correlation/causation/humanity/inhumanity/sanity/insanity
First, let me declare that correlation is not causation. Second, language and epistemology (that is, the way we “think”/are “wired” are intrinsically linked). Language and worldview, thought and cosmology are inextricably intertwined.
Now .... if you allow that those two premises approach pseudo-logic (and admittedly they don't, which supports my final point), then it should come as no surprise that the few alphabetic letters that distinguish the word “humanity” from the word “insanity” are crucial.
Those of us who live/exist at the edge of humanity are likely borderline insane. We are in touch with/sensitive to the unruly turbulence of illogic, irrationality that exists at the border of what it is to be human.
Those who have been declared insane may actually be supremely in touch with the conditions that define humanity and by default define in-humanity. And the uncomfortable truth that underlies the concept of humanity is the one that says, we must dismiss/ignore the insane elements of existence in order to exist; we must set aside the truly logical, astutely observed aspects of life that declare that life is unsupportable, not in terms of ecology, but in terms of rationality.
“If a, then b” must be set aside for “if a, then z.” The more aware we are of our own existence, the less tenable that existence becomes. Self-consciousness is both a boom and a bane. It may well be that very duality/dilemma is, in fact, the definition of the humanity we claim. How do we exist at the border of sanity and insanity? How do we survive at the boundary of self-awareness and oblivion? How do we thrive at the border of order and chaos?
To override the counter-intuitive reality of insanity, one must present the illusion of sanity. To accept ones humanity not only invites insanity, our very existence requires it.
