What is insanity?
Cliches that make partial sense: Misinterpreting slogans and quotes
This is my first time “double-posting” here on Medium, but I just had to. This is why.
I went online today to search for relevant pictures for my previous post on Hamlet’s insanity.
The quest was to find a picture that perfectly depicts and defines insanity. I scoured the depths of the internet, and guess what topped the search results? Pictures, screaming, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.”
So basically, by that definition, I was insane for consistently searching for the pictures through the same internet and hoping the next results were more relevant.
No disrespect to Albert Einstein and his devotees, but is that truly the essence of insanity? Imagine a mentally sound university professor teaching Zoology, diligently failing over half the class, only to return the next semester and employ the same teaching method, crossing fingers for a turnaround. Could a mental practitioner deem such a professor insane for doing this? Of course not.
If we were to buy into this notion, it’d mean a significant percentage of the human population is insane. So, what then is the point of therapy? Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not writing this to scoff at the brilliance behind the quote. I’m not trying to belittle the 160-IQ mind of the legend who said this. I’m just suggesting we might’ve taken Einstein’s words a bit too literally.
Consider these two statements:
- “Wearing your underwear on your clothes is the definition of abnormality.”
- “The definition of abnormality is wearing your underwear on your clothes.”
The two statements seem similar, but are different. One is correct, the other isn’t. If abnormality is defined by wearing underwear on your clothes, are we implying that someone who spills their food on and eats directly from the ground isn’t abnormal? However, rocking underwear on the outside is definitely abnormal. So the first statement kicks the second in the shin.
These clichés have steered our knowledge in wonky directions. Take, for instance, the age-old adage: love is blind. It is repeated so often that some think it means love is synonymous with blindness. It’s not. Love sometimes blinds people to the flaws of others because they’re on a perpetual quest to rationalise them or have unconsciously decided not to find faults.
It is important to remember that English isn’t like math, where if a=b, then b=a. In English, if Kola is blind, it doesn’t automatically translate to “Blind is Kola.”
In conclusion, let’s set the record straight: insanity is not doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Rather, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is insanity.
p.s. Insanity is exhibiting unsoundness or disorder of mind. Just so you know.
I appreciate your patience as you await the article on mental health issues that I promised. I’ll try to make it worth your while.
