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The myth of sanity
To what extent might our idea of sanity be a myth? How is it tied to awareness and what
purpose might it serve?
The idea of sanity is an issue that continues to trouble many scholars and requires keen
analysis and evaluation to understand whether really sanity means being normal. According to
Stout, sanity is a myth, just like many other myths, in which people believe, but lack tangible
proof and evidence to prove that it is as thought of. This essay outlines important evidence that
points out that sanity is merely a myth believed by many to mean that one is normal, but lack
enough evidence to confirm that one is as sane as they purport. By using the term “promise of
awareness” Stout tries to show that the only state that is guaranteed among individuals
considered to be sane is awareness of their surroundings and states, but which does not really
account to the state of sanity. Awareness is completely different from sanity; this is because
awareness is basically the ability of an individual to perceive the surroundings and understand
one’s own state and what is going on whereas sanity refers to the state of being able to behave
and act in a sound and rational manner – having sound mental state. Sanity is also not the same
as normality. This is because being normal is behaving according to societal norms, regardless of

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whether one is sane or not. To further understand these sentiments, the following evidence will
be used.
Firstly, Martha Stout in her article “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday”
states:
If all of us dissociate to some degree, then a term like “sanity” is simply too crude
to capture the real nature of mental health, which requires a proper balance
between dissociation and engagement (p. 419).
This statement out rightly shows that sanity is relative, depended on many other factors, and
cannot be used to provide a comprehensive description of one’s mental state. The statement also
sets it clear that all humans do dissociate at some point to some degree. This shows that sanity is
thus instantaneous, where an individual can be termed as sane in one minute and be termed as
very insane the next moment. All this is dependent on external as well as internal factors, which
shape one’s state of mind and engagement. Another core message from the excerpt is the fact
that sanity is depended on proper balance between engagement and the level of dissociation.
Despite this balance, there is need to note that any occurrence of both internal and external
factors can change the state of balance, leading to insanity. Another argument as put forward by
Stout in another instant state:
For trauma changes the brain itself. Like the outdated fuse box, the
psychologically traumatized brain houses inscrutable eccentricities that cause it to
overreact – or more precisely, misreact – to the current realities of life (p. 421).
This excerpt shows that trauma has a major part to play in determining the sanity state of an
individual. From this quote, it is also evident that the state of the mind at any instant is not
clearly determinable. It always has inscrutable eccentricities that lead to states of insanity.

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Apart from Stout’s arguments, Malcom Gladwell in his article named “The Power of
Context” can help to further the discussion on the essence of sanity. Malcolm first puts across the
story of Goetz, who after shooting the five black youths states, “No, I don’t know why I did it.
They tried to rip me off (p. 150)”. This verbatim shows that Goetz became insane instantly, due
to the environmental conditions, which caused him to shoot the black youths. Upon gaining
consciousness and stable balance between his dissociation and engagement, he realized he had
done an extreme act. This led to him stating that he did not know why or even how he engaged in
the act; an insane state can be challenging to explain and account for, even for the individual in
question. In another context, Malcolm puts forward that:
This is an epidemic theory of crime. It says that crime is contagious – just as
fashion trend is contagious – that it can start with a broken window and spread to
an entire community. The Tipping point in this epidemic, though, is not a
particular kind of person. It is something physical like graffiti. The impetus to
engage in a certain kind of behavior is not coming from a certain kind of person
but from a feature of the environment (p. 152).
This excerpt clearly indicates that the state of mind is instantaneous and can be changed due to
many things, which out rightly indicates that awareness does not really mean sanity. This excerpt
also indicates that the loss of sanity can be instantaneous, where an individual can appear sane in
one minute and display behaviors that discredit his sanity the next moment. Crime, which is a
well known vice to all, can become widespread in a community through contagion; affecting
individuals instantaneously regardless of their state of sanity. As such, sane individuals can
become instantaneously insane and engage in crime, and maybe revert to their original sane state.
Nevertheless, there is need to note that sanity cannot be guaranteed at any particular point, since

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any individual could engage in crime at any particular instant. This is visible through the lens of
the Grouts case where he instantaneously shot the five black youths due to instantaneous
judgment, without prior proof that they intended to harm him.
In yet another context, Daniel Gilbert, in his article “Immune to Reality” helps to ...