A little lightness for the dark period of the Corona Virus lol.I have concluded from a long process of analysis and observation that I can summarize the DSM-5 Diagnostic Manual into two simple categories- Crazy People and Rational People!

Now, the crazy people are usually quite obvious,although at times their craziness can be somewhat hidden-but not to the astute observer.They are somewhat different from the “normals”. But they are also open-minded,sensitive and insightful in the way that the Rationalists are not! For example,when I worked at the local Psychiatric Hospital,the psychotic patients invariably “got” that I was Muslim! The social workers and other professionals would often ask if I was a Rabbi or an Orthodox priest but the patients almost invariably got it right.Remember the famous Stanford study about the fake patients?! The other patients were the most observant of their “fakeness” ,the nurses next and the doctors last!

The second category is the “Rational People” Ya right.They are inevitably hiding serious amounts of craziness of all sorts when you get to know them! They have emotional outbursts,fixed ideas and inappropriate behavioural reflexes.Both Freud ,especially, and Jung as well,underlined this phenomenon but people don’t seem to have paid much attention.They still believe in the Rationality of these people.The “rational people” besides hiding a considerable amount of craziness are also closed-minded,ideological and rigid.”No inbox” as I like to say.Or a very limited one at best.And they can stick to their wrong-minded positions for decades as I have discovered in the last few years as  I reconnect with some of them I knew well in the past  after a 40 year hiatus!

You can probably guess by now that I prefer the Crazy Ones lol.They are definitely more open and hear the Truth better than most. When I would visit Sheikh Nazim in London to do practices with our Sufi group  he would often greet me by saying”Dr. Ibrahim.Welcome to our asylum.We are so happy to have a psychiatrist with us”.I thought he was kidding.But after many years I realized he was serious.It takes a certain amount of “craziness” to embark on the spiritual path seriously.And that’s the type of craziness I have come to love.Have a serene Corona Virus outbreak! Salaams,Ibrahim