How do I keep sane

Dealing with all the madness without going mad.

It seems as much a question as a statement. How do I keep sane(?). Do you want to keep sane? Can you keep sane? Am I deluding myself in thinking I can? Should we all just admit we’re insane? I think there is a level of sanity to which we aspire, but I believe there are marginal madnesses and maniacal characteristics that require a slight admittance from time to time.

"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." – Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil.

“There! You see! The world is going mad”, said the man, easier to point at and exclaim the madness external to him than that which is within him. Sure, it’s very easy to look around and see the amount of deluded human beings and those who don’t care. The rampant nihilism and “anything goes” relativism – I’m sick of thinking about this shit, but I’m living through it. The ongoing battle between art and propaganda, nothing is sacred or beautiful...let's mock it, make it funny, cross reference it with something else (unrelated, even perhaps even especially so). Let’s dilute/ruin/change the original intentions/impact because nothing matters and fuck the world. No wonder people are so anxiety and depression ridden, unable to be themselves surrounded in a world so false and full of cynicism and whimsical, impulsive nonsense.

Photo by Will Myers on Unsplash.

The reason I put the Nietzsche quote above the previous paragraph, is that if you look at this stuff for so long eventually you’ll will go mad, and thankfully I have the mental strength to pull back, but it’s not easy and not always possible, having been caught up in the degeneration of society. I’m fascinated by people’s behaviour and thoughts, so I’m naturally drawn to trying to understand. I’m also incredibly high in personality trait openness which means I’m heavily interested in exploring ideas, which leads me to do so, sometimes at the cost of my own sanity…my own happiness. How many ideas should we entertain? Especially when a significant portion of people are speaking bollocks!

With social media and the 24-hour news cycle, I view it as if something isn’t in the news two weeks from now, it’s not really news. The gargantuan amount of hostility and unhappiness as a result of filler or 'bs' pieces and the "discussions" or "arguments" from around these, thanks largely to immediate responses, is so counterproductive and dare I say, harmful to humanity and our social fabric. We need to think and deliberate on issues especially more serious and complex issues using foundational morality and ethics rather agenda-based or ideological standpoints. This is in part why the quality of journalism is so low; the people don’t really demand it. Attention spans and economics mean a lot of what we see is just entertainment disguised as journalism/news. It used to be far easier to spot an opinion blogger from a journalist, now, I’m not as certain. Is AI going to be breaking the news to us next?

“Why does it feel like we're having the wool pulled over our eyes? Are people going to sleep or waking up? Why do we feel like we're being lied to constantly? Unable to decipher truth…truth isn't even a valued criterion now”.

It’s time we started turning away from stupidity. There feels like so many things we're wasting our time with or it's being deliberately manipulated. These low resolution, emotive issues and ideas that are in constant circulation that we need to move on from but can't seem to or we're not allowed to move on from. This "managed reality", being asked to forget we know things and accept delusions. We have to stop doing this to ourselves, especially in politics with substandard nominees, and especially if we want to salvage any kind of liveable democracy.

Photo by Sodo Sane on Unsplash.

I spent a lot of this article so far explaining and illustrating the madness, so, it’s time for some more sanity. It helps from diving off the deep end, going to places where, if you knew where you’d end up, you wouldn’t set off in the first place.

Should we limit our social interactions? Withdraw away?

Personally, yes to the first and yes to the second, but only so far as you can manage it. I know I do it, but it’s not the easiest way to live for the average person. I’m not asking people to be monks or a recluse, but your time and emotional capacity are valuable, please treat them that way.

Do we only converse with people like ourselves?

No. As comforting as it might be, the flow of ideas and information must be maintained, and more importantly, it does us good to on multiple levels for a healthier existence. I mean, if you’ve ever had a look or been in a so-called “echo chamber”, it doesn’t generally lead to a good place.

Should we only care for a handful of people? Are we only equipped to deal with such amounts of people?

Who am I to tell you how many people you should care about, but from a psychological perspective the answer to the second question is definitely yes. Extraordinary human beings do exist, like the Dalai Lama, but the average person can only handle so much.

Modernity perpetuates a largely online existence, is this really escapable?

No, it is not for the majority. Whilst we may have dreams of a cabin in the woods and living off the land, the reality of this is just not feasible for the bulk of our current society. However, I implore people to not lose their humanity to their fellow being, to know and not forget what it is to be human, and to walk/be in nature regularly as a reminder that we come out of this world and that the things we’ve built, while helpful, they are not our masters.

Watch what you consume and where your attention goes. Observe your thoughts and emotions. Aim for peace. Learn to become indifferent to what makes no difference. I wish you well. The kids will be alright…hopefully.    

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