Neurosis

We are all neurotics though we convince ourselves that we are normal especially because our society approves of most of the things we do. The society is the benchmark for the sanity of our actions. We can even murder people in large numbers and call it religious fervour or patriotism. We are doing it everyday. We are doing it indirectly perhaps like, for instance, when we glorify the soldiers who kill at the borders or the militants who kill wherever they wish.

There is no need to go to the extent of murders in order to be aware of our neurosis. If we analyse our usual thoughts and actions, we will find that quite many of them are plainly absurd if not insane.

One of the jokes that I have quoted again and again in my classes is from Albert Camus’s essay, The Myth of Sisyphus. There is a mad man who is fishing in a bathtub. The psychiatrist asks him with a plan to start a session of counselling, “Hey, got any fish?” The mad man frowns at the doc and gives a harsh reply, “Of course not, you fool, this is a bathtub.”

We are not different from that mad man, says Camus. We are trying to catch fish from a bathtub knowing that there is no fish in there. We are searching for happiness in wealth, luxury, power, etc knowing happiness doesn’t lie there. We are searching for peace in the barrels of machine guns and the shards left by missiles. We are searching for god in the emptiness of temples and the muteness of granite idols. We are searching for truth in words written centuries ago.

Our whole life can undergo a miraculous transformation if only we channelise our neurosis a little differently. There is no escape from neurosis. We can only divert it in different ways.

One productive way of diverting our neurosis would be to sit down coolly and identify one of the unpleasant truths about ourselves. And then accept that truth boldly. You can safely trust a person who has the courage to do that. Such a person will be willing to give up the neurosis imposed on him by his society, nation, religion, etc. He may have his own neurosis after that. Because when you discard the neurosis given by others, they will regard you as insane. Never mind. You are actually the sane one. You will become spontaneous when you shed the neurosis imposed on you from outside. You will begin to see the world for what it is: a place where people are trying to catch fish from bathtubs and docs who are trying to counsel them using patriotism, gods and a whole lot of absurd things.

Good things like art and music, literature and sculpture all originate from properly channelized neurosis.

PS. For #BlogchatterA2Z

Tomorrow: Overcome