A madman

I was reading this book by Paolo Nori in which at some point he says: "a madman is a useless masterpiece, and there is nothing more to say". So says Paolo Nori. It has to be said that Paolo Nori has a taste for the one-liner, and there is nothing wrong with that. A one-liner is necessarily a simplification and I think there is value in simplification. But there is also value in depth and complexity. Synthesis and analysis are two sides of the same coin. But I did not want to talk about this, I wanted to talk about the fact that the madman is extremely useful. A madman shows you alternative realities, he reveals to you possibilities so soaked in fantasy that a sane person cannot only see them, but cannot even conceive of them. The madman lives reality with detachment and this allows him a freedom of vision that the presumed sane lack. I do not know about you but I always feel envy when I recognise a genuine madman because I would like to be in his place, at least for a while. Who does not like to play the fool to avoid going to war? Our war is going along with the gears of society and the madman reminds us that we live in a construction and that the construction can be taken apart and put back together, or destroyed and left in dust. That is why I find that the madman is a masterpiece not just useful but necessary. Have more sympathy for madmen and less for the serious doom-mongers with a stick up their arse, because you can be sure you have more fun and live better with the former. And in any case this is not meant as a criticism of Paolo Nori who, to be clear, I still find likeable, if only because he is obsessed with the Russians.