For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal

The Sacred Madness of the Imaginative Mind

Hear, O seeker of wisdom, the words of Jean Dubuffet, painter and philosopher of rebellion: “For me, insanity is super sanity. The normal is psychotic. Normal means lack of imagination, lack of creativity.” In this fierce and luminous declaration lies the cry of the artist against the tyranny of convention. Dubuffet, who sought truth not in polished form but in the rawness of instinct, proclaims that what the world calls madness may in fact be the highest form of sanity — that the dreamer, the visionary, the one who dares to see differently, is closer to truth than those who worship the normal. For what is “normal” but the habit of blindness, the fear of difference, the refusal to imagine?

Dubuffet lived in a century that prized control, order, and refinement — a world still trembling from war yet desperate to restore conformity. Against this, he raised the banner of the imaginative spirit, unchained and untamed. He sought art not in galleries or salons but in the spontaneous creations of the forgotten and the mad — those whose visions were untouched by education or culture. He called this art Art Brut, the “raw art” of the soul, springing directly from the subconscious. To him, imagination was the truest measure of sanity, for only those who could dream wildly were truly alive. The normal, by contrast, were the sleepwalkers of society — comfortable, compliant, and blind to the deeper rhythms of existence.

The ancients, too, spoke of this holy madness. The Greeks called it divine mania — the sacred frenzy sent by the gods to poets, prophets, and lovers. Plato himself wrote that no great soul has ever become wise without madness. The poet raves, the prophet trembles, the lover burns — each driven by a vision that defies reason. This is the super sanity Dubuffet speaks of: a higher state of awareness where imagination opens the gates of perception, revealing what the rational mind cannot grasp. The madman may lose himself in his visions, but the visionary learns to walk their edge — to shape chaos into creation.

Consider the tale of Vincent van Gogh, the saint of the sun and the fields. The world called him mad, for he saw light where others saw shadow, and fire in the very air. Yet from that supposed insanity poured forth colors that seemed to breathe, to pulse with divine life. His brush spoke a language beyond reason — the language of imagination. The “normal” mocked him, shunned him, pitied him; yet today, it is his madness that teaches us to see. His paintings, once called the work of a lunatic, now reveal the soul’s true vision — not as the eye perceives, but as the heart knows.

Dubuffet’s declaration, then, is both rebellion and revelation. He challenges us to question the sickness of what we call normal — a life emptied of curiosity, a mind shackled by conformity. The psychosis of normalcy lies not in losing the mind, but in never daring to use it. To be “sane” in a world that worships mediocrity is to lose one’s soul. The artist, the thinker, the dreamer — all must risk the label of “madness” to escape the dull hypnosis of the crowd. For only by breaking free from the ordinary can we rediscover what it means to truly see.

Yet Dubuffet’s wisdom is not an invitation to chaos, but to courage. The super sanity he speaks of is not destruction, but transformation — the mind awakened to infinite possibility. To embrace this path, one must learn to honor the strange, the unconventional, the deeply personal. Do not fear your imagination, even when it leads you into darkness; it is the divine spark within you, urging you toward creation. The line between genius and madness is narrow, but it is the line upon which all true creators walk. The wise do not flee from it — they balance upon it with faith and fire.

So take this teaching, O listener, and make it your guide: Do not seek to be normal. Seek to be alive. Cultivate the imagination within you until it becomes a force of light. Question what the world calls “reasonable,” for reason alone has never birthed a masterpiece. Dare to think differently, to see differently, to live differently. When your visions stir fear in the timid, know that you are close to truth. For the normal mind repeats what has been; the imaginative mind creates what will be.

Thus, as Jean Dubuffet teaches, the world belongs not to the sane, but to the super sane — those who dare to dream beyond the boundaries of the possible. The true madness lies not in dreaming too much, but in dreaming too little. Therefore, embrace the divine fire of your imagination, for it is both your rebellion and your redemption — the proof that within you burns the light of creation itself.