Marshall Tankersley

The line between madness and sanity is not always a clear one. Sometimes, the very best ideas require out-of-the-box thinking that may seem like madness upon first blush but turn out to be rather brilliant. In the world of author G.K. Chesterton, these flashes of apparently insane inspiration are havens from a world increasingly going insane in its own, darker way. Chesterton’s sentiments can be best seen in his essays “On Lying in Bed,” “The Mad Official,” and “The Rout of Reason.” In his understanding of true sanity, Chesterton speaks volumes to modern society’s preoccupation with both inane regulations that constrict people and insane conduct endorsed by the aforesaid society.

Chesterton’s essay On Lying In Bed is a strange combination of facetiousness, philosophy, and cultural commentary. “Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience,” Chesterton writes, “if only one had a coloured pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling. This, however, is not generally a part of the domestic apparatus on the premises.” Chesterton then launches into a diatribe about the constrictions of modern society placed upon the creative soul, especially in both how it seems that he cannot find a place to express his artistic bent and also that the habit of lying in bed is seen in an altogether negative light. This dichotomy contains its own oddities, as Chesterton is quick to point out that while society is quick to condemn a violation of its social norms (such as whiling away the day in bed), it is far less eager to condemn those who contravene it on ethical grounds. Oddly enough, society seems to have inverted Chesterton’s concerns in the hundred years since. While ethical issues such as the #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, and the LGBTQ movements (as its proponents view and argue for it on the grounds of human rights and morality) occupy much of modern society’s attention, the ability to maintain social norms and manners seems to be slipping. A discussion about almost anything that has differing viewpoints, from politics to Star Wars, ends up in a firepit of high tempers and namecalling, instead of attempting to uncover truth or build one another up.

In the essay “The Mad Official,” Chesterton takes aim at the insanity of bureaucracy. Much like his point about society as a whole in On Lying in Bed, Chesterton points out that government has also had its priorities mixed up. He relates the story of a mother who was legally sanctioned by the state because her ability to maintain her house and the care of her children had slipped during an illness. Even though the children were proclaimed in good health and the situation only potentially dangerous in the event of some illness on the children’s part, the mother was forced to pay the price, as Chesterton puts it, of either being poor or ill, not by actually harming anyone. Much like the state of Chesterton’s day, the modern system of governance concerns itself with many minute details of life and holds its citizens accountable for multiple trivial things – anyone who has paid taxes knows this. What else can this be but a kind of normalized insanity? While society argues itself to death, the government confuses itself into a pit of inaction, so consumed with small matters that larger ones fail to even make an appearance.

Until now, Chesterton has concerned himself more with identifying symptoms than the underlying disease. Why is it that society and government act so irrationally? In the essay “The Rout of Reason,” Chesterton gets closer to identifying the rotten root of these problems – no one really thinks anymore. Chesterton finds himself concerned about the apparent collapse of reasonable doubt, as the arguments he sees in his culture are more and more based less on rationality. Chesterton writes:

“There must be something very queer and deleterious at work in the world when this unreason saps, as it does sap, the minds of very acute and brilliant men, as well as those merely receptive. I am not at all disturbed about the future of the Faith; but I am disturbed about the future of the doubters, and the prospect of such very unphilosophic doubt; in which the very blasphemies have grown feeble and even stark nothing cannot remain unclouded or confused.”

At the core of the insanity of modern society and government is the loss of reason as the basis for thinking. Just as Chesterton was concerned that reason would eventually collapse to the point that nothing would be able to stand or remain clear, so modern culture seems to be the fulfilment of that prophecy.

To fight back against this wave of unreasonable insanity, one must first of all return to the foundation of reason itself. One must not be afraid to think critically about issues and respond to criticisms and arguments in a rational style, refusing to allow discussions and arguments to devolve into massive fights instead of edifying conversation. If we listen to Chesterton’s observations, we will live a far more fulfilling and effective life.