Insane? Or free?

Many, no doubt, are well disposed, but sluggish by constitution and by habit, and they cannot conceive of a man who is actuated by higher motives than they are. Accordingly they pronounce this man insane, for they know that they could never act as he does, as long as they are themselves. - Henry David Thoreau

Insanity. The first and foremost step towards true and absolute freedom. The beginning or self-realisation and happiness.

We all feel caged and depressed every so often. Helplessly lost and tossed back and forth, trapped in our world of rules and morality. Caught amidst laws and rituals enforced upon ourselves by the mind. Tied down by sanity.

Indeed, insanity is viewed by most as foolishness. Crazy is the man who would jump off the edge of a cliff believing that he could fly. No man of his sound mind would endanger himself upon a precarious ledge for the sake of fun. No sane man would give up all he has, believing that material wealth is totally unnecessary.

And yet, the irony of it is still there. How many times in one day, have you committed an act that you would deem stupid or insane?

To suddenly burst to tears over something that means nothing to most other people. To believe in that which is unseen and unproven to be true. To hear voices in your head, or talk to yourself when nobody is around. To see ghosts and specters in the night. All these, signs of sanity slipping away.

Yet, we all experience these things once in awhile. Unexplained acts with absolutely no basis of logic or plausible reasoning. Then again, what is the basis of logic or plausible reasoning?

What is the basis and foundations of sanity itself? How do you judge sanity? If each and every one of us is unique and different, then who among us is the most sane? If the mind is moulded by the environment, then what environment is right for it? Who among us is sound of mind? Who do we compare to for this?

Indeed, we attempt to keep our sanity by judging our minds based off an image of sanity that we ourselves construct.

So if my sanity strays beyond your norm, who between us, is insane?

Am I insane, or are you the one who's nuts? Hmmm...You be the judge my friend. You be the judge.

Yet, the one who is perhaps most sane among us are the insane. For they, among us, are most free and easy. Perhaps their happiness goes beyond our understanding. And their minds stray further from the norm than we could ever hope to achieve. Wild abandonment. True freedom. While we are trapped upon the solid earth of our "sanity", they fly free upon the skies of the mind that extends out to a vastness we could never possibly comprehend.

Indeed, the freedom that so many of us seek, lies out there, beyond our reach. Away within the wild limbo of the mind. Somewhere in the deep reaches that is hidden behind insanity. Only a nutcase would think of looking for it there. Only a nutcase...