What is madness?

Chaos? Maybe in a more...emotional sense? Just off the top of my head.

I would say when the "i" is not in charge...

Is it arrogant if i say me?

Anyhow madness can be described as a state of mind, or a situation in which someone/something can do unthinkable things, that can only be described by the word madness.

It's a pretty powerful word. Despite The Dark Knight being overrated it shows a nice amount of madness in the form of the Joker.

Or is it when the "I" is in charge?

Anyway, madness isn't a clinical term, it's a word people throw around to label ways of acting that appear strange. People might call serial killers mad, or they might call Gandhi mad. Depends on who you ask.

"He who thinketh differently goeth voluntarily to the madhouse."

"If you're going to be crazy, you have to get paid for it or else you're going to be locked up."

madness:
1) Personally; any philosophy differing from the one that I currently hold.
2) Societally; any pattern of thought differing from the common thought patterns of the majority.

Madness is the junction between humour, an uncontrollable spasm that can be either or both physical and mental and a point in time where somebody else feels either threatened or offended.

uncontrollable anger. Depending on which situation you use the word.

Madness is someone deciding that life is too boring, and deciding to spice it up a bit.

Maybe another word would be psychosis. Inability to be single minded. Several random thoughts running through your mind simultaneously. Your brain is on overload. There is panic and fear. You're not really aware of the world around you because you are trapped in a prison of your own mind.In some cases there are voices that do not seem to be your own.This condition can be brought on by a chemical imbalance, where the neuro receptors are not clicking. It can be brought on by a traumatic event. In any case, it is a horrible thing to go through.

I think madness is to the making of the beholder, any extremity in thought which is deemed to the creator as being too intense.

Perhaps "madness" is synonymous with "psychosis", that is to say one who (supposedly) loses touch with reality. However it can also be used as a power of self-assurance, for it is easy to label somebody "mad" if we feel self-assured in our "sanity".

(Adapted idea from Going Sane by Adam Phillips)

I've always like the definition that madness is "being able to hold contradictory ideas in your head as being true and still be able to go on with your life." Can't remember who said it, though.

Erving Goffman suggested, in his dramaturgical study of everday life, that "madness" (though I do not think he referred to it directly in this way) takes place when one must be both the performer and the audience to his or her own performance. (The Presentation of the Self in Everyday Life)

Erich Fromm suggested that madness is indeed a loss of reality, or rather "actuality", but did suggest that its polar opposite "reproductive realism" is just as bad, and that the true opposite of both of them was productiveness or spontaneity. (Man for Himself).

Nice post!
Kind of like Ambrose Bierce's view.

"To escape one's illusions is to plunge headlong into chaos!" -Iota

'Madness' (can) = non-rationality (not 'irrationality'), the other half of 'rationality'. Necessary for balance!

"He lives best who is fain, to live half mad, half sane." - Someone (else) Wise

'Madness' can be metaphoric (like for a 'mystic state') while 'insanity' seems more descriptive (of behavior and thoughts).

Divine madness?

Peace

So you have resorted to quoting yourself and self-congratulations, eh? Bravo nameless, now that is a fine example of madness.

Careful! Soon we'll all be doing it...

Now, if i can only figure out how to 'thank' myself!
*__-

(And theaetetus, thanx for justifying your presence on my 'ignore' list of proto-men!)