Teddy Bears in Flight
She shot me a look - Trudy, my wife of 41 years. I had pushed past the first question and asked the second. I, of course, should have known better. We were in the middle of supper; a time best spent reflecting on the day and trading small talk.
My first question was simply this: how would you define “psychosis.” I wasn’t looking for a dictionary definition. I was hoping for something more “man-on-the-street-ish” - in this case, more “woman-on-the-street-ish.” Trudy rarely disappoints me, and said matter-of-factly, after a sip of Chardonnay, that psychosis was “detachment from reality.”
That precipitated my second question, which as you already know, was ill advised. I knew it would be, but sometimes I can’t help myself.
“So, how would you define reality?”
“Are you writing another blog?” Trudy punched.
Our conversation ended on that note and our attention turned to “Devine Design,” an HGTV program that was playing on our TV next to the supper table.
There are many things that Trudy and I share – two grown children and four grandchildren – for starters. We also enjoy remodeling our home. We like to garden. We enjoy riding in my Bertone X-1/9 with the top down on warm summer afternoons. Periodically, we get our Mexican food fix at Jardine’s in San Juan Bautista. We still like, most of all, spending time together.
We don’t share a mutual compulsion to philosophize. I’m in that dank and murky forest on my own, without the lantern of my wife’s wisdom – a solitary man. My second question remains unanswered.
I watched a Robin Williams comedy routine once where Robin affected a stoner-dude who found himself in a crowd of folks who were peering heavenward. Actually, they were all abuzz about a lone figure, high up on the side of a building, readying himself for the jump of a lifetime. The crowd was saying, “Don’t jump, don’t jump!” Robin, the stoner-dude was saying to the contrary, “Hey man, jump. You don’t know, you might fly.”
I think Robin’s character might qualify as being “detached from reality.” I’m guessing, most of us would. Why? Most of us don’t think that a suicidal jumper can actually fly – right? A natural component of reality is that birds can fly, people can’t. And, we rely heavily on our experiences within nature to guide us safely through life. No matter how our world view is constructed, the proverbial tree does make a sound if dropped in the woods, whether we are there to hear it or not. Reality is physical, verifiable, even if not completely understood.
Oh yeah, I forgot – except for religion. In the religious world reality is different. We are permitted to believe even if we cannot experience – even if we cannot verify. We are permitted to believe that angels and demons protect or corrupt. We are permitted to believe that procreation doesn’t always require a sperm and an ovum. We are permitted to believe that God can be described in human terms – and that we can know what His expectations are. We are not detached from reality if we believe that dead people can be resurrected or that prophets can magically be transported “up” into heaven. We can believe with certainty that a wafer and a sip of wine become actual human flesh and blood. We can believe that celibacy has no downside. We can believe that Allah smiles with pleasure at the death of infidels. We can even believe that the natural world – and what it presents to us – is less reliable than the world of dogma.
At the same time if you put on a pair of sunglasses, and thought the sun had dimmed, you’d be ridiculed. If you stick your head in the sand, to stop the bullets from whizzing past your backside, you’d be committed. If you moored your ship to a rotting stump (with perfect seaman’s knots), you’d be considered a fool. If you hugged your teddy bear to keep the boogeyman away, you’d be called a child.
If you jump from a tall building you don’t fly. You die. Your reality will most certainly become detached.
My first question was simply this: how would you define “psychosis.” I wasn’t looking for a dictionary definition. I was hoping for something more “man-on-the-street-ish” - in this case, more “woman-on-the-street-ish.” Trudy rarely disappoints me, and said matter-of-factly, after a sip of Chardonnay, that psychosis was “detachment from reality.”
That precipitated my second question, which as you already know, was ill advised. I knew it would be, but sometimes I can’t help myself.
“So, how would you define reality?”
“Are you writing another blog?” Trudy punched.
Our conversation ended on that note and our attention turned to “Devine Design,” an HGTV program that was playing on our TV next to the supper table.
There are many things that Trudy and I share – two grown children and four grandchildren – for starters. We also enjoy remodeling our home. We like to garden. We enjoy riding in my Bertone X-1/9 with the top down on warm summer afternoons. Periodically, we get our Mexican food fix at Jardine’s in San Juan Bautista. We still like, most of all, spending time together.
We don’t share a mutual compulsion to philosophize. I’m in that dank and murky forest on my own, without the lantern of my wife’s wisdom – a solitary man. My second question remains unanswered.
I watched a Robin Williams comedy routine once where Robin affected a stoner-dude who found himself in a crowd of folks who were peering heavenward. Actually, they were all abuzz about a lone figure, high up on the side of a building, readying himself for the jump of a lifetime. The crowd was saying, “Don’t jump, don’t jump!” Robin, the stoner-dude was saying to the contrary, “Hey man, jump. You don’t know, you might fly.”
I think Robin’s character might qualify as being “detached from reality.” I’m guessing, most of us would. Why? Most of us don’t think that a suicidal jumper can actually fly – right? A natural component of reality is that birds can fly, people can’t. And, we rely heavily on our experiences within nature to guide us safely through life. No matter how our world view is constructed, the proverbial tree does make a sound if dropped in the woods, whether we are there to hear it or not. Reality is physical, verifiable, even if not completely understood.
Oh yeah, I forgot – except for religion. In the religious world reality is different. We are permitted to believe even if we cannot experience – even if we cannot verify. We are permitted to believe that angels and demons protect or corrupt. We are permitted to believe that procreation doesn’t always require a sperm and an ovum. We are permitted to believe that God can be described in human terms – and that we can know what His expectations are. We are not detached from reality if we believe that dead people can be resurrected or that prophets can magically be transported “up” into heaven. We can believe with certainty that a wafer and a sip of wine become actual human flesh and blood. We can believe that celibacy has no downside. We can believe that Allah smiles with pleasure at the death of infidels. We can even believe that the natural world – and what it presents to us – is less reliable than the world of dogma.
At the same time if you put on a pair of sunglasses, and thought the sun had dimmed, you’d be ridiculed. If you stick your head in the sand, to stop the bullets from whizzing past your backside, you’d be committed. If you moored your ship to a rotting stump (with perfect seaman’s knots), you’d be considered a fool. If you hugged your teddy bear to keep the boogeyman away, you’d be called a child.
If you jump from a tall building you don’t fly. You die. Your reality will most certainly become detached.
posted by Don Doan at 1:20 PM
2 Comments:
Thanks for your comment.
I hope you understand my underlying premise - i.e. that religious dogma requires its adherents to be psychotic - at least in the sense that they must detach themselves from ordinary (natural) understandings of reality.
The question of "what is real" may still be up for grabs - certainly by those who embrace a religious point of view. I am willing to consider this "other" reality if someone can clearly state exactly what it is.
You've jumped into the issue by looking at the moral impact of religious psychosis, without first explaining the nature of reality itself.
I think there is danger in viewing reality in purely subjective terms. Clearly, the world presents itself to us, and we interpret it. That is existential reality - the one we cannot escape.
Mythologies present us with "separate realities," to use Carlos Castaneda's term. Mythology and metaphor can be very useful, but must be recognized for what they are.
They must also be reconstructed as our understanding of the natural world changes. For instance, for Jesus or Mohammed to have been "lifted into the heavens," a three-tiered cosmos is requisite. We now know that the universe has no "up" or "down." Both images have to be interpreted metaphorically. To do otherwise would be a form of psychosis.
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