Misinterpreting insanity

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

'Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'

It's an oft-quoted aphorism, sometimes attributed to Albert Einstein, although it's not at all certain that he did actually utter such words. And before I go any further here, I must confess that in a 2012 blog story, Dealing with the dealers, not only did I blatantly make that attribution, but I also said that it was a definition of stupidity rather than insanity. Oh, the irony!

Insane in the brain? Perhaps not.

Ignorantly persevering with stubbornness

That aside, and whatever about the definition's origin, it's a poor attempt at defining insanity.

Firstly, repeatedly doing the same thing could lead to different results. In fact, it likely will lead to different results. That's because conditions are constantly changing. So an action that produces a certain result in one moment will often yield quite a different one in another moment.

Take an aspiring actor — and I'm not at all referring to myself here, honestly. Casting, after casting, after casting. Rejection, followed by rejection, followed by rejection. Then, with no alteration in approach, his face fits. He lands a significant role that changes his life.

'One is more likely to be ignorant, stubborn or stupid rather than insane.'

Something similar could happen in dating. A guy sticks stubbornly to his modus operandi despite countless failures, but then meets someone who is happy to be with him.

This plays out across all walks of life, in business, politics, sport, the lot.

In all such scenarios, the protagonists may have been convinced that their way was the right way all along. Thus, they kept at it and eventually got the outcome they wanted. A case, so they may feel, of the rest of the world catching up to them, not the other way around. And that may have been their expectation, or at least hope, all along.

Thus, to label this insanity is wrong.

Indeed, the opening words are closer to describing ignorance, if it's a case where one is simply unaware of another, better approach, if one exists that is. More positively, they refer to perseverance: 'I will eventually get the result I'm looking for. Believe in the process.'

Swim as you wish — if you can

For insanity, a slightly better definition is 'doing the same unsuccessful thing over and over again whilst knowing that it's highly unlikely to deliver any positive result.'

Such behaviour can also be labelled — more accurately, perhaps — as stubbornness and/or stupidity, in the sense of doing something negative or damaging in spite of oneself.

With insanity, the idea is that inherent mental issues are driving the conduct; it's part of one's makeup and cannot really be changed. Stubbornness, in contrast, suggests that one is choosing to comport oneself in a certain manner.

What's more, insanity — like genius — is rather rare amongst the populace. The definition given at the start and my attempt to improve upon it describe behaviours that are more commonplace.

One is more likely to be ignorant, stubborn or stupid — or a blend of all three — rather than insane. This at least offers some hope for betterment through learning — if one is willing to learn and is receptive to new ways of thinking, that is.

And nobody knows it all, not even the geniuses. To substantially alter another popular but weak quote misattributed to Einstein: 'Everybody has the ability to be good at something. But some prefer to go with the flow like a dead fish rather than flex their muscles and swim as they wish.'

One major problem for some of us, however, is that we're not great swimmers.
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Fatalist attraction

@wwaycorrigan

[For an audio/vlog version of this story, click here.]

'One always has the vague illusion of taking or making one's own decisions, the illusion itself running in parallel with the awareness that most such calls are made for you by other people, or by circumstances, or just made.'

It's written in the cards. Or is it?

On first reading those lines, I viewed them as touching on fatalistic, insofar as they seem to dismiss individual agency. And they were written by someone whom I wouldn't have associated with fatalism and suchlike, the late and oftentimes great Christopher Hitchens, taken from his memoir, Hitch-22.

On deeper reflection, describing such sentiments as fatalistic is a category error. I can envisage Hitchens rubbishing such a notion were he here to expand on what he wrote — and I wish he were still here with us. He's not, I believe, saying that events are predetermined, that fate is at play. He's simply stating that we're not in charge of our own affairs as much as we may think we are.

Propitious past

Whatever the case and wherever one wants to place such a perspective philosophically, it is worth teasing out a little more.

Going back to our very beginning, none of us had a say in who our parents would be and where we would spend the formative years of our lives.

So if 'a good start is half the battle', it's just pure luck if one gets a propitious introduction to life. And what constitutes a good start is open to interpretation. It's not at all unusual to see those who seemed to have a rather tough upbringing going on to have quite successful lives. This success isn't necessarily in financial terms, although it often is. The more important outcome is that they become influential in whatever field they operate in.

'The outcome of practically everything we do is shaped, in a minor or major way, for good or for bad, by other actors and events.'

Thus, by the time we become adults and with it the notion of being able to make and take our own decisions, the foundations that have already been established can't easily be modified, should one wish to do so.

What's more, to state the obvious, certain things can't be changed at all. For example, a baby that wasn't breastfed, well there's no going back and giving it a go. Same goes for those who didn't have a father growing up. Do note, I'm not saying anything about the positive or negative qualities of these, I'm merely highlighting their inalterability.

The independence illusion

But at least independent adults can have a greater say in the current and future direction of their lives, can't they?

First of all, the idea of a wholly independent person is fanciful, as I've written about before on this blog.

Second, returning to the opening words, we don't have as much influence over the calls that affect us as much as we may like to think.

My being able to stay legally in Colombia has been, and remains, in the hands of others. Yes, it was my decision to come to Colombia in the first instance, but even that was influenced by others. It could also be argued that it would have been better had I not been granted residency, yet this, in a way, supports the point about calls being made for us rather than by us.

In effect, the outcome of practically everything we do — or do not do — is shaped, in a minor or major way, for good or for bad, by other actors and events.

This is not to say we're not without influence in this process. Our own endeavours do play a part.

Rules of engagement

Take the oftentimes complex world of a rugby scrum or ruck — not an analogy the sport-averse Hitchens would endorse. How the players position themselves, the picture they present to the referee, influences the referee's decisions. Some calls are marginal and open to much interpretation, but it's how the referee on the day sees them, together with the manner in which they are shown to him, that determines the outcome.

OK, some days the referee unfairly favours one side over the other. But thus it goes in life.

We can project an image that we think should be to our advantage, but we could be doing so at the wrong time, in the wrong place. Or at the right time but the wrong place, or vice versa. Or the right time and the right place, but the referee isn't on our side that day.

That last scenario in particular tends to lead to either disillusionment or a desire for vengeance. Or a blend of both. The hope is that we quickly get another opportunity before we do irreversible damage to our life chances.

For while many things are beyond our control, we can still try to be agents of positive change.
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Listen to The Corrigan Cast podcast here.

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