Empowering Minority Selves

Part of the philosophy of Madness, herein defined, is about destroying the primacy of self-control and replacing it with habits of self-observation. It is reasoned whim. That is, giving in to whims in insignificant situations because they are reflections of minority selves. Our minority selves (the small parts of ourselves that are overruled by better judgment--or habit) are so habitually repressed, that we lose out on a great deal of our potential for change and self growth (not to mention the possible gains in mental health resulting from living less suppressed lives).

To give an example, I will suggest an action to you. Stand up (if you are sitting--otherwise do the inverse), and then sit back down again. Do it now.

You may have actually done it, but most likely you are sitting there pondering why I could possibly suggest such a useless and arbitrary action. Meanwhile, a part of you wished to comply, but was basically told by the rest of you "shut up, you're stupid and wrong".

You may have reasoned your abstinence in a way that seemed quite logical to you, such as that the cost of standing up (the effort--and annoyance at it being pointless), is greater than the gain (satisfying that minority part of the self, and perhaps being slightly amused over the absurdity of it). But I would like to put it to you another way. If you realize the action has purpose, than the cost is merely the small bit of effort, and the gain is a freeing up of your self; giving a voice to something that has never had its chance. And that these freedoms can increment and become a significant force for changing into what you've sometimes thought you would like to be, but somehow have never been able to.

This may seem to be an overly grandiose description of such a banal act, but the ordinariness of the above example was chosen on purpose. The point is that in ALL cases of a minority whim expressing itself in a situation where nothing of significant consequence can result, it should be given an outlet.

An emphasis must be placed on "where nothing of significant consequence can result". There are a great many times when indulging oneself in arbitrary behavior could be disastrous. In all cases a determination must be made *before the act* whether it is potentially detrimental. This in fact is the reason we develop such extreme control over ourself--to prevent unwanted consequences of our behavior. This is where the second principle comes in. Consistent self-observation of the self must be made a habit. This not only is a preventative measure against dangerous whims expressing themselves, but a method for determining which areas of the self have been unfairly suppressed, and have thereby prevented self-growth.

To reiterate, the principle is this: In all cases where a part of you wants to do something, and there is no compelling reason why you should not, then do it!

If you are still skeptical, I suggest that you give it a trial run and see what results. Nothing bad can happen. At most you will feel a bit foolish and decide you are wasting your time. But if I am right, the gains will be well worth the trouble of changing a few mental habits.

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