Professor Keirsey had his lecture course on Madness taped on cassettes in 1982. This post is the tenth audio track. More audio tracks will follow.
Track 1: The beginning of History of Madness lecture course
He surveys the idea of madness “as far back as we can go”. At the end of the course, he talks a little about his theory of madness: which he called at the time, “Wholistic Theory of Madness” based social field theory and Temperament.
Once asked what was the most important thing he wanted people to get from his work, he said:
“I want people to understand that there is no such thing as madness.”
Pride and Shame: reciprocals.
Each of us has a standard of Achievement impose upon ourselves.
If we fail to live up to that standard, we feel shame.
Then, We look for evidence that others hold us in low-esteem.
That’s when the Game begins.
This course is about The Fall. The fall from grace, from good fortune, from luck, favor, fame, good name,acclaim, success, position, power. All these losses comprising a measure of the human capacity to go to hell. Hell is the metaphor for illness of mind. Torment we mete. And torment that is meted to us. Fall is to fail. Fail is to be ashamed. Shame makes us do insane things. Others respond in kind. We are in hell.
We are proud of our intelligence. If we have doubt about our intelligence, then we begin to behave in a tactical way.
The four values.
The Double Bind