Welcome to Saturday ~ Sanity


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Sanity, soundness, and sincerity, of which gleams and strains can still be found in the human brain under powerful microscopes, flourish only in a culture of clarification, which is now becoming harder and harder to detect with the naked eye.

James Thurber

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Had this brilliant idea to do an open thread with the subject of sanity. But somehow I couldn't wrap my brain around the concept. Perhaps the howling pack of coyotes outside the asylum is a factor. There seems to be a plethora of examples of madness in our times, but very few views of the opposite. How do you discover a clear glimpse of a sane approach to life?

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Sanity is a valuable possession; I hoard it the way people once hoarded money. I save it, so I will have enough, when the time comes.

MARGARET ATWOOD, The Handmaid's Tale

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I had a quick grasp of the secret to sanity -- it had become the ability to hold the maximum of impossible combinations in one's mind.

NORMAN MAILER, An American Dream

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Print by Kaylin Watchhorn

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Fulfilling expectations on the water today, so will have to leave this to your fertile imaginations.
Have some fun with it!

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I can claim sanity in this crazy world. I can though, derive inspiration from other people, nature, the beauty of the natural world, animals, plants, art, and music to help minimize the damage done by the crazy impulses of our culture.

I'm not necessarily a fan of TED talks but the woman featured in this talk has some good ideas, and I especially like her ideas about art.

Thanks for the OT QMS, much appreciated.

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@randtntx

stride on the road

from other people, nature, the beauty of the natural world, animals, plants, art, and music

in itself is inspiring
thinking of way to get there

thanks!

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janis b's picture

@randtntx

She embodies such a strong spirit of life and nature. Her lifelong experience of the ocean, surfing and waiting for waves, is extraordinary.

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Lookout's picture

So, sanity in an insane world probably isn't recognized nor revered.

One person's sanity is another's delusion.

Speaking of water and sanity...

A man is lost in the desert, after walking for two days he finally sees some structure on the horizon. He realizes this might be his last hope and channels his last remaining energy to get there.

Two hours later he finally gets to what seems to be some kind of well. Barely able to stand up he walks around it to find a bucket or something, but there doesn't seem to be anything of the sort and the well is too deep to see anything.

Desperate for just a little refreshment he grabs a big rock next to well and throws it down the well, hoping it might at least splash a little water on his face, but after it hits the ground he can hear that the well is completely dry.

Out of strength and completely hopeless he sinks down next to the well, waiting for certain death to come, when suddenly a goat comes flying towards him, whirling around him and finally flying into the well. Unable to believe what he just saw, he tells himself that the dehydration is making him hallucinate and he is going crazy.

About 5 Minutes go by, when suddenly he sees a boy running towards him. The boy sees the dying man and without hesitation hands him some life-saving water.

After the man is able to stand up again the boy nervously asks him: "Did you see my goat? I can't find it and I will get in big trouble if I lost it!"

The man, seriously doubting his sanity and asking himself again if what he sees is real answers: "Yeah, I-uh I saw a goat, but you probably won't believe me when I tell you that it flew through the air and around me and then it flew down that well!"

The boy looks at him and says: "What? That's impossible! I tied it to a big rock, just next to the well!"

Have a great Saturday!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

@Lookout

consequences

thanks

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mimi's picture

in my part of the woods. What drives me insane is the insanity I watch happening over in your part of the woods. So whatever, hopefully the virus will bring back sanity to all.

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The Liberal Moonbat's picture

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In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.

Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!

enhydra lutris's picture

Sanity is a very dangerous thing, best approached with caution, magic and metaphor. The great logician and mathematician Charles Lutwidge Dodgson left a trail of cookie crumb hints in his more literary writings.

"Alice laughed: "There's no use trying," she said; "one can't believe impossible things." "I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was younger, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

Should that fail, there's always logic:

"For a complete logical argument", Arthur began with admirable solemnity, "we need two prim Misses --"
"Of course!" she interrupted. "I remember that word now. And they produce --"
"A Delusion," said Arthur.
"Ye-es?" she said dubiously. "I don't seem to remember that so well. But what is the whole argument called?"
"A Sillygism."

In any event, the journey is frought with both travail and peril, as the band of Snark hunters discovered

"For the Snark's a peculiar creature, that won't
Be caught in a commonplace way.
Do all that you know, and try all that you don't:
Not a chance must be wasted to-day!

I could go on, but I'm sure that it is best for all concerned if I don't.

be well and have a good one

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

@enhydra lutris

we can follow the aim of your tryst quite well
thanks for picking in!

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Granma's picture

For Biden.

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@Granma

what will the red necks do now?
eaten corn in a rage

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Granma's picture

When all around you are flipping out.

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@Granma

like being in the eye of a hurricane

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Anja Geitz's picture

In an insane world, at least for me personally, is staying away from any kind of news media right now. Just had to unfollow a few “left-leaning” journalists on my Twitter feed because their cheerleading over Biden’s win was getting into territory that felt weirdly uncomfortable. Can’t imagine anyone living under a bridge or not able to afford their insulin is feeling as happy as the media.

It’s raining today here in Southern California and we need it. Unfortunately, I forgot to take the cushions in from the lounge chairs. But I’ll be watching this weeks episode of #GBBO and doing some cooking for my version of sanity.

Wishing everyone a peaceful weekend.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

mimi's picture

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mimi's picture

@mimi [video:https://youtu.be/Ldtr8mDd3h4]

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Quaint, terrifying, shutting out and delusion.
Such a broad response.
Which is expected from this diverse
community.

While driving to the waterfront today
realized sane / safe driving skills calls for
one car length space ahead per every 10 mph. Saves pileups.

Not meant to pick on the crazies here. I'm one.
Encouraging sane conversation is all.

thanks

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Anja Geitz's picture

@QMS

OK, so far I got sanity as being Quaint, terrifying, shutting out and delusion.

Curious which category my response fell under?

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

example of sanity;

... a presidential candidate who just says very plainly: I don’t want to invade anyone else’s country or drone their wedding parties; I don’t want to torture anyone; I don’t want your family to go bankrupt from the bills for your daughter’s chemo; I want you to be paid fairly for the work you do and not be preyed upon by bill collectors when you’re unemployed; I want you to have a roof over your head and clean water to drink; I don’t want your kids to go hungry at school or be thrown in jail for smoking grass or be shot by the police while walking home from the 7/11; I want you to have time off to enjoy your life and not worry about your house burning down in a wildfire or being swept away in a hurricane. Is that too much to ask? Where is this person?

https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/06/roaming-charges-the-fog-of-bores/

A government that actually works for the people would be a million times more sane than what we have.

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@randtntx

where is this person?
prolly lives next door
change to sane criteria
for representing us

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Anja Geitz's picture

@QMS

I might’ve been more creative with mine. Smile

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

bullshit surrounding it. My Trumpster neighbor about a mile away has fired high powered rifles all damn day. He is the type that should hunker down, stay home. He could get shot by people who now know he is insane and dangerous.
Lay low, avoid conflict, conversation, give it time, there is a normalcy (a crappy normalcy) coming pretty soon. Any revolutions should be planned, networked, and with safety in mind.
If the Armed Forces stay with Goober in Chief, this will never go down like the French Revolution.
Myself, today, cooked extra food and gave the extra to a poor person so they would have dinner.

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

enhydra lutris's picture

@on the cusp

Myself, today, cooked extra food and gave the extra to a poor person so they would have dinner.

be well and have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

otc, I'm not going crazy about this election either, it is, as many have said, straight up B.S.. There are many things to take a stand for or against, and neither of these candidates qualify.

We all know though that the convergence of crises coming shortly will be the real problem. With covid cases growing exponentially, impending evictions in eight weeks or so, an economy in free-fall, etc. things will really get tense. Sanity in those circumstances could be in short supply. I'm not a fan of complete and utter chaos, things can get really ugly really fast.

edited reply to otc

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mimi's picture

I said this before. And now I say it again. Bye.
[video:https://youtu.be/M01pf2OFSMc]

yeah:
[video:https://youtu.be/9tV4aEsspN8]

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magiamma's picture

Still Saturday here, barely. Sanity is keeping perspective. Stepping beck from the amygdala. Being compassionate. Taking time. Being here now. One with all beings. Hearing the hum of the universe. om mani padme hum. Happiness is.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbZSe6N_BXs]

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Stop Climate Change Silence - Start the Conversation

Hot Air Website, Twitter, Facebook

@magiamma , love that video, thanks.

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lotlizard's picture

Biden / Harris / “the Obama Alumni Association” = Beamtenherrschaft

BEAMTENHERRSCHAFT

This is the age of bureaucracy, and to live at this time is, as Proudhon said, “to have every operation, every transaction, every movement noted, registered, counted, rated, stamped, measured, numbered, assessed, licensed, refused, authorized, endorsed, admonished, prevented, reformed, redressed, corrected … to be laid under contribution, drilled, fleeced, exploited, monopolized, extorted from, exhausted, hoaxed, and robbed.”

— Robert Anton Wilson, in the Illuminatus! trilogy

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@lotlizard . Can we have a middle ground please?

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janis b's picture

You prompted me to consider a very timely and significant concept. For a philosophical perspective on sanity I found this piece from Maria Popova at Brain Pickings.

It is a reflection on the insight of Erich Fromm -

Fromm points out that we can only speak of a “sane” society if we acknowledge that a society can be not sane, which in turn requires a departure from previous theories of sociological relativism postulating that “each society is normal inasmuch as it functions, and that pathology can be defined only in terms of the individual’s lack of adjustment to the ways of life in his society.” Instead, Fromm proposes a model of normative humanism — a redemptive notion that relieves some of our self-blame for feeling like we are going crazy, by acknowledging that society itself, when bedeviled by certain pathologies, can be crazy-making for the individual.

A sane society, Fromm suggests, is one which helps the individual continually give birth to herself, whereas a society which is not sane stymies that ongoing rebirth and renders the individual in a state of alienation. He outlines the consequences:

Man can protect himself from the consequences of his own madness only by creating a sane society which conforms with the needs of man, needs which are rooted in the very conditions of his existence. A society in which man relates to man lovingly, in which he is rooted in bonds of brotherliness and solidarity, rather than in the ties of blood and soil; a society which gives him the possibility of transcending nature by creating rather than by destroying, in which everyone gains a sense of self by experiencing himself as the subject of his powers rather than by conformity, in which a system of orientation and devotion exists without man’s needing to distort reality and to worship idols.

Finding personal sanity in a world that has too little sanity is quite a challenge, but I believe we possess the potential and have the opportunity on a daily basis to practice and achieve it.

We are all such preciously vulnerable beings.

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