It is not mental instability that scares me as much.
It is not mental instability
that scares me as much. To deconstruct one’s own bigotry is a positive
exercise. A rational, moderate self-doubt is indispensable to anyone who values
wisdom. These moments of mental instability not only educate us as individuals
but they de-risk civilization of our worst impulses. But when a sudden potential unites with a
course of action whose singularity is guaranteed by an unexamined resolution, an
inexperienced, private consciousness finds at the very tip of disaster that unwavering stability is actually
encouraged by society as a Virtue!
What if we tolerated a degree of “mental instability” within
a healthy mental life in the same sense that we develop immunity and thus stronger
health through countless small experiences of ill health? Perhaps even someday we will become so enlightened
that we will engineer circumstances which inoculate, not all of course, but
enough humans against atrocities?