I've been thinking a lot lately about the infinitesimally fine line that separates sanity from madness. Uh-oh, you better hang on tight ….
I imagine the brain as a series of long and winding corridors that seemingly go on forever. Those corridors open the second a thought comes to mind. From there, the journey begins.
Winding through the brain, thoughts starts out slow, easing their way through corridors—much like a roller coaster ascending an opening hill. When the thought gets rolling and potential energy turns kinetic, off it goes, moving rapidly through the maze until it reaches an end point, where it slows and then ultimately stops.
To me, that end point is a wooden door. On the other side of it sits a nice little man who keeps watch to ensure no one makes it through. Because on the other side, you see, the corridors really become more winding and the slopes more slippery—tough to navigate—the place they call Madness.
However, that wily little fella who watches the doors in my brain, the gatekeeper, occasionally steps away to get a drink of water or to use the bathroom, and he leaves the doors unprotected. When he does so my thoughts throw a mega party. Everyone welcome, no holds barred. Quite simply: watch out!
They steamroll through the corridors and smash through the unmanned door. Yikes, slippery indeed. I see that it just might be in this place that sanity and madness become separated—that aforementioned infinitesimally fine line.
Once my thoughts crash the party, I then wonder if I perhaps really am mad or if I have a rare uber-creative imagination. I like to think of it as the latter, but I could be wrong. In fact, some people have told me that I AM wrong (wink).
It is on that other side where a walk down the sidewalk to my car after work turns into me tackling a purse snatcher, who then escapes my grip and starts shooting at me as he runs off, only to see me chasing him again into the busy intersection, where a car rams into us both and throws us into the sky and ...
Get the point?
The other side also takes me to a place where I have amazing peace and stunning calm. Here, I imagine a world that is not divided because of different beliefs. A world in which the strong help the weak, the rich help the poor. A world in which "love" is the only word in the pledge of allegiance.
Sanity or madness?
Regardless of the direction my thoughts take, and how near or far they travel, I hope the little gatekeeper continues to get thirsty and occasionally has to pee. I like going through that door to the other side. I'm not really sure if it separates madness and sanity, but I do know that door is an infinitesimally fine line that separates me from so many other people.
