# Schizophrenia & Insanity > Bashar reframes schizophrenia as a communication gap between aspects of self, where the perception of other realities is valid but cannot be translated for mainstream society. - Canonical: https://sassani.app/topic/schizophrenia # Schizophrenia & Insanity In Bashar's framing, what society labels schizophrenia or insanity is most often the perception of other realities that are just as real to the perceiver as consensus reality is to anyone else — but with no socially accepted mechanism to communicate them back to the mainstream. The single linked source for this chapter is an exchange with a parent whose son was given a therapeutic label; it is presented here as metaphysical interpretation, not as diagnosis, treatment, or a substitute for professional mental-health care. ## The bridging definition Bashar begins by normalizing the condition in his own vocabulary. Asked about a son a therapist had suggested might be schizophrenic, he says all people are "schizophrenic" in the sense that everyone has many different aspects to the overall persona. What gets called a schizophrenic is "simply someone who has not been taught how to bridge a gap in communication between one idea of themselves and another." The labeling is not denied; it is reframed as a communication gap between aspects of self, not as a defect of being. This reframing matters because it locates the difficulty in bridging, not in perceiving. The person is not doing something wrong by holding different ideas of themselves; they are missing a taught skill for connecting them. ## The 80-to-85 percent observation Bashar offers a striking proportion: "Approximately 80 to 85% of individuals you call insane are simply unable to communicate the different realities they know are real." The stated difficulty is not that the perceptions are unreal, but that they cannot be translated into a form the mainstream can acknowledge. The perception is treated as valid inner experience; the breakdown is at the communication boundary. This is offered as the source's interpretation, not as a clinical statistic or a diagnostic claim about any individual. ## The fine line between insanity and genius The same answer draws the sharpest distinction in the corpus between the labeled state and the celebrated one: "There is a very fine line between insanity and genius. A genius is simply someone who perceives other realities and knows how to communicate them in a way your society finds applicable — that is the only difference." So perception of other realities is common to both; what separates the genius from the "insane" person, in this framing, is the bridge — the ability to render what is perceived in a form society can use. Genius is not different perception; it is successful translation. ## Drug use as a response to frightening perception Because the parent's question mentioned the son's drug use, Bashar addressed it directly. He frames the drug use as an attempt to kill an awareness that frightens the person — and locates the origin of the fright inside the individual, not in the perception itself. "All the fright originates from within the individual, and he himself always has the capacity to transform it into joy." The drug use reinforces the fear only by sustaining the assumption that the power (over the frightening awareness) lives in the drug rather than in the person — the same externalization-of-power logic the session applies to addiction generally. ## Practical implications Distinguish perception from communication. Bashar frames the difficulty as a bridging gap between aspects of self or between the perceived reality and the shared language, not as the perception itself being defective. Treat the genius/insanity distinction as a difference in translation, not in perception. The practical question the source raises is whether the perceiver can find — or be taught — a form in which what they perceive becomes communicable to others. This is a metaphysical interpretation of an experience and is not medical advice, a clinical claim, or a reason to alter any diagnosis, medication, or therapeutic relationship. The source itself frames fright and drug use as things that may coexist with the labeled experience; professional mental-health care remains essential and is not displaced by this framing. ## Representative passages What you call a schizophrenic is simply someone who has not been taught how to bridge a gap in communication between one idea of themselves and another. Approximately 80 to 85% of individuals you call insane are simply unable to communicate the different realities they know are real.— Bashar, Addictions (addictions#qa-9) There is a very fine line between insanity and genius. A genius is simply someone who perceives other realities and knows how to communicate them in a way your society finds applicable — that is the only difference.— Bashar, Addictions (addictions#qa-9) ## Related - [Parallel Realities](https://sassani.app/topic/parallel-realities) - [Perception](https://sassani.app/topic/perception) - [Consciousness](https://sassani.app/topic/consciousness) Markdown twin of https://sassani.app/topic/schizophrenia. The HTML page is the source of truth.