Madness

Veronica decides to die.
It is a beautiful book by Paulo Coelho.
This book has inspired me to write this post.

It is amazing how we consider madness as being strange when being mad is as simple as being one’s true self.
I love the way Coelho explains how being mad is just believing in one’s own world and not being able to express it satisfyingly to others.
It made me think because the truth, stark naked, is so shocking.

No person, neither you nor I have the right to question one’s belief.
And when one cannot express what he believes in with words that make sense to us, we call them mad.
When we do not believe in what they believe, we consider the majority to be normal and label the minority as mad.
Just because the majority suppresses themselves and the minority does not.

Does believing in God certify to be called madness?
Does feeling God certify to be called madness?
Does feeling a person who nobody other than you can see certify to be called madness?

It is funny how thin the line between being normal and being called mad is.
I wonder if there is a line.
We have to mould ourselves every second of everyday just to look normal according to some set of social norms that almost everyone despises.
Are we not all hypocrites?
How many of us have done everything we have felt like doing with no restrictions whatsoever – none of us.
And if any of us have dared to, I am sure the person would be termed as being mad.

The price we have to pay for appearing normal, the price we have to pay for not being labelled as mad is to curb our feelings and desires – to go against the one thing we might believe in.

And this makes us no different from hypocrites.

It is funny how people keep telling how they ‘hate’ hypocrites and there is nothing worse than hypocrisy and being someone you are not.
The truth being, everyone is a hypocrite – nobody is what he/she appears to be.
Every single person has hidden desires and dreams.
Every single person has a hidden world of fantasy where he can do as he pleases.
Every single person dreams of a place where he is not bound by rules.
But few realise that what they are asking for is as simple as being mad – as being themselves for once in their lifetime.

I respect those who are labelled as mad – because they have the courage to be what they are. They are not hiding.
They believe in something which is true for them – who are we to question their truth?

Every person is mad – I know that may sound funny to you but it is not funny for those who have been through hell after being labelled ‘mad’.
Why are they made to suffer for it while we are not?
Is it because we know how to curb our desires?
Is it because we are hypocrites?

‘Madness’ is such a relative term – it is just not right to treat it with brutality, it is not right to treat it at all.
If it were not for these so called ‘mad’ men we would not have some of the most beautiful pieces of art, some of the most heavenly pieces of music, some of the most astounding facts called science.
Just because we do not believe in something they do, does not make them mad.
The question of being in a majority or minority should not arise here.

I would rather be labelled as ‘mad’ than become a ‘hypocrite’.