Maybe madness & illness are the only way to remain human under capitalism
& maybe total "sanity" under capitalism is a sign of soul death
How can one be “sane” in an inequitable, aching world? How does one stay “functional” under brutal, exploitative, violent systems? How can anyone be healthy in a world fraught with unfathomable suffering? Even those with relative privilege… can any one of us truly be “thriving” under capitalism/ colonialism while others are struggling beyond measure? Or should we examine these concepts entirely? Sanity, functionality, normal, healthy.
If I take a step back, look at our planet, as though we are parts of a greater whole, inevitably interconnected… I’m forced to ask “What does it mean to be thriving under fundamentally inequitable, oppressive systems? What does it mean to be thriving in a world where millions are starving or being massacred?”
What does it mean to be “doing well” as an individual within systems that create/ maintain mass poverty, destroy ecosystems from rainforests to oceans and commit widespread genocides so a few can be wealthy?
Capitalism/ colonialism shape dominant societal norms, especially what is considered an achievement or a milestone to aspire to. People routinely congratulate others on individual success, new jobs, promotions, career growth, money, ownership of new “commodities” like a house/ car, even mainstream relationship milestones like marriage/ creation of a nuclear family, any accolades etc… these are indicators of a functional, so-called sane individual under capitalism. These are metrics that show that an individual is climbing the ladder “to the top” in some way by amassing wealth or status. Most don’t really question why these are “good” things to aim for because that’s just what we’ve been told to chase our entire lives. But these norms shape conversations, dictate what people share or don’t share on social media, define who/ when/ where people get congratulated. They significantly shape our identities, dreams, hopes, so-called ambitions & by extension… everything.
Side note: If you are familiar with my work then you know much of it focuses on figuring out how we can decolonize medicine— a dominant colonial system that finds abnormalities or “defects” & diagnoses individuals in a vacuum while purposefully ignoring the sociopolitical context in which symptoms emerge. Many symptoms, especially those that point to health disparities & represent exacerbating public health issues, are ultimately downstream manifestations of deeper underlying social problems. Take for example the rampant spread of infectious diseases in Gaza including the re-emergence of diseases like polio that have been eradicated in much of the world.
“Modern” aka “civilized” medicine also pathologizes divergent ways of thinking or being that don’t align with capitalist/ colonial norms. Tragically, given that this system was established by colonial empires & expanded under capitalism, it is not only ineffective or harmful, it is remarkably uninnovative & inept at addressing the world’s health issues. Riddled with a colonial superiority complex, arrogance & profit-driven incentives, medicine overlooks obvious solutions to our distress that are right there & have been here for eons- thanks to collectivist communities who have always seen individual health as inseparable from collective health which is inseparable from land health.
Ok, back to madness— so all these concepts (madness, health, functionality, normal) are subjective. Dominant oppressive systems that define our society define our understanding of these terms. I don’t think any of us can be truly healthy in the fullest sense of the world in a burning world whether we’re aware of it or not.
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So what is a “healthy person” after all?
Under capitalism, a healthy person is supposedly a successful individual conforming well under these systems despite the widespread violence & suffering they inflict across the planet. It’s the person with rigid self-optimization routines— working out, self-care hacks, a so-called “balanced diet” (another weird concept given that we all have somewhat shitty diets under systems that turn food into a product sold on grocery aisles without any direct connection most of us have to the land itself). A healthy person under colonialism is someone who is throughly unbothered, unaffected, unfettered by the widespread inequity/ poverty/ suffering in this world— someone who is thriving despite all the genocides ravaging our communities, rising above the pain that the most marginalized are trapped in, serving the empire, a loyal & obedient subject who thinks they’re “free”.
Madness then is the opposite of the healthy capitalist subject. Madness, as many of us have come to redefine it, means being wrecked by these brutal systems, being deeply & viscerally affected by capitalism/ colonialism to varying degrees, being hurt/ damaged/ broken/ hindered by systems that hurt us all. It is being trapped in the pain alongside everyone else who is also struggling rather than rising above. Madness is questioning the matrix rather than conforming. Maybe insanity is the most human, logical, dignified response to an aching world— to be rightfully, humbly driven insane by it, maddened by it, facing it rather than living in an illusion, refusing to accept this reality as the only reality, daring to imagine beyond these cages, brave enough to succumb to the struggle rather than disconnect from it.
Madness in community
I’m not trying to glorify the not-so-fun aspects of madness. Much of what we call “mental illness” refers to symptoms that arise from us being severed from the things we need to survive— community, land, culture & connection. There is undoubtedly immense pain & suffering that many mad people bear, amplified by each layer of marginalization. However, madness at baseline is not a good or bad thing, it just is. The context determines how it manifests. I also think we have to be mad to some extent to not just experience this world for all that it is but also to seek to build a better one.
If success & functionality is an indicator of a healthy capitalist subject then madness is a sign that we are still wholly human under systems that try to strip us of our humanity. But madness in isolation, in alienation, when carried & bore alone, can kill us. It can keep us from the mad joy that is only possible to experience in community. Alienation makes madness a curse. I get that is not as much of a clean cause-and-effect relationship but I also know madness held in community makes life more authentically livable.
To build a better world, I think you have to carry & channel madness in community. Revolutionary minds are driven by lessons from the past & are also envisioning a world that has never existed yet, constantly imagining beyond, dreaming beyond what will be the ashes of our world. However, pieces of that liberated world can be found in our relationships to each other & the land. I have come to think that those pieces keep us anchored & tethered in a manner where madness becomes more bearable. Insanity can be a regenerative force of change when we remain connected to the world we’re fighting for, to the beautiful, to the holy. That is where our madness can be nurtured, stretched, challenged & grown.
How can we navigate madness & insanity better in collectives, in community, if we didn’t pathologize such divergences as individual aberrations that need to be fully “cured” but rather something to be carried & understood? I firmly believe that reciprocal relationships, i.e. an interdependent community, can alleviate the harmful manifestations of madness that capitalism/ colonialism make unbearable.
Sanity & functionality as signs of impending soul death
To not feel pain in an aching world, to uphold & enable oppression, unfettered by the plight of all those that suffer on the lower rungs of the ladder, unaffected by the pain that the ground beneath us is forced to bear under exploitative systems— that is what I’ve come to call soul death. I think every action, decision or step that we take to align ourselves with the empire rather than the people ends up being a step towards soul death. The further we are down that path, the harder & more painful it is to find & stitch the pieces of our soul back together if we ever want to down the line. I cannot imagine aspiring to success under capitalism anymore because I know so long as I did, I was… emptier, hollowed out, vacant & struggling to find my own humanity.
To that end— I don’t think the privileged are okay. I think the richest, most powerful people on this planet that hold the reigns to these violent systems are the least “okay”. It may sound simplistic or reductive but for the sake of ease, I don’t think they have intact souls. To exploit people & the planet to that extent, to live in luxury that was attained through mass oppression & death… is to kill off your own soul. Politically, this is why direct action is always the route to liberation. These empires & those who run them do not have a soul/ conscience we can appeal to which is why freedom is never granted. It is taken by force.
Accepting our brokenness & madness as a collective
For me it has been liberating to accept that I will always be mad, traumatized, broken, incomplete… so as long as I live under capitalist/ colonial systems. In isolation, it can be paralyzing and all-consuming but in community it can be a never-ending source of motivation to fight for a better world, to imagine beyond because living in this one pains me so deeply. That motivation may not always be obvious or accessible to me but I know the well is there for me to draw from so long as I intentionally pursue community.
Much of colonial psychology & neocolonial “new age spirituality” fixates obsessively on healing as though we can become whole in a broken world, move past trauma, as though we can experience blissful happiness in the absence of suffering if we just do XYZ to elevate ourselves above the ruckus of all this pain & brutality that is all around us. I believe such an individualistic pursuit of healing leads to an inevitable death of the soul. I don’t think it is possible for us to “cure” all the pain we experience that ultimately stems from a fundamentally aching, inequitable world. Trying to do so kills our soul. I also think it’s a lie. There is no pot of happiness waiting for us at the end of such self-centered pursuits of self-optimization that force further disconnection from our ecosystems.
I don’t want to be better than the pain of this world. The more we seek to be totally healthy under capitalism, the more damage our soul incurs & the more sick or diseased we become in ways we cannot fathom yet. F**k executive function, f**k sanity & f**k being normal under systems that try to destroy & annihilate that which they deem abnormal.
A personal note on navigating my madness
I don’t have enough words in this piece to detail my mad journey & experiences with colonial psychiatry. But on the journey, my relationship to my own madness & insanity have transformed the more meaningful relationships I’ve forged & more collectivism I’ve experienced. My work doesn’t exist despite my madness, it exists alongside it or because of it. Anything I have ever done that has been even mildly useful for this planet, for the people, has stemmed from my pain, suffering & insanity. As an example of how I can’t pick & choose or compartmentalize my madness—
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