Thread: Defining sanity from your point of view

Can people in this post define sanity in a small paragraph? Without looking on the net

In a very general and over simplified definition, I would say sanity is a state of mental health that correlates with behavior associated as being "normal." Or being sane would mean being able to function "normally" amongst the general populace.

Then we get into the argument of what is "normal"...and that is a very subjective word...are LDs normal? Is kissing your relatives normal?

I'm going to have to agree with InTheMoment on this one. Being too low on the spectrum of humanity or too high above everyone else on that spectrum could call for a person being insane. I don't think insanity is all delusion and hallucinations. There's a fine line bettween brilliance and insanity, and sometimes being too brilliant, (in a society where being different on a mental level scares people) can constitute as insane. Alot of times , if a person is too brilliant they cannot function in normal society because they lack social skills...Take autistic people. Anyway, in my opinion, sanity is being average by society's general definiton...More or less like everyone else in most mental or social respects.

Homeostasis. It's all about the balance of chemicals in the brain. Too much dopamine and you're schitzophrenic, to little and you have parkinson's. Balance equals "sanity", inbalance equals "insanity" in most cases.

True. My Uncle is a diagnosed paranoid schitzophrenic, and that's exactly what the doctors have been saying about him. He has to eat certain things to maintain the balance.....Plenty of fruit and green vegitables. He's usually alright unless he stops taking care of himself...

Im autistic so I notice that sane people are usally easily figured out and are not completly horrific or terrific they seem less able to change the way they are because they have chemicals that mostly decide what they will do or how they will react. they dont hate everyone or love everyone. They have little controll over there emotions but live very easily and act in a way so they live life how god or whoever made us wanted us to live. They also require less thinking but dont always notice patterns and get obsessed in things as easily. they are easily altered by ther emotions and thoughts so they cant be realy smart or really stupid. They also dont get things as easily. The only bad thing about being autistic is communication I really love to talk but I seem to find little reason sometimes and I cant get words out of my mouth easily. I dont know if I would want to be normal the world needs insane and strange people they are the ones who change the world

Anything that fits inside the box that society would love us all to fit in.

Peace Sensi.

The mental condition common to the greater mass of mankind.

What a great question. I have thought of this a lot before. (don't ask why )

What an even greater answer sensi !

Originally posted by sensi
Anything that fits inside the box that society would love us all to fit in.
Peace Sensi.

If you are mentally sound with your own condition you are rendered sane -to yourself.

Don’t you think that a lot of it is conditioning tho? Society wants us to conform so it states what correct behaviour is and what is not.

Light hearted example - I leave the house every day with headphones on. Sometimes when the music gets inside of me I feel like dancing right where I am. I have been conditioned into thinking that is inappropriate behaviour. So of course I do not break in to dance on the street. Do I have a lack of sanity because I sometimes get moved by music and I just want to feel it when I do? Or is it a lack of sanity to be so controlled by the standards of others that I hold restraint?

Peace Sensi.

Edit - Howetzer you posted just before me so i had not seen your post. My post was directed at everyone not just you. Glad you like my answer.

Edit - ok I feel I need to mention why I picked a light hearted scenario. I know people could jump all over this saying we need to be shown what is sane/insane, correct/incorrect, and moral/immoral. I feel we are born with a moral code within us already so we do not need to be told how to behave. This is just my opinion though, not everyone is this way. I know deep inside of me it is wrong to harm another; some people either don’t feel that or don’t care. I just wanted to be light hearted about it, not go deep into that whole aspect of it.

Ok I think I’ve got slightly off the topic so here’s where I walk away……..

I suppose you could ask the question, 'What's normal?'
seems to me, that if you don't walk the same walk as everyone else, you get labelled as weird.
Example.
some of my tastes in music are, shall we say, 'eclectic' A lot of my friends my age, when i mention a particular artist, will look at me, and go, 'who?' and look at me like i'm slightly unhinged.
It's caused many a groan with my selections on the local pub jukebox.
usually, 'oh my god, who picked this crap?'

[quote]
If you are mentally sound with your own condition you are rendered sane - to yourself. At least from your point of view.[/color]

Since I have already answered in my own words, I wanted to share something I found Ironic since this is a Lucid dreaming forum.

I was looking through my thesaurus for a synonyme for lucrative as I ran across lucidity.
Lucidity

[quote][quote]
If you are mentally sound with your own condition you are rendered sane - to yourself. At least from your point of view.[/color]

Since I have already answered in my own words, I wanted to share something I found Ironic since this is a Lucid dreaming forum.

I was looking through my thesaurus for a synonyme for lucrative as I ran across lucidity.
LuciditySo to be lucid is to be healthy mentally. So basically anyone who has been lucid has gone through a healthy hopefully normal process.

so does that make those of us that have trouble with it slightly crazy?
according to a statistic, a 1/3 of us (33%) of us who dream are depressed, which is classed as a mental ilness, which some people would class as insanity...
just a thought...
maybe we're all a little touched...

Originally posted by irishcream
so does that make those of us that have trouble with it slightly crazy?
according to a statistic, a 1/3 of us (33%) of us who dream are depressed, which is classed as a mental ilness, which some people would class as insanity...
just a thought...
maybe we're all a little touched...

I bet that I am in the 1 percent that is unclassified. I can't really say I am depressed, but I am not really happy either.

well, to be classed as clinically depressed, i think you have to have had the same set of symptoms continuously for longer than fourteen days.
we all have down days, but i know damn fine that i've had weeks, and weeks, where i've been really, really low. As in, i'm functioning, but it's like autopilot, and i really couldn't give a s**t, if you know what i mean.
I don't bother with treatment when it hits, cos i don't do doctors.
i just get through it.

We all do at some point. Others just take a little longer.