What Is Sane What Is Madness

Did you ever wonder what was the difference between being sane
and being mad? Rent the movie "The King of Hearts" or, read R.D. Laing.

Here's and excerpt from:

Transcendental Experience In Relation to Religion and Psychosis

by
R.D. Laing

"From the alienated starting point of our pseudo-sanity, everything is equivocal. Our sanity is not "true" sanity. Their madness is not "true" madness. The madness of our patients is an artifact of the destruction wreaked on them by us, and by them on themselves. Let no one suppose that we meet any more "true" madness than that we are truly sane. The madness that we encounter in "patients" is a gross travesty, a mockery, a grotesque caricature of what the natural healing of that estranged integration we call sanity might be. True sanity entails in one way or another the dissolution of the normal ego, that false self competently adjusted to our alienated social reality: the emergence of the "inner" archetypal mediators of divine power, and through this death a rebirth, and the eventual re-establishment of a new kind of ego-functioning, the ego now being the servant of the Divine, no longer its betrayer."

Laing was the founder of the Philadelphia Association.

The following quotation appears in the ABOUT US - R D LAING page of their website. ... worth reading!

"At a time when psychiatry and psychology are convinced of the biological basis of mental illness and of the (largely) chemical answer to the problem, Laing's best work stands as a challenge, a voice claiming that there is another way of making sense of these matters and that there are other ways of helping people deal with them. Still valid too is Laing's insistence that there is indeed meaning in madness and that the discourse of the disturbed may well make sense if listened to in the right spirit. While it is common to hear that his ideas have been discredited or even disproved (whatever that might mean), there seems little doubt that he (among others) changed the way that mental illness is understood, and changed the ways in which those designated mentally ill are treated."

The Greatest Fears

Jeseppi


the greatest fear i know
is the fear of love
because it makes a person vulnerable

the next greatest fear
is the fear of life
because it makes us uncontrolably strong and powerful

and after that
is the fear of truth
because it casts light upon the connection
between the first two

- Jeseppi Trade Wildfeather

Love, Vault - And the Right Combination

i used to work on wall street
every morning there was a procession of bank officials
who would parade through the securities area
and positioning themselves before the vault
three men in turn would provide the necessary combination
to unlock the great door

we see quite a bit of destruction in the world
innocent victims of bitter colonialism and slavery abound

we wonder how this happens
and how to cure it

the answer is quite simple
nothing new
it is only through freedom and love
that you create a system of freedom and love

and if you can bring freedom and love anywhere
it will work for you

but you must first bring freedom and love
in truth
for the correct combination
which can unlock the human heart

any other combination
but the true one
will fail
and your vault will remain closed

kosivo vietnam palestine pakistan
makes no difference

here is one example of the correct combination

a hindu man of slain moslem brother
once asked mahatma gandhi
how to raise his brother's son
gandhi replied
raise him to be a good moslem

another man once said
if a person steals your shirt
give him your coat

that is the correct combination

that derives from a place of deep inner peace
freedom and love

try it and see for yourself
and if it it seems impossible
then that is the reason
that the world remains as it is
until the day of the Lord

Make Up Artist

i met the spirit of a favorite distant uncle
in a dream this morning

the long and short of it is this
we forgave each other
and shared the love of the Lord Jesus

we exchanged tears of joy
laying aside the masks
expressing only truth

The True Light

i just came from an oakland counsel meeting
folks were talking about needing more lights in the park
in order to reduce the amount of crime
makes sense

if light deters crime

in the upper eschelons of government
they say just the opposite
they need more darkness
"we need more security" they say

"security" and "classified" means darkness

i say "let there be light"
and let's create something true and new

as a killer in vietnam
i lived like a mole
sequestered and protected in a bunker
as a lover today
i can administer anywhere
to anyone without fear
face to face

Where is the Real Person?

your expression is who you are
what others perceive is something else

therefore

who you are as a person
is more dependent upon
what you wish to express
than what others wish to hear or perceive

Strength and Control in Arab Wisdom

once in an arab pizza shop
about 1:30 am
i was assaulted

i engaged a bigger meaner man
in an unproductive volley of words

suddenly i was visited on the left cheek
by the shakti touch of a clenched fist
intended to blast my entire being
into cosmic unconsciousness

heard tropical birds
saw wild colors
and fabulous whirling blinking lights
i thought for a moment
i was at the circus or at the fair

figured i was dead
decided
what's the use of fighting
if there was any hope i was still alive
i wanted to preserve it
so i decided to turn to the two yamulka clad arabs
elbow deep in cheese and marinara sause
put my hands up is a gesture of salaam and submission
stay put and quiet
and hope the whole thing would blow over quick

interesting choice
that gorilla proceeded to rain
blows upon my head and neck
and nearly really killed me

way too late now to defend myself
so i simply continued with my initial decision
and hoped for the best
and for a quick end of the whipping

during this meat tenderizing process
when i was firmly convinced
that he was killing me
the adrenelin kicked in
and i went bizerk swinging wildly
to preserve whatever was left of my miserable life

the blows stopped and we were both immediately
thrown out of the shop
forbidden to ever return

later on
to my surprise
i was told by the arabs
who never lifted a finger
to help thinking i was a christian
understandably
that what they witnessed
in my self control
was considered the greatest form of strength
in arab wisdom

cute?

my question today
is this

who or what
was in control

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