Insane in the Membrane

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

-Benjamin Franklin

Actually Benny, the definition of insanity is: 1 : a deranged state of the mind usually occurring as a specific disorder (as schizophrenia) 2 : such unsoundness of mind or lack of understanding as prevents one from having the mental capacity required by law to enter into a particular relationship, status, or transaction or as removes one from criminal or civil responsibility 3 a : extreme folly or unreasonableness b : something utterly foolish or unreasonable

And, to be quite frank dear Travelers, our dear Mr. Franklin couldn't have been more wrong had he a degree in psychology ala S. Freud. In fact to do a thing over and over and (in most cases) expecting different results (as a means to motivate repetition) is quite possibly the single sanest thing a person ever did in the history of humanity. Why? Well readers, for one, because it is the very first thing (I imagine) a person ever did, and its the very last of our most basic remaining human instincts to have survived evolution. And on that note, we wouldn't be so inclined to repeat our actions, so fervent and frequent, were we not able to convince ourselves that this time, THIS TIME things were going to turn out different... better. It seems to be the one sound argument that Orderists have against Chaosists. I guess Ole Ben didn't know as much as he liked to think.* But not many of us do know much about insanity. If sanity, at its simplest is repetition, then I suppose insanity is to be fitful... from Webster: convulsive, sudden, violent; broken, disconnected, fragmentary, interrupted; desultory, haphazard, hit-or-miss, random; changing, fluctuating, unstable, varying, wavering; changeable, fickle, variable.

*Note that time he deliberately got himself struck by lightning.