The end of Insanity

[NikolaiI]

Madness
Until this day,
I have never known the true meaning of the word.
I have known love -
I alone have been sane
And known love in this world.
I alone held love like a curtain to my heart,
And I knew cooler winds.

Insanity - others.
The Insanity of ME! ME! ME!
The Immensity of Insanity and Ignorance!
Oh God! Does it end?
The loathsome insanity,
the sheer horridness and sickness
and patheticness,
such delusive, angry, ignorant, damaging souls.

Illusion fails, reality holds.
Infinite illusion is merely nothing,
Self-Illuminating Reality is Self-Revealed.

When the doors
of perception
are cleansed,
all appears as it is.
Infinite.

Infinite reality has infinite expression.
The infinite soul, perceived as finite,
Has infinite wholeness.

All selves are not divisions of Reality.
Reality is one, and all souls are One with reality.
All hearts beat as one.
It is a burden to carry.

But if you want to keep bashing your head insanely,
Feel free.
Continue on, screaming "Me, Me, Me,"
Nothing will keep you from insanity.

[PrinceMyshkin]

The infinite soul, perceived as finite,
Has infinite wholeness.


stood out for me although the two poems, together, are a powerful philosophical testament. "Insanity" (or normalcy), wrote a psychologist, "depends on who pulls the definitional trigger."

[AuntShecky]

You might have read T.S. Eliot's essay on Hamlet in which the twentieth century poet/critic questions the impetus of Hamlet's sudden drop into despondency, if not full-blown insanity. If you're unfamiliar with this essay, or to refresh your memory, here's a précis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective_correlative

Far be it from me to argue with Eliot, but I'll be d***ed if I'd ever consider the greatest drama in the English language to be an "artistic failure"! Not only that, I'm not really sure I understand the concept of objective correlative. Even so, I can see how a reader --even one as astute as Eliot-- might suspect that Hamlet could possibly be making an Everest out of an anthill.

I do see what you're trying to depict in these two verses, and the undertaking is ambitious. Nevertheless, they're a little stark and "out there" without enough specific images for this reader's mind to grab onto. What's there suffers from a
dependence on abstractions. So I guess I would say that your work --albeit well-intended--lacks an "objective correlative."

[Jerrybaldy]

Made me think of my physics teacher. He drew a line along the middle of the blackboard and explained to us spotty teenagers that the thin line represented sanity and all that space either side represented insanity. He died of a heart attack just after. Proufndness kills. lol . JB

[tailor STATELY]

When the doors
of perception
are cleansed,
all appears as it is.
Infinite.

Most profound.

This helps me a lot with a doctrine that I've been trying to get my mind around (I'll spare everyone the details - and that's final).

Thank you NikolaiI

ps - LOL. Spare me the comments of me finding enlightenment in a poem about insanity... truth is truth.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle)
:tailor STATELY

[NikolaiI]

The infinite soul, perceived as finite,
Has infinite wholeness.


stood out for me although the two poems, together, are a powerful philosophical testament. "Insanity" (or normalcy), wrote a psychologist, "depends on who pulls the definitional trigger."

Thank you Prince - actually it is not two poems but one poem. The bolding is just part of the poem.


You might have read T.S. Eliot's essay on Hamlet in which the twentieth century poet/critic questions the impetus of Hamlet's sudden drop into despondency, if not full-blown insanity. If you're unfamiliar with this essay, or to refresh your memory, here's a précis:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Objective_correlative

Far be it from me to argue with Eliot, but I'll be d***ed if I'd ever consider the greatest drama in the English language to be an "artistic failure"! Not only that, I'm not really sure I understand the concept of objective correlative. Even so, I can see how a reader --even one as astute as Eliot-- might suspect that Hamlet could possibly be making an Everest out of an anthill.

I do see what you're trying to depict in these two verses, and the undertaking is ambitious. Nevertheless, they're a little stark and "out there" without enough specific images for this reader's mind to grab onto. What's there suffers from a
dependence on abstractions. So I guess I would say that your work --albeit well-intended--lacks an "objective correlative."

Thank you. Sometimes when I write poetry I'm trying to please others or write a good poem in some way or another. Other times I'm just trying to express a feeling, or a state, or a truth.

The first part of this one was about expressing the feeling of madness, and the second part was really about reality vs. illusion.


Made me think of my physics teacher. He drew a line along the middle of the blackboard and explained to us spotty teenagers that the thin line represented sanity and all that space either side represented insanity. He died of a heart attack just after. Proufndness kills. lol . JB

He probably should have kept himself healthy...


Most profound.

This helps me a lot with a doctrine that I've been trying to get my mind around (I'll spare everyone the details - and that's final).

Thank you NikolaiI

ps - LOL. Spare me the comments of me finding enlightenment in a poem about insanity... truth is truth.

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle)
:tailor STATELY

Thanks Tailor. The part you quoted wasn't really an original thought by me. It's the gist of a quote by William Blake. I only changed the language a bit.

I believe wholeheartedly in the idea as I've experienced it at times. Wish others could only see the peace and truth as well. I think it's at the heart of Native American spirituality, Eastern religion, and mysticism in all of the Abrahmaic faiths, as well.

[Pensive]

But if you want to keep bashing your head insanely,
Feel free.
Continue on, screaming "Me, Me, Me,"
Nothing will keep you from insanity.
Very strong last lines! Too much egoism is surely an expression of insanity too!

[formality hater]

Ah, freedom to go insane! Just as I say:
They call him insane,
But he just explains,
That unlike them,
He hates formality!

I liked ur poem.