Temporary Sanity

Dr. James H. Bray, is the President of the American Psychological Association. I have not read of his research, but I assume he would be qualified to give me some feedback here.

“Has he lost his mind?” is the question that springs to mind when watching Gov. Mark Sanford explain the last few weeks of his life. One could argue that the opposite is true – that he found it. Bear with me, Dr. Bray, then let me know what you think.

I think of it as the water balloon theory of the self. Imagine – or actually go get – a round balloon. Fill it with water until it is about the size of a softball. It should be able to retain its spherical shape but shouldn’t be in danger of bursting. That is the self at rest, when we are comfortably all alone – no obligations, no roles to play. Now pick up the balloon, hold it between your hands and begin to wiggle your fingers. As each finger exerts pressure on the “balloon-self” the surface distorts as portions of the “self” swell while others recede. The fingers are the expectations, the pressures placed upon us by life. Some fingers we choose – by our jobs, our relationships. Some we are born into - our family, our ethnicity. Some are a blend – our beliefs and values.

Every politician juggles the interests of a variety of constituencies, and is, in turn, squeezed by many fingers. The higher the office, the more insistent the pressure of influential constituents. Gov. Sanford’s constituents brought a rigid social and political orthodoxy to the table. Then he meets a “soul mate”; someone in whose presence his self escapes pressure. Here is the same self usually allowed only in solitude, round, full, comfortable – a water balloon at rest. In that relationship he sees the promise of a synthesized life. No having to select the “reality” of the moment. The chance of a constant self; of a life without lies. How wonderful. He momentarily finds his mind, he finds “temporary sanity.” But it is a sanity that cannot survive in the rest of the world that he has chosen; it is a sanity in opposition to the norms of his previous personal and political constituents. In that world this new self, this new sanity, is lunacy.

He tries to bring that new sanity back into his old world and those powerful old fingers reach out to grab him by the balloons. It remains to be seen if he has the flexibility and the resilience to survive in this reality, or if he will seek another more amenable to recently discovered new facets of his self.

So what do you think, James? Does that balloon hold water?