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Homo Schizo

Most scholars believe that man has progressed since his original appearance on earth. Probably so, but it has been a strange kind of progress, not well understood, and often showing a negative balance of the 'bad' over the 'good'.
Some scholars believe that man is a rational animal. In limited ways he is, but, again, it is a strange kind of rationality, more ape-like than other traits of humans that are called 'non-rational'.

All psychiatrists agree that schizophrenia is a severe mental disorder, a condition where the normal order of thinking has been impaired. A return to orderly thinking is the way forward to healing ones mind. Common symptoms of schizophrenia include delusions, including paranoia and hallucinations, and disorganized thinking patterns. Schizophrenia is a widespread affliction. Its has a world-wide provenance and has little regard for social class.

Your brain is divided into two cerebral hemispheres that are only loosely connected via a bundle of nerve fibers. We are taught that we only have one brain but that is not necessarily exactly true: we have two slightly asymmetric brains that communicate with each other, may disagree frequently and sometimes one brain overrules the other one.

I (and some others like Alfred de Grazia) believe that man is born schizophrenic. Only nature, nurture, culture, and interacting with his peers will eventually result in some level of saneness. But that is only a thin veil and rates of schizophrenia always rise with rising social disorganization[1].

As the great philosopher Terry Pratchett (1948-2015) pointedly observed in his book 'The Light Fantastic' (1986): “Inside every sane person there's a madman struggling to get out."

So, say 'goodbye' to the supposedly sane Homo Sapiens and say 'hello' to Homo Schizo.

[1] Veling et al: Social disorganization of neighborhoods and incidence of psychotic disorders: a 7-year first-contact incidence study in Psychological Medicine - 2015

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