Is Critical Mindedness Good for Mental Health?
Being a curmudgeon is more than a matter of disposition: it is a practiced art. Every social gathering bound by pleasantries and blandishments can do with a spicy dose of disruption. Is this the menacing habit of self-appointed contrarians, who cannot feel their own weight and density except in disagreement, or the discerning eye of cultural observers who speak the obvious? I have long struggled to walk the shifting line between the annoying pessimist and thoughtful commentator, paternalistic preacher and intriguing interlocutor. The tension rises in those invisible faultlines where good taste, geniality, intellectual rigour and cultural norms collide. In full disclosure, I find most conversations in social settings bland and tedious. Prolonged conversations about computers, iphones, cars, and luxury vacations lull me to indolence. Search though I might, I find no interest in Harry and Megan’s exploits. I admit these short comings. Perhaps a better version of myself will emerge when I see all trivial talk as intimations of an unbroken wholeness. For now, I play the scamp who smiles when flecks of shit fly off the fan.
To say that most cultural preoccupations are mind-numbing in their superficiality is already violating egalitarian sensibilities, where no one is better than anyone else. If I prefer depth and substance, then others are by implication shallow and inane. There is ample ground to reject this elitist attitude. However, rather than a choice between surface and depth, perhaps the difference lies in a variety of essences that draw our attention. Those inclined toward ideas like to test their understanding against the beliefs of others; those inclined toward the affairs of people are drawn to the vitality of relationships. This is a more generous view of the variegated sparks that are alight within each of us. To go further, however, I suggest inclinations of another ilk to enliven this ensemble: a criticality that buttresses a sanity that is assailed on all sides.
Critical mindedness is not a blind negativity that rejects by default the kitsch and common, nor a pugnacious preference for conflict, still less a maleficence that takes pleasure in deflating others’ beliefs. A critical mindset is not about disparaging another’s views, but more about sharpening one’s faculties of discernment, honing an ability to see the illusions that pass for reality. To the modern audience, if the pro-war propaganda of the 1940s — produced by governments on all sides— appear blatant in their ideological bias, then there arises the question of how cultural norms and ideas in the current era hold the populace in sway. We are children of our culture, the progeny of our time. We travel on tides that churn the sea. The critic is not outside the zeitgeist nor a neutral observer who sees in perfect clarity. However, having glimpsed the etchings of history, the critic is suspicious of the sweeps that subsume opinion, the widespread sentiments that pummel thought and perception. Keen to escape the company of dupes, the critic swims against the current. The critic is not always right, but always careful.
A dose of critical mindedness goes a long way in guarding mental poise in a culture that militates against sanity and health. Take for example, the ubiquitous advertising that fill our sightlines. Select a magazine from the aisle and peruse the page as a manifestation of the current culture. A magazine differs from other texts, such as a novel. A novel is a self-contained, cohesive and unified narrative. A magazine, on the other hand, is a loosely affiliated collection of articles that coalesce around a theme. Further, a magazine contains ads and pictorials that dazzle the eye while stoking desires. The ads themselves may have the thinnest connection to the featured articles. Read the magazine as a novel with Culture as the protagonist and one finds a barrage of contradictions. What is the protagonist’s preoccupations, motives and aspirations? One page advertises a glimmering espresso machine, the next page presents a coveted pair of limited-edition sneakers, the next a sleek new smart-watch. Soon after, the page displays a beautiful home, uncluttered interior with hardly a trace of inhabitants. What culture parades a line of gadgets while also upholding the aesthetics of an ultra-minimalist home except a schizophrenic one that does not recognize its dissociative tendencies? The reader is presented with incommensurate images of an ideal life, but the incongruence fades from notice because many of us are inured to the ubiquitous messages that comprise modern culture. Caught in such disparate impulses, the psyche is rife with fragmentation and disorder.
In a culture that makes confusion its norm, antidote comes in the form of a discernment that pierces through the general malaise. Criticality, in this sense, aims to identify the illusion, the lie, the myth and the dream. Clarity affords the possibility of alternatives. Those struggling with body-image issues will resist and challenge cultural images of beautiful bodies as part of their healing. Strivers exhausted by the rat race will interrogate accepted notions of success in an effort to regaining sanity. There are aspects of culture that militate against health and wholeness, and the work of individuation demands a rebellious spirit that dares to counter convention. Critical mindedness is not mere contrarianism, which, in opposing by default, merely mirrors the establishment and remains bound to terms written by the culture itself. Rather, a critical mind persists in asking questions and resists final answers. It is suspicious of sanctioned beliefs, unsatisfied with platitudes. In polite company, a critical mindset has the tendency to unsettle others’ cherished illusions and violate the tacit rules of agreeableness. Yet, for the sake of sanity, one must sometimes make a stand or swim against the tide.
However, there are distinct risks to a critical mindset. One can develop a taste for discord. Disagreement becomes a pursuit in itself, and one soon becomes an insufferable crank. Worse, one is liable to believe oneself smarter and more virtuous than others. A holier-than-thou attitude reveals immaturity and points to an aspect of self that remains under-examined. To be against the surrounding culture is to set oneself as exceptional, the lone sober observer in a throng of crazed drunks. This belief is illusion in another form, a way to buttress the ego against a backdrop of the supposedly ignorant masses. I see this tendency within my own inner landscape — the temptation to dismiss others’ beliefs and come to hasty conclusions about their perspectives. The eagerness to object stems from a stringency inside myself, that taciturn critic who is forever unsatisfied, forever demanding. Critical mindedness is destructive when the intellect is not accompanied by the salve of compassion. Keen discernment only finds completion when its incisive sword is held with the supportive hand of love, which comes across in gentleness even in the act of dispelling illusions.
In a culture where madness marks the norm, a critical mindset is indispensable to mental well-being. But the life of critique is only partial without a life of compassion. Be a curmudgeon if you must. Better still, be a curmudgeon without the abrasive edges. Wield the sword, but strike in the spirit of love.