According to some attitudes in psychology, a neurotic thinks that the problem is with himself and a psychotic thinks that the problem is with everyone else. Usually both have a point. There is something right - and wrong - with just about everyone. The hard task is finding out what exactly is right – and wrong – with everyone. There are many qualities that work for some things and not for others. A pragmatic approach works in engineering, and inspiration-seeking approach works in arts, but neither works in the other. A person with the propensities of the engineer may think that there is something wrong with the person who thinks like an artist. In fact we are seeing a different mindset that does not work in his own pursuit but works in the other. So that when we see someone with the propensities of an artist being raised by engineers, he will be seen as being wrongly made. In response to this he may decide that there is something wrong with himself, or he may decide that there is something wrong with people around him. What we are seeing instead is simply difference. A difference that can, if nurtured properly, produce beautiful results; or, if not, lead to a lifelong conflict. Differences can be dealt with in any number of possible ways. It takes tolerance, maturity and often great skill to get people with different propensities to live in peace. Unfortunately such are not always found. A cat that is raised by dogs will be seen as abnormal, and a dog raised by cats will be seen as a barbarian. But there will not be any way for a cat to be a normal dog or for a dog to be a normal cat. One thing that does happen in such situations is that a cat would pretend to be a dog. The cat would expend exceptional effort to learn how to bark like a dog, bite like a dog and wag its tail like a dog. This kind of cat would be known as a sociopath. It would be a pretender, putting on a front to act like a normal dog, in many cases succeeding, and sometimes developing extraordinary insight into how dogs think and using that insight for usually wrongful ends. There will be two major problems with this situation. One is that the cat will not develop its feline qualities and fail to use them for the benefit of the civilization. The other is that its personal relationships will stink, as in genuinely close relationships the front slips and, as the dog kisses it, it finds – to its horror – cat whiskers. Sometimes the cat decides that the problem is with the dogs. Such a cat becomes a rebel. It meows very loudly and obnoxiously and frequently scratches everyone in sight. Some cats like this wind up criminals; others become feminists or suchlike; some join Hollywood or academia; and occasionally they rise to leadership of countries and sometimes have oral sex with interns while in office. Whenever anything of that sort happens, the dogs bark very loudly indeed, and often they get together to not only chase the cats out of the leadership positions but put into place orders to criminalize and pathologize cats, in some cases waging extermination campaigns against them. In some places there is the attempt to medicate the cats. Usually this results in cats who sleep 12 hours a day and do not have the energy even to chase after mice to feed themselves. This leads dogs to think that such cats are parasites and should be shot. Of course we also see attempts to claim that the cats are evil. The problem with this stance is that both according to the Bible – and according to the evolutionary theory - the cats and the dogs are equal – either in mutual virtue or in mutual sin. Either the nature of both cats and dogs is equally corrupt, or it is equally there for a reason. From Biblical considerations, cats are no more naturally sinful than dogs. Both have sin in their nature, and both have the capacity of choice to act rightfully in spite of that nature. And from evolutionary considerations, both are there for a reason that it facilitates the survival of the species or the success of the society. We need both original thinkers and people who are willing to follow canons, and we need people who are inventive or innovative and people who are willing to do daily tasks. To a dog, a cat will always be a freak or worse. And when confronted with such an environment, a cat is not likely to be healthy. So there will be some who think that the problem is with themselves and there will be some who think that the problem is with others. And then there will be some wise cats who realize that what we are seeing is simply difference, and that difference between species does not mean that either is good or bad. A cat who thinks that the dogs are right fails to see the good in itself, and the cat who thinks that the dogs are evil fails to see the wrong in itself. The first results in ruined lives and waste of potential, and the second results in wrongful action on the part of the cat itself. What often is necessary for the cat is finding out what it means to do right and what it means to do wrong. This is not always an easy task. If you are living in a place that tells you that your species is bad period - as is the case if you are Jewish and living in Iran or if you are labeled a sociopath or a narcissist - you are not told a workable way to be good. You are told that you are bad, period. If you go for values to other cats - especially rebel cats - you risk developing values that are spawned in hatred of dogs and that are therefore just as bigoted and oppressive as those of the dogs. At which point you may require going for a workable concept of right and wrong to the wisdom that is not owned by dogs or by cats but that transcends all species. Should a cat be either a neurotic or a psychotic? A cat should be the best cat it can be and get along with dogs. Any cat can be good or bad, as can any dog. But a cat will never be a dog, and a dog will never be a cat. Let cats be the best cats they can be, and let dogs be the best dogs they can be, and let the two figure out how to work constructively with one another. And then we will have a civilization in which we have the best outcome of both economics and culture – of establishment and innovation - of the dog and the cat.
So that when we see someone with the propensities of an artist being raised by engineers, he will be seen as being wrongly made. In response to this he may decide that there is something wrong with himself, or he may decide that there is something wrong with people around him. What we are seeing instead is simply difference. A difference that can, if nurtured properly, produce beautiful results; or, if not, lead to a lifelong conflict. A false choice. I have been both and there is great artistry in good engineering and many examples of creative engineering in art.
what the hell are you even trying to talk about? that metaphor fell off really quickly and i found myself just really wishing you had decided to make a different post instead. if you want to make a point about psychiatry just talk about psychiatry.
