Malkavians and Insanity

Insanity is simply a condition wherein your mental processes don't conform
to society's standard. I think one of the best ways I've seen it put was
by the guy in "12 Monkeys," who called himself "mentally divergent." 

It is entirely possible that some of us on this list fit that definition
of insanity. I know that if I were subjected to psychoanalysis, I would
probably be judged at least "unstable and maladjusted." I think outside
the lines, and so I am insane. 

Now, I agree that many forms of insanity can be debilating to the point
where you become unable to interact with the rest of the world. But who
really knows what's going on inside those heads? What does a man who
believes himself to be a rutabaga really see? There's no way for us to
tell. It's entirely possible that they're seeing all those universal
truths the Malkavians are supposed to be able to percieve. It's also
entirely possible that they have no clue that they're doing so, and are
totally unable to make sense of what they see. 

I prefer to think of Malkavians as genuinely insane. Their minds are
divergent. But due to something, probably in the blood, they are able to
grasp what lies inside the madness. They can understand what they're
seeing, and that drives them even further into madness, even as it drives
them into the ultimate sanity. That's Malkav's real gift: the ability to
see, and to know what you're seeing. 

Alik