Epilogue: The Meaning of Life
Madness is not meaningless. It opens realms of consciousness not usually accessible. This may be like opening Pandora's box--all of the demons that we have locked up or hidden behind our backs spill out. Madness can teach us about the fundamental polarities of life, polarities that are sometimes called the Tao.
A koan: What is the sound of one hand clapping? Conventional thinking is like trying to clap your right hand with your left hand tied behind your back. Madness is like trying to clap your left hand with your right hand tied behind your back. In both cases, we wind up with the sound of one hand clapping. But there is no such thing as the sound of one hand clapping. It is the sound of silence.
Lessons:
- The way to deal with a jellyfish is to hold it by its soft side. The way to deal with the mind is to approach it without fear, and work with its non-threatening aspects.
- Truth itself is a polarity. Without both sides of polarity, we exist in falsehood.
Applications:
- One of the dangers of psychiatric drugs is that they shut down the part of the brain related to ìleft handî thinkingóareas related to creativity and intuition.
- One of the dangers of the medical model is that it denies and even tries to exorcise all that is creative, intuitive, and spiritual.
- The problem with madness, and with the mental health system as well, is that both focus solely on madness. Relationships are ignored or devalued. Compassionate relationships with providers, as well as support from peers, is critical to recovery.