Are you insane? ��I��m gonna die! Please let me die!�� It was the voice of a young energetic man singing shrilly, jumping up and down following the beat of the music. He was crossing the street next to Factoria Mall listening to his walkman. He waved his hands to everyone he saw sending his deepest greeting to them. He seemed to be enjoying himself. Everyone was staring at him with a strange face. How could anyone not notice him? At the other side of the street, an old lady muttered, ��Oh dear! That young man is insane!�� The old lady quickly changed her direction, walking away from the young man as if he was an escaped criminal. I was standing beside the woman, struggling with whether I should follow the old lady. After a half a second, I decided not to. I asked myself, ��Is this how we treat people who are different from us? People who are ��insane��?�� Yes we do. As we look into the history of human being, it is not difficult to find ��insane�� people being isolated. But is insanity bad for a society? What is insanity? Insanity introduces new ideas, new methods, and new perspective to the ��normal�� public sphere. Therefore, we should never discriminate against the insane. It��s really difficult to define what insanity is. In the Encyclopedia of Britannica, insanity is defined as the ��condition of mental disorder or mental defect that relieves a person of criminal responsibility for his conduct.�� However, the definition of insanity is constantly changing; what we think is normal today, might have been thought of as insane in the past; what we might think to be crazy today might be thought of as normal in the future. For example, in the music field, many musicians were so enthusiastic about composing music but were not appreciated by the public. For example, like Charles Ives, who is now acclaimed as the first great American composer, was not accepted by the public in the past because Ives did not follow the musical fashion of his times. When he was sixty-five, a pianist John Kirkpatrick played Ives�� Concord Sonata. Not until then, has his music finally been appreciated. We can see how people��s views change, so does their definition of insanity. Therefore we might think ��insanity�� to be practices or ideas which are too extreme to be accepted by the public at a certain time and in a certain culture. To determine whether a person is ��insane�� is even more difficult. Various legal tests of insanity have been put forward, none of which have escaped criticism. It is because insanity is controlled by time and culture. If you introduce ideas at the right time and the right place, you are thought to be ��great��. If you introduce ideas at the wrong time and wrong place, you are unlucky. When Jesus practiced miracle, he was thought to be great. However, when many people today who were trying to practice what Jesus did are consider to be crazy. They are viewed as people who are trying to destroy the unity of society simply because they want to create a new religion. Therefore, we can see sane and insane are just inches away from each other. So is insanity bad for society? Is a young man over-enthusiastic in music, singing, dancing, waving to the pedestrians on the street bad? Sometimes insanity is bad when lives are being threatened. Hitler��s ��insanity�� is unacceptable. His insanity led to many people��s lives being sacrificed; his insanity destroyed a country and led to a World War. However, most of the time insanity has positive effects on society. Many human inventions were introduced by people who were thought to be insane. Their irresistible impulses, which normal people don��t have, are beneficial to a society. For instance, if it was not for the ��crazy�� scientists such as Kao Kwan, who was fanatical in Physics and did all kinds of optics experiments and invented optical fibers, we wouldn��t have the amazing internet which we can use to exchange all kinds of information instantly. Many of his colleagues thought he was insane because he was trying to achieve what seemed impossible. His irresistible impulse and consistence in his beliefs significantly contributed to human society. There are many more of these ��insane�� people who had all kinds of ��crazy�� ideas. These ideas keep society moving. These ideas may even be the solutions to many problems in society. As a result, we must respect the insane. We must be more than willing to accept their ideas. We should have our own independent minds and not let our views be ��controlled�� by our traditions. We have to critically determine whether certain ��insanity�� is acceptable for the society. Since you and I may be thought to be ��insane�� someday, if we do not have our own independent mind, we will definitely live a miserable life when we are thought to be insane. This is why I did not follow the old lady. Instead, I walked towards the young man giving him my deepest regards. Although I did not know him, I felt that we had a great connection�Xwe didn��t really care what others�� opinions of us were. We can live a happier and freer life than ��normal�� people. Am I insane? Phillips, Christopher. ��What is the Question?�� Socrates Caf?. New York: W.W Norton & Company, Inc, 2001 ��Insanity.�� The New Encyclopedia of Britannica. Macropedia. 15th ed. 1997. |
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Believe or Inquire? In the very early of human history, every culture has to face various challenges from nature. In order to survive, people developed various skills and tools to enhance their chance to live, many of which were developed to provide security to the people. We build homes for shelters, swords for protection and dams to prevent flooding. Once people have developed stable and secure surroundings, they tend to look for fulfillment of their inner soul. People strive for a ��better�� life. In fact, this is one of the main purposes of life. Friedrich Nietzsche suggested that ��If you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire�� (51). It is true; we have two ways to fulfill our soul: believe or inquire. However, after thousands of years of development, many people became confused. They don��t know what and when they should inquire or believe. Their life becomes aimless. To overcome this problem, we must have a balance between belief and inquiry. Belief and Inquiry are very different from each other. To believe is to accept as truth and to have firm faith. To inquire is to strive for something that is unknown or is thought to be true. Nietzsche suggested that people who wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure should believe. In other words, some people are more than willing to believe the rules of their own culture. By doing so, they could live a comfortable life. Therefore, they obey every detail of the traditions in their own culture. They believe in the world which their ancestors have portrayed. These people believe that doing so can provide them the fulfillment of soul. Usually, these people are recognized as very successful in a culture. A successful businessman has to know the cultural norms and rules very well in order to operate successfully. A successful student has to appropriately follow the requirements from the schools. In fact, believing is very natural, at a very small age, we believe in our parents and teachers. We were taught to obey our parents, and we get the idea of what��s appropriate. It is not difficult to find people who are willing to live under certain traditions. The SAT, MCAT, PCAT and TOEFL have thousands of followers every year. These tests provide them the road to success, the career for which many are eager. On the contrary, some people are not satisfied with the life they are living. They want to inquire and seek truth beyond the knowledge of their culture. They search for new strategies to face the challenge from nature. Usually these people provide new insights to a culture. Thanks to them, we have lots of advancements in many areas. We would have never known the world is round if it were not someone who dared to travel around it once. We wouldn��t have cures to many diseases if it were not for the doctors doing research of drugs for us. However, unlike believing, not everyone have the opportunities to inquire. There are priorities between belief and inquiry. One��s basic necessities must be satisfied first in order for people to start inquiry. In other words, our stomach must be full, and our clothes must be warm. These are the conditions for inquiring. Many scholars now and then don��t have to worry about their basic necessities when they inquire. They were supported by members of the culture who believed in them. We can see that there are benefits in both belief and inquiry. However, we should never practice only one of them. We have to get the balance between both. It is because too much of believing in traditions means following the rituals blindly. Some people have forgotten the true reason behind practicing certain kinds of rituals. Just like today many people don��t know why they should celebrate Christmas; they only know it is a festival. Others perform everything that the traditions practice. On the other hand, too much inquiry may face a lot of criticism from one��s own culture. Since inquiry will promote new ideas and new rules, the inquirer may be thought as trying to destroy the unity of society. Therefore, we must believe and inquire at the same time. Yet, how can we know when to stop? Where should we set our reference point? We should set our reference from nature. Since we are controlled by the rules of nature, our challenges come either directly or indirectly from nature. We know when we should stop questioning the nature when it is being harmed; we know when we should start believing the rules of nature when we are being harmed. For example, we should stop researching genetically modified food if we know it harms the ecosystems; we should starts believing the schedule of nature when we plant our crops. Therefore, every time when we want to inquire, think about its impact to nature; every time we are persuaded to practice certain rituals and traditions, think about its impact to nature. This way, we can truly fulfill our souls. Phillips, Christopher. ��What is the Question?�� Socrates Caf?. New York: W.W Norton & Company, Inc, 2001 |
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