our consciousness in the face of that we don't yet understand.

We can go on calling things and people "crazy." But the consequences are clear.

Or, we may rise above judgement and seek knowledge.

The choice is each our own - our fate or destiny sealed in the moment or closing or opening to the unknown...



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Hey, the first piece of art is by my friend Alex Chiu. It would be good if you please linked to the source. Here is his website: http://www.alexdoodles.com/

Whoa, cool.

Thanks for the tip. Updated with credit. Awesome work!

a ton of complex thinking reading this post, lol lets hope none of us go crazy anytime soon ^_^ thanks for sharing! check out my latest post if its not too much to ask!

image
Post + VIDEO ---> https://steemit.com/crypto-news/@vizualsamuri/why-this-crypto-ep-2-omar-bham-aka-crypt0-ethereum-201777t13421939z

Well, as someone who's already a card-carrying member of the "crazy" people, certified by a U.S. Court, I have to say that you give the topic more consideration than your average bear. Upvoted & Resteemed.

Here are some of the other people I spent time with in the mental hospital:

  • A Certified Public Accountant (6-year degree)
  • A Nutritionist (4-year degree)
  • One of my doctors was a recovered Shizophrenic
  • Another one of my doctors was Bi-Polar
  • A Fireman
    *A Police Officer
  • A Pastor
  • An Electrical Engineer (4-year degree)

Breaking down can happen to anyone, from any cross-section of the culture, for a variety of reasons - usually involving personal pain, loss, addiction, and/or abuse of various kinds. I lierally met thousands of different people in the State Hospital during my 13 & 1/2-year stay. Here are the statistics:
1/3 will get better, with the right medication - or without it
1/3 will sometimes do better than at other times, with the right meds
1/3 are not helped at all by any form of treatment
I was one of the lucky ones - medications & other behavioral therapy helped me to recover most of my former self.

Having gone through a period of being "crazy" myself, I came to the same conclusion you did:

Breaking down can happen to anyone, from any cross-section of the culture, for a variety of reasons

glad you made it through.

There is no "other". Yes, I am crazy.

It's sad but you're right. Personally I have always preferred truth and justice to leave it to a more complicated path.

This article is crazy cool ;)

If looking through the lens where anything and everything is related to Parkinson's, sure... but then you'd by default exclude all other info that is not...

Nice post dear Upvoted @rok-sivante plz check my blog thanks alot

This is a super appropriate post on the the eve of a full moon, in which the moon will be conjunct Pluto and Opposite the Sun and Mars and Square Jupiter (can I supersize that for you Planet) as well as Square Uranus (planet of sudden unexpected change.)
CRAZY-making, yes. Be safe, be sane, and think several times before acting.

Hmmm... the idea has been brewing for a while... interesting syncronicity that today is the day it chose to flow through to be published, if that's the case...

I wrote an article yesterday about the Moon Ingress to Capricorn, if you want to check it out. And I am about ready to start one on this evening's full moon (in Capricorn). I hope that you enjoy it. Thank you for your work.

When we reduce another to "crazy," we cease the effort to understand. By judging, we disconnect from the wealth of knowledge awaiting discovery that could potentially upgrade our consciousness of system dynamics we do not yet understand.

Absolutely hit the nail on the head. I mean, with the whole post, really, but these two sentences really resonated with me from my own experiences. Words have inredible power—more than many people even consider. As you're explaining, when you boil it all down to "crazy," you're just completely shutting down the process. Boom. End of story. Thinking over. It's partially laziness, and partially a coping mechanism, I think. To process it all would, perhaps, drive a person "crazy." ;)

It's unfortunate, though. Instead of spending a little extra time/energy to have your eyes OPENED, many people take this "cop-out" method and shut it all down. Imagine the world we'd live in if people were more conditioned to question things, dig deeper, and be a little uncomfortable for the sake of growth and knowledge.

Happy to have stumbled across your post. Following you and looking forward to reading more (and catching up on some of your old posts which look equally as intriguing as this one!)

And your feedback is appreciated.

And as you probably can already see, this concept of dumbening down through judgement applies much more broadly than just its focus into this particular topic of "crazy" - the dynamic is essentially the same with any judgement.

There are probably quite a few older posts of mine if scrolling back down my feed... I'm sure there may be a few titles in specific that jump out to grab your attention wherein may be found more of what shall satisfy the driving curiosities... ;-)

Hello, this was a great read!
When you say- "And rather than humbly admitting ignorance of the "why," the label "crazy" comes to the rescue to boost one's ego with some sense of control in being able to box this unknown into a familiar frame of reference that makes the reality of not knowing a little less uncomfortable" - This is exactly what happens when people talk about things such as conspiracy theories. That term has a negative connotation however it is merely their defence mechanism to this information which Is causing cognitive dissonance. Anything which they do not understand is rejected and grouped in the conspiracy schema society has so cleverly implanted.

However there is light at the end of the tunnel I think, which is morphic resonance. You should check out some of Rupert Sheldrake's works if you have not already, although you sound like someone who most certainly would already be aware of who he is.

When enough of us wake up, the collective consciousness will have no choice but to follow suite.

Thing about conspiracy theories - they're called theories for a reason. That realm has evolved into its own cult in low-theta, with its own cognitive biases distorting facts. Big topic.

I've heard of Sheldrake but haven't gone into too much of his material yet - putting it on the "Watch Later" list... :-)

I think I miss communicated my point a little, so ANYTHING that challenges peoples current beliefs gets automatically hurdled into the conspiracy theory group/schema, when there can be quite substantial evidence meaning it is not a theory. But if it does not fit their beliefs out comes conspiracy theory allegations which is some kind of cover blanket for anything at all that causes any kind of cognitive dissonance.

One recent example I was out with a friend and I whipped out my organic sun cream, with being a red-head I'm virtually allergic to the sun. She couldn't get her head around why I had organic sun cream, so I told her a little bit about the toxins in regular sun cream, and how some of them are carcinogenic, and are literally being cooked into your skin under the sun, it's just something id rather avoid. This isn't a theory, anyone can grab a bottle of sun cream and research the ingredients. She immediately responded with "ohhh that's just a conspiracy!".

But yes I totally hear you there's definitely a flip side, almost cult like movement going on too in the ACTUAL conspiracy theory realm.

I am surprised someone writing content like this hasn't delved into Sheldrake, I honestly think you'd really like a lot of it. Because clearly after reading one post I'm qualified to say such things! Ha!

Anyway looking forward to seeing your future posts, this is the kind of content ill probably engage with a lot. So sorry in advance if I really annoy you. :)

No apologies necessary.

I got where you were coming from... big topic in its own, beyond the scope of a comment-based discussion...

Some people think I am going crazy.......The joke is on them, I went there years ago, fell in love with the place and decided to stay. :)

Hehe. Nice. :-)

Great post. It always bothered me when people called others 'crazy' because what you're saying is so true.....they are not ultimately understanding the other person. There's a lot more going on there and saying the person is 'crazy' is just an easy, lazy way of labeling someone in an attempt to quickly make sense of them and the world.

I personally never just look at anyone and think to myself they are crazy. I always try to look deeper and understand what might be happening with them. Humans are super complex and likely ultimately unknowable...or at least some parts are, but it's certainly worth the effort to try to understand others, and ourselves better. This will help to make for a better world.

amazed, appreciated, upvoted & resteemed. Thx 4 sharing

and followed, not to forget!

You are so right. I'm glad you brought this up. Calling someone crazy is dismissive and destroys the ability to effectively communicate. I try not to use it except for the actual crazy people, lol. I also think people you genius too often too, but it doesn't have the same negative effects.

Great post. This is the first I've seen from you and you got a new follower!

Thankyou for sharing this , You Explained this Beautifully ! much appreciated! @rok-sivante.

Also this is my first type of blog in Psychology : https://steemit.com/life/@haky-speaks/types-of-bipolar-disorders

Can you share your views on?

So! It seems I am definitely craaaazzzyyy then🙀

Oh well! 😜

This was one of the best texts I've read in a long time! I totally agree with you, and I think we should delete the word crazy from our vocabulary. Thank you for taking the time to write such a complex and well written post, I wish everyone would read this! You are a really talented writer.

cheers. :-)

I resteemed your text! A litte late but I wanted to finish my series first. If feels like you put my exact thoughts into words with this text, only in a much better way than I would have managed to do. :P Thank you again for writing it, this is a text that really matters!

Your welcome. 💜

Brilliant post.... love your work.

❤ ❤ ❤

Great work, Upv all post and follow You :)
Follow me, have a nice day :)
Greetings from Poland