Savage Torpor

” A multitude of causes unknown to former times are now acting with a combined force to blunt the discriminating powers of the mind, and unfitting it for all the voluntary exertion to reduce it to a state of almost savage torpor.” -Walt Whitman

We seem to have entered a state of schizoaffective disorder wherein a combination of mild to severe psychosis, combined with delusion and hallucinations has lead us to a perfect confusion. We are bombarded with pleas to ignore reality and sit quietly while madness rages. We are asked to ignore the fact that a belief in “alternative facts” is the textbook definition of mental illness. We are in critical need of some powerful anti-psychotic medications.

This state may be the result of genetics or a continuous influx of highly stressful events. When human nature and severe trauma collide madness ensues. In today’s political environment and in the throes of a deadly pandemic the madness is inevitable. What is also troubling is the state of torpor that accompanies the disconnect…we sit in front of the television and we are unable to make an effort to save ourselves. This state is not one of anhedonia. While there is no joy, we are also void of any real pain, rather, we are reduced to a near vegetative state. We can only default to, “this too shall pass.” A further madness ensues when we find our concern for our fellows is now tainted by the fervent desire for certain people to suffer. We even root for their deaths as we pray for the health and prosperity of people we deem worthy. Our values are assaulted.

We cast about for signs of sanity and seek to reject the world view of George B Shaw who cynically observed the madness of his day: ” The longer I live the more convinced am I that this planet is used by other planets as a lunatic asylum.”

There is hope.

That hope will be nurtured by an insistence on truth and commitment to consequences. Resisting the pleas to disregard the evidence of our eyes and ears seems to be our best way forward. The tension between knowledge seekers and blind believers may never dissipate but an insistence on reality may lead us out of the acedic state we have slipped into. In any case a return to sanity will be a long-and eventful-journey.

We also have to know when to give up our rage for connection with people who do not share our attitude to facts. Twain remind us that’ ” no amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot. ”

Today, let’s begin by trying not to be idiots.