Deep thoughts
They say that crazy people don’t know that they’re crazy. Does that mean that if you think that you are crazy that you can’t be? Or are you just not crazy in the way that you think? Can a person be paranoid of themself?
For those of you who have been reading this site for a long time you may have noticed that I mention sanity a lot. OK maybe not a lot but fairly often I think. I’ve always been fascinated with psychology and the way the mind works. I would have gone into Psychology as a profession if it weren’t for all the crazies. That and medical school was just too much money and commitment for me. Besides, I tend to be one of those people who seem to try and project everything they learn against themself to see if I exhibit any of those symptoms or traits. Scary.
But I still ponder these things a lot. I often wonder what phsychological problems I actually have and what indications other people may see in me. I have lengthy conversations with myself in my head and I’m not entirely sure it’s just my conscience talking. I wonder if there is a great evil lurking within me that I fight every day to keep in check. I wonder if I have the capacity to do the horrible things that go through my head sometimes. Of course, maybe that’s normal. How is one person to truly know if what they experience is completely normal for most sane human beings or if they are truly disturbed.
I suppose you could talk to a psychologist and try and find out, but unless there is something medically wrong with you I’m not sure you could really take their opinions as truth. Because that’s exactly what they will give: opinions. A psychologist knows the basics to how the brain works and knows what goes on inside their own mind. However, they rely on what people and their patients are willing to tell them about their problems and the workings of their minds to decide what may be going on. Is that really fair or accurate?
Let’s do a little test using the first thing that comes to mind for each item:
- Think of an animal
- Think of something happening to that animal
- Think of how you think you would react to that something happening to that animal
- Think of the first color to come to mind when you read this line
- Think of your first vehicle
- What was the animal’s name?
Did you do that? Do you think it’s fair to say that the answers you gave are sane? If I polled 10,000 people for their answers to these questions and tabulated them together and then gave you the results, would your answers look any more or less sane? That depends on one thing: honesty.
You see most people will not say the first thing that comes to their minds if they don’t like what it was. People constantly censor and edit themselves whether from politeness, political correctness or self preservation. So out of 10,000 respondants you could guarantee that at least 50% of the answer were not honest first thoughts. Then you compare your own answers and probably don’t know for sure if your answers were honestly the first thing that popped into your mind. You may have gone with the second, third or maybe even tenth thing that went through your mind because you were too disgusted, ashamed or embarrased that you possibly thought what you did for a given question.
But that is my opinion based on my own life and experiences. Here’s a thought for myself: what if I’m totally wrong about what I just wrote? What if it’s just me that goes through the dishonesty of answering questions because I can’t handle the first things that go through my mind. Maybe it’s just me and everyone else thought of rainbows and unicorns. It’s that uncertainty that makes me question sanity. Because no one can ever be truly sure that how they feel is sane.
Or maybe it’s just me.
Wow. Very, very deep thoughts.
This is exactly why I try ignore my “inner voices” or thoughts. Call it denial. Or call it avoidance.
But my opinion is that most people censor themselves in an attempt to hide their crazy. I think EVERYONE is a little crazy. While most people are able to keep it in check, there are the people, like, for example, Britney Spears, that just can’t control their craziness.
Like pain, I think sanity is subjective. it’s different for everyone I think. But that could be an indication of my own insanity. :D
But yeah, everyone changes their answers. People are too worried about what other people would think too. I think that also influences people’s answers as well. Many folks want to be accepted and conform.
Pshaw.