which Sass points out, namely, ?uncanny particularity.? Schizophrenics often view the
world with a perpetual feeling that everything is happening for a particular reason, that
every action and occurrence points to something else. Unfortunately, they rarely know
what such things point to, or why certain occurrences are important: they simply know
that they are. ?A patient may see a dog lifting its left paw…or notices a red pickup truck
parked on a bridge under which he is about to pass. At the same time, he feels absolutely
sure that this is not an accidental happening…as if there were something just too
precise…?(p.100) This conception of reality, in which a person feels that everything he
sees is somewhat symbolic or indicative of something else, helps us to understand why
schizophrenics have such problems facing the objective world in a non-metaphorical
sense. It also sheds light on the desire of the schizophrenic to constantly analyze
everything for meaning-while he has a fundamental belief that every event has meaning
or a purpose, he does not know what that purpose or meaning is, and thus searches for it
just as any sane person would do in such a situation.
Though their explanations for things do not always jive with objective reality, yet
this certainly does not mean that their whole thought process is illogical. Their mode of
reason works perfectly within their own delusional world-we as sane people seem to lack
the desire to enter this world, though clearly accessible by basic manipulation of a
philosophic precept. More often than not a schizophrenic knows what he says doesn?t
mean anything to you-this shows not only an understanding of this reality but a
fundamental understanding of their own.
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