The Beauty Of Madness (The Beautiful Mad Man) Poem by Godwin Henry Osaigbovo

It may not be a common site elsewhere in the world to see a 'mad' person roaming the streets and it's dumps, but it is a common sight for us here in Nigeria. I am almost certain that every adult Nigerian that has spent any significant amount of time in the country, has seen a Unclad mad person roaming the streets at least once. What comes to your mind when you see people like that? Are they conscious? Are they still in there; in their heads? Do they in anyway think like you do? Are they still even human anymore? Or has the person that previously occupied that body died from within?

Also sometimes, I wonder: Do people who come back from such have any idea how it felt to be 'mad'? Do they even remember the poo they did while 'mad'? Or was it just a blank; and their madness was just some sort of long glitch in their memory bank? Even in 'developed' regions of the world, certain human rights are suddenly stripped away from the mentally ill. They are immediately locked up for "their good and the good of everybody else". They are declared unfit to make decisions for themselves. This must show that they are not considered entirely human, almost the same way some people do not consider toddlers entirely human.

So, sometimes I reckon it would be like childhood in some sense. There will probably be no recollection of memories from that state. Reactions and actions would be probably based on pure instincts, as they may not be able to remember their lives from before. They seem to drop almost all of their inherited human mannerisms, like the concept of unclothedness, or belief in unseen deities, or a need to observe any social courtesy, or any of the many 'reckless' human ideologies that society had invented over time. They only care about the true basic human needs of food, water, shelter, and maybe the need to reproduce. They become a true animal once again, like they were as toddlers.

So, sometimes I wonder: is the consciousness and belief system that defines our reality, some sort of inventive & adaptative system, we developed(and are still developing)in our infancy to aid our survival and understanding of our perceived reality? Maybe we developed this our present form of consciousness as our memory formation developed, as we garnered enough experience of this our reality. Probably along the way, we garner enough experience and memory to help us understand societal regulations, social courtesy, the monetary system, and any of the other human ideologies that we perceive as "real" but are really only in our heads; and we had learnt it from others. Maybe we are still developing this mental program in our heads; our consciousness, as we experience other new things and gain enough memories.

Our memory and our invented belief systems, which are somehow tied to our memories, seem to dictate the reality we perceive. What would happen if someone had total amnesia? How would it feel to not remember anything; to be completely blank? Would they still be human? How would they act? Even aged people who lose parts of their memories seem to lose some part of their humanity as well. And we quickly strip them too of some of their Human Rights. Even drunk people almost feel subhuman in their drunkess; they lose some of the invented societal ideologies and chains they have gathered overtime, and act more on their truest instincts. They become more "animal". And they always have very little idea the things they had done in that state.

'Mad' people, like toddlers, are always nonchalant of the many human frivolities that we plague our minds with. They only care about the things they actually need like food, water and shelter; the basic needs of almost of life on the planet. They seem to be free, like the animals that 'nature's had intended them to be. Although, this our memory-aided consciousness we seem to have invented, did not only bring about the nuisance of invented societal and social culture, traditions, obligations, courtesy etc, but had also given us tangible and useful things such as technology, science and a better understanding of our fate and the life we seem to possess.

So, sometimes I wonder: are the mentally ill "mad"? Or are we the ones mad for living our lives according to made-up ideologies that seem not to aid directly in our search for food, water, shelter and sex? Sometimes, I wonder: are they the ones truly "free", and us living in a cage we had invented? Can we be truly free without being mad? Some of the most intelligent and most free minds of all time, who always cared less about out invented human ideologies, were always regarded as "mad" by the rest of us still held back by the 'mental cage' we project unto our reality. Is our invented 'humanity' killing our animality? Or maybe to be human means to complicate life. Maybe, in 'mad' people, their humanity has been defeated in some efforts, by their true animal nature. Their humanity has been partially killed by their animality, hence they may be freer than the rest of us. They are alive, but 'dead', conscious but "unconscious"; running on autopilot.

So, sometimes I wonder: are they the ones mad? Or are we the ones mad, but do not realize it; discriminating against the few who have lost their minds and cages, and have now become free?



E. M. Farastein X G.H.O Pa Shakespeare


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