Much Madness Is Divinest Sense

I spend quite a lot of time around some people who could be considered, in a slightly archaic sense, 'mad'. This isn't a harsh criticism of my friends, but rather a reference to the fact that quite a few of the residents who live in the homeless hostel where I work have varying degrees of mental health problems. This week, I have experienced one person having auditory hallucinations while I was talking to him, another who recently attempted suicide, and one who came to me to talk about how disjointed he feels, how disconnected from the world and everything around him.

Today's poem is by Emily Dickinson who, to be quite honest, I generally really don't like. I think I could find much more poetry out there about madness that I would like much more than this one, however I think this one makes some interesting points. And also, I'm tired and don't want to spend too long looking right now...!

Much Madness Is Divinest Sense, by Emily Dickinson. Read it here: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/182156

What's this one about? In my view, the perception of madness. What's 'true' can vary for different people. When I was talking to my client earlier this week and all I could hear was the sound of my voice, but he could hear other voices that were equally as loud and clear, that was real for him. Because I am in the majority of people who cannot hear those voices, he is considered to be ill. I won't start getting into a long discussion about the mental health industry as a whole, but I think Dickinson makes a valid point here that 'madness' and its various definitions are based on majorities. The majority of people generally don't think that the CIA has implanted a device in their heads to monitor them, so if you think that, it could be a sign there's something wrong. The majority of people don't believe that they have met Santa Claus and they have angels in their minds who guide them, so if you believe that, it could be a sign there's something wrong.

Having said that, some of the maddest sounding things can actually be true and Dickinson compares much sense to 'the starkest madness'. How many movies are there involving government conspiracies, people being spied on, evil agendas etc that turn out to be based on true stories? (The movie 'Fair Game' immediately comes to mind). Governments that punish people for being gay with the death penalty. People with so much faith in God that they spread hate. Sense to them. Absolute madness to me.