How do you rate the state or threshold of insanity as it applies to you?

Question

Allow me to go first:

Insanity, like all mental states, is a tool. We use it or it uses us.
It is to be a state, not a permanence, and we must strive to achieve and active imaginative state in all off our workings if we wish to achieve awe-inspiring results... that being said, have fun!

insanity (as: other than the 'normal' state of reality)

No chemical induction required.

me, depressed...? no. pah! ok, maybe a little.

Answer 1

I'd see the threshold insanity when I no longer have an internal "dispassionate observer" to monitor my thoughts, ideas, and emotions. The doorway may lead to creativity, free association, and other interesting, informative, and even productive experiences, for which it is necessary to "let go" at least for a time. But it may also lead to illusions that can become delusions - fantasies of the supernatural - and miasmas from terror to grandeur. These, too, can be enlightening when dispassionately observed, as the cast shadows of things avoided. And they can tap into some universal human affects, which can be powerful in art. But always, that "dispassionate observer" is essential to come back to, so that such experiences "at the threshold" can be used constructively, and delusions, however convincing, can be avoided as much as possible. The fact that, as Shakespeare says, more things exist under Heaven than were dreamed of in Horatio's philosophy (or anyone else's), doesn't make any of them true - even though some of them may be! But the edge of new possibilities, and new insights, lie ever in dreams, more than in convictions inherited like hand-me-down clothes.

Answer 2

Insanity for me is primarily a defense mechanism. When too much stress is introduced to my mind, well... it goes away for a while... as long as it takes for my mind to process the information. If my mind is "away at camp" for too long, I usually end up doing silly things, like throwing the Christmas tree into the front yard. That's why it is important for me to bounce ideas off of other individuals, especially with those who are removed from my current situation. It helps keep things in perspective for me. Answers has helped me with that a lot.
A good definition of insanity that applies to me is this: Insanity is doing the same thing in the same way, expecting different results. If you knew anything about my life, you would clearly see the self-destructive patterns that have developed. I always managed to say "This time it will be different." And I was always wrong. In the past two years, I have started to recognize and break those cycles. It has been a long, painful process at times, but I feel like I have come out a much better person already. Still, there is a long way to go.

Answer 3

I do not agree insanity is a mental state. It is not a strategy of the mind, it is rather what we call its suffering, brokenness, or dis-ease.

Insanity is not merely sanity by another name. It truly is other than mental health, not an end of a spectrum. It is difficult, even unbearably painful, for many sane people to perceive what insanity truly is. I am talking about real psychosis, not neurosis, here.

Creativity is not insanity either.

Answer 4

Insanity is doing the same thing continuously yet expecting a different outcome
When I was with my abusive ex husband I was at the height of insanity.

Answer 5

I think you are off base, and do not understand the concept.

If the symptoms are exhibited by someone else, it is insanity, if you exhibit the same symptoms, your are being unique and different.
You too try to have fun.. It looks like you are beginning to fall into a deep depression.

Answer 6

Imagination is often labelled as insanity by the uninitiated.

I believe that we ought to go insane once in a while, just to get a fresh perspective on the world around us.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
Sort of like what Douglas Adams said in HItchhiker's:

"I became mad for a while; it did me no end of good."

(or words to that effect)

Somewhere else, he talks about how we waste a lot of our energy in trying to save ourselves from going insane when we go through trying times; so, he proposes that it would be better to just let go and go insane for a while.

------------------------------------
Another quote:
(POC I)
Will Turner: This is either madness or genius.
Jack Sparrow: Isn't it strange how often one is confused for the other?

(Even after five edits, that last quote doesn't sound right to me. Readers will do well to look it up themselves.)

Answer 7

Well, if creativity requires a degree of insanity, then I must be a creative genius! (NOT!) Please allow me to be blunt, I am out to lunch, do NOT expect me back any time soon! I must say.....I have really been using MY tool!:) I am not too sure about your theory here, but it is something that will keep me thinking!

Answer 8

"I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every moment of it!"
Sorry, I saw that on a bumper sticker once and it was just perfect for your question. But really, I think I'm a fairly sane person. How about you?

Answer 9

certainty is she/he did not say Washington D.C. grew to become right into a state she asked in what state it incredibly is in. meaning the place is it placed. and that i don't desire to sound recommend or rude yet we did not asked the guy with the "superb answer" how existence grew to become into there we asked in what state this is placed in. P.S. i understand i for my area won't get many votes or something yet people bypass of music and commenced to communicate approximately how Washington DC wasn't a state and how it grew to become right into a federal district. we'd desire to appreciate WHICH STATE it incredibly is IN

Answer 10

Insanity is only negative if someone gets hurt.