Mark your forehead
This week I made the conscious decision to mark my forehead - and I invite you to do the same. (If you keep reading this will make sense. Though the rest of the world may make less sense). A king once told his prime minister, who was also his good friend, "I see in the stars that whoever eats any grain that grows this year will go mad. What is your advice?" The prime minister replied, "We must put aside enough grain so that we will not have to eat from this year’s harvest." The king objected, "But then we will be the only ones who will be sane. Everyone else will be mad. Therefore, they will think that we are the mad ones. It is impossible for us to put aside enough grain for everyone. Therefore, we too must eat this year’s grain. But let us make a mark on our foreheads, so that at least we will know that we are mad. I will look at your forehead, and you will look at mine, and when we see this sign, we will know that we are both mad."* To this I ask a a few questions - originally posed by a Rabbi Chaim Richman in 2001 but questions that easily echo the sentiments of this week’s Clinton Global Initiative which I was given the gift to facilitate at thanks to Marge Schiller and others**. Perhaps it is time to mark your forehead? * Originally relayed by Rabbi Nachman **The Initiative focused on Poverty, Enchanging Governance, Climate Change and Religion & Conflict
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September 19th, 2005 at 3:35 pm
Humm…
This is a matter that has been bothering me for a bit now. It strikes me that amongst us there are the insane, the sane and those who are unaware/self-blinders. If we take your quote Nat:
“What sane people would wilfully bring about the circumstances that guarantee its own destruction, in return for nothing? Are we dreaming? Or could it be that we are all insaneâ€.
Is it the case perhaps that only a few are truly insane and that perhaps many of us just don’t understand or see what is insane? I feel that we are quite often blind or self-blind ourselves to what is contrary to absolute ideas/truths – blind perhaps of poor education, self-blind conceivably to avoid responsibility. Whatever the reasons for people’s incomprehension it seems the greater the issue, the greater the insanity of the situation and the greater the responsibility, the less aware they quite often are. .
A basic premise of economics is that people are assumed to act egoistically. Classical economists said if will all behave in this way then we will find a socially optimal equilibrium; which is groovy because we don’t have to do anything apart from what comes naturally. However, they were wrong, because when people behave egoistically there are often effects of their actions that have no affect on them and so play no part in their decision making. These externalities* lead to less than optimal equilibriums. Being blind to insanity has externalities on the sane. You see, without enough people Seeing the closer the consensus comes to making as much sense as working for a professional services firm or sitting on the bottom level of the train on your way to work.
So I’m marking my forehead too, but I do so knowing that many don’t have the eyes to know what shape their mark should be.
Love
G
* Ok lets not be wanky, I mean consequences
September 21st, 2005 at 6:35 am
Hi Nat,
What a great story! From this story I take that madness or sanity is about perspective. Madness or sanity, like beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Who are we to say others are mad? Psychiatrists have documented that perhaps it is the psychotic who is sane, who is able to reflect and access truths about the world that we so called ’sane’ people cannot see. Seeing too much causes madness, as does seeing too little. Personally, I think no-one can say that some-one is sane or mad. We all just have different perspectives. What I think true madness is, is the denial of a person’s experience or reality. This becomes true madness as it invalidates the person’s lived reality and makes them feel mad. Madness, according to my interepretation of this story is about when people disagree on a shared reality. (that’s why they need marks on their heads to show they all share the same world view), and as we live in a world of zillion perspectives, of which we all cannot validate nor relate to, madness is hence unavoidable, and also the reality of the world. Hence I would say sanity is a myth and madness is the reality of the world.
We are indeed ALL MAD!
LET”S HAVE A MADHATTERS TEA PARTY!
From
Nicole in Sydney
September 23rd, 2005 at 8:06 am
The whole story raises a number of questions. Perhaps one shouldn’t
raise them because it is not the sort of tale that one starts sniffing
around too much: the point would be lost. However, the outcome is, at
face value, illogical.
The king and his PM recognise their insanity by seeing the
marks on on each other’s forehead. But who are they to make
judgements on themselves as to their insanity? You cannot just
acquiesce to the definition of insanity by virtue of a label - even if
you have defined yourself as insane.
The gifted are often insane by normal measure. The greatest ever
advance in scientific knowledge was made by Isaac Newton - a man who
was clearly autistic. In more recent times, John F. Nash Jnr won a
share of the Nobel Prize for economics (1994). He is a schizophrenic
and he knows it. Here is a man who solved Fermat’s last theorem when
at high school. Many years of treatment, much of it against his will,
prevented him from thinking. Now, free of medication, he has placed
his insanity in a part of his mind that recognises that some of what
he thinks he sees is not physically tangible. So now he is free. You
must read his autobiography at:
http://nobelprize.org/economics/laureates/1994/nash-autobio.html
Perhaps his comment about Zarathustra was a bit flip - even if it made
a relevant point.
However, I have to say this, and it contradicts what I said about
raising questions, but the moral tale falls apart with the king and
his PM keeping knowledge of their insanity to themselves. As a
gnostic, I feel strongly that knowledge is our only salvation.
Insanity, therefore, should be encouraged to increase our
understanding and insights. The king and his PM could have told the
people that insanity would beset them on eating the grain and
encourage them to mark their foreheads too. Who knows what gems would have revealed themselves with an entire nation becoming insane.
Peter-William
September 25th, 2005 at 9:51 pm
Dear Natalie,
I am amazed at how true the “Rabbi” Stories are- each culture has a group of story tellers that are the wisdom keepers and spreaders of truth. I think of Thomas One Wolf and Alyce Smith Cooper who tell stories from Native People and African American traditions and I think of my Grandparents and then I think of the Rabbis…
Thanks for ‘mark you forehead’
My husband loves to say “If all the world were fools they wold not be known as such”
September 28th, 2005 at 12:48 pm
As individuals, rational or otherwise, we often believe we are the possessors of a “truth†which is not shared by those around us. PETA demonstrators, zoophiliacs and radical environmentalists are all motivated by a keen sense that they are the ‘sane’ ones in a world gone mad. And in my view, they are all quite correct. Each and every one of these people, however, is dependent upon society for all of their needs. The PETA demonstrator uses the services of a dry-cleaner who is not a vegetarian. The zoophiliac must conceal the loving sexual relationship she has with her pet in order to keep her job at the bank. The radical environmentalist contributes through his consumption, no matter how moderate, in the processes of deforestation and pollution that he wishes to avert. All of these people have to participate in the insane world, but in their own ways they put marks on their heads to remind themselves and each other that they are safeguarding the truth even as they do so.
I’ve probably missed the point completely, it wouldn’t be the first time.
September 28th, 2005 at 11:47 pm
This parable is thought provoking. Thanks! Here are some thoughts I had.
I’ve been reading about alchemy lately, and I can’t resist trying some of that thinking here, even though it might sound bizarre. The king and his PM are men (I presume; the king is, at least!). Masculinity, in the alchemal view, represents ratioanal, systematic thinking, what we might call reason or logic now (yes, it sounds sexist, but isn’t; women can have “masculine” aspects too. I take it as just a token word to represent the idea). Kings were often used as a symbol of this aspect. Grain, which is from the earth, has a feminine aspect. The king consuming grain can be viewed as an experiment in joining the male with the female. One of the aims of alchemy, the so-called “conjunction,” was to unify opposites like these. However, it was recognized there’s a danger to it. Physically (chemically), the experiment may fail; psychologically, the experimenter may go mad (alchemists, as noted by Jung and others, conflated inner psychological exploration with external matter, projecting their mental states onto the materials they were manipulating; many alchemal texts described a sort of meditation and ascetic lifestyle which went hand in hand with their material experiments). Greek mythology, for example the myths of Oedipus or Cybelle and Attis, also reflect the dangers.
From that perspective, we can view the king’s decision as heroic. He recognizes the need to unify in spite of the dangers, because ultimately it might lead to a transmutation in his kingdom. The mark is a sort of breadcrumb meant to remind him and the PM of their quest. When I first read this story, I imagined the mark was black, which is interestingly fitting and first led me to think of alchemy. Melancholy (’blacker than black’) was viewed as a necessary transient state in any transmutation. When lead is heated and melted, it apparently turns black until some other ingredient is added to it. Psychologically, meditation often leads to melancholy, a dangerous depression, before it yields any positive results. A black mark on the forehead might be thought of as representing this dangerous, though transient, state of mind.
Which, I think, speaks to the question of willfully bringing about destruction. Sometimes you have to break something in order to fix it. You have to disrupt the current equilibrium (enter a dangerous chaos) in order to reach a better one. This is an ancient pattern of thought, and I can’t help thinking this parable is speaking to the same idea. It’s a hopeful interpretation.
By the way, a random connection. Someone mentioned Isaac Newton. Newton studied alchemy through most of his life.
September 29th, 2005 at 6:55 am
As an aside, orange is the colour of insanity.
September 30th, 2005 at 5:27 am
Honestly,
That’s over my head!
October 21st, 2005 at 4:49 am
HAH! YOU HAVE ALL EATEN GRAIN YOU WORTHLESS GRAIN EATERS! IT’S WRITTEN ALL OVER YOUR FORHEADS: “I’VE BEEN EATING THE GRAIN (AGAIN)”. PHAH! I LOOK DOWN UPON YOU GRAIN RIDDEN MASSES! I WOULD NEVER DO SUCH A SILLY THING AS EAT GRAIN IN ONE OF THOSE INFAMOUS EAT-GRAIN-AND-GO-CRAZY-YEAR-THINGIES!!!!! HAH! I WATCH THE NEWS! I KNOW WHEN THEY’RE COMING! AND IF I DON’T WATCH THE NEWS CAUSE I’M BUSY DOING SOMETHING ELSE (like drinking tea or eating cake), I HAVE TIVO ANYWAY! SO I CAN WATCH THE NEWS LATER, AFTER THE BROADCAST BUT BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE EAT-GRAIN-AND-GO-CRAZY-YEAR-THINGIE!!! TSAH! HOW DO YOU LIKE THEM APPLES! NOTHING WRONG WITH APPLES! MUCH BETTER THEN THAT GOSH DARNED GRAIN! WHICH I WOULD NEVER EAT! NEVER!!! i think…or wait…did i…ehm…HAH WELL OK I GUESS I DID HAVE SOME GRAIN (i was out of biscuits) BUT LOOK!!!! I MARKED MY FORHEAD!! HAH! SO AT LEAST I KNOW THAT I ATE GRAIN! HAH! YET AGAIN I HAVE OUTSMARTED YOU! Well technically i can’t see the mark myself but…WELL AT LEAST YOU CAN ALL SEE THAT I ATE THE GRAIN! YOU GRAIN….ehm….YOU! HAH!
November 18th, 2005 at 12:28 am
…and then there were the star bellied sneeches who, when sneeches had no stars put stars on the bellies of the important ones. When less important sneeches began adding stars to their own bellies the self important sneeches added two stars and so on, and so on. (I think credit goes to Dr. Seuss for this story) Is it sane or insane to copy the markings (values, actions etc.) of someone you respect, look up to or wish to suck up to?
January 19th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
The Gemara relates that one who sees a river in a dream can expect to find
Shalom, peace. A river is beautiful and useful when it stays within its
boundaries, and so destructive when it overflows. Peace requires each
person to recognise his place and the unique roll he has to play, while at
the same time recognising the contributions and worth of his fellow man.
Rav Zusya was asked if he would like to change places with Abraham our
Patriarch. His response was that only one Abraham was created and one
Zusya, and nothing could be gained by changing places. Every individual has
their own task and capabilities, and jealousy will achieve nothing.
Arguments are usually started by individuals; so also can peace be achieved
by the efforts of individuals. There is a famous story told of a child who
continually annoyed his father by giving him no peace. In desperation he
took a map of the world, tore it into many pieces and told his son to put
the jigsaw puzzle back together showing the map of the world. Hoping to
enjoy the rest of the evening, the father settled down with a good book. No
sooner had he made himself comfortable the son returned with the task duly
completed. In complete amazement the father asked how such a young person
could put the world together in such a short time.
The child’s answer is a message for all. He replied “On the reverse of the
map was a picture of a person. I put the person together and the world fell
into place.”
May 24th, 2007 at 4:09 pm
[...] story source - not sure of the original but I had originally posted it here in January in the comments - will try to find from where later. Image [...]