A little spark of madness | By Mark Morford

[madokie]

“You’re only given a little spark of madness. You mustn’t lose it.” – Robin Williams

Very much did not want to write about Robin Williams.

Because futility. Because senselessness. Because it feels, at its core, utterly inadequate to attempt to unpack any potential meanings in Williams’ suicide, given how, like war, like disease, like abuse and ultraviolence and the endless slaughter of innocents worldwide, it requires going dark, digging into the bleak, shadowy regions of the human psyche, when all we ever really find there is phantasms, demons, glooms.

No meanings anywhere. No place to land. Just void.

Is it not true? To delve into the particularly gnarled portions of modern existence is to tacitly acknowledge that most of them are, by nature, quite thoroughly intractable, illusory, impossible to fully understand or process? Psychology and psychiatry are just elaborate educated guesses. Neuroscience is still shockingly primitive. Technically speaking, we really don’t know much of anything about the strange, divine kaleidoscope that is the human soul.

http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2014/08/12/a-little-spark-of-madness/

[Heidi]

1. Kick, kick, kick!!!

And

Thank you for this, madokie.

[madokie]

5. You are welcome

[lonestarnot]

2. Truth.

Whachu doin' up so late Madoke? Long time no see.

[madokie]

3. Pet issues

Our dog has gotten in a habit of waking me in the middle of the night to let her out to do her business. She tells me she has to pee, I think she just wants to roam the neighborhood to see if any animals are taking up any of her space while she, (and me) should be asleep

Yes its been a while, hope all is well with you

[lonestarnot]

4. Just had a post vanquished because someone didn't know that blacks is a law dictionary and that they

were a dick. Such is life here anymore. Thinks are certainly not looking well around us. Very sad week. At least it is now Wednesday. Funny because I just let my doggie in, she's doing the same thing.

[madokie]

6. I seen that

I hope things start looking up for you and yours.
I still have breathing issues, tethered to an oxygen tank from time to time. Sucks but beats the alternative

[lonestarnot]

7. Damn sorry to hear that friend. You still smoking?

[Uncle Joe]

8. I agree with the author's final two paragraphs.

But then, what of the popular Jungian notion that the dark side, the shadow is ever-present and ever lurking? What do we make of the idea that we are ever at the mercy of our own treacherous temptations and inherent flaws? What of the fear that whatever took down Williams is ever breathing at all our doors?

I’m not so sure of this. I’ve recoiled hard at the notion that the darkness is somehow built in, hard wired, that everyone has a shadow side and it’s only the thinnest veil of morals, laws, guilt, silly notions of God that keep everyone from murdering each other, and then themselves.

I’m much more taken of the Tantric notion of stuckness. Of dangerously stagnating energy, all those emotions, beliefs, convictions, patterns, traumas, memories that somehow take hold of us so deeply they actually begin to calcify, turn poisonous, convince us they’ve been there all along and that’s just the way we are and there’s nothing we can do about it.

I think even Williams would call bulls–t on that one. No way are we hard-wired for doom. No way are we darkly predisposed to wipe ourselves out, to steal and murder and destroy like dumb zombies. As Williams’ own genius proved, we’re far more predisposed to laugh, to find joy, to relish the wonder and irresistible humor of existence itself, even amidst the pain and anguish. When all is said and done, isn’t that the best lesson of all?

I believe Robin came to believe it wasn't people that made him feel alone but it was a calcified part of his inner nature and he couldn't deal with that.



I also believe that Robin believed humanity wasn't hard wired for doom we're capable of changing it for the better.

Whether those quotes by Robin were his own or in his movie scripts, I think he believed them.

Thanks for the thread, madokie.