There are many people who wonder what to do with the mental patients.

I have a solution. Turn them into saints.

Now I can most certainly understand why many people would not want their tax money being used to fund gangs or drug addiction. That does not however have to be the only outcome. Some people cannot compete in the market, but that doesn’t mean that they cannot make viable contributions to society. So my solution: Help them, but demand that they hold themselves to a high standard of conduct in return.

I have found that most people have capacity for generosity. They however do not want to see their generosity being abused. When charities build underground car parks for the BMWs of the executives, or when taxpayer money is used to fund drug addiction, people don’t feel like being generous any longer. This is an undesirable outcome. Goodwill is a valuable commodity, and it should not be abused.

Tim Leary wrote that psychotics were misunderstood mystics. I have definitely seen a strong mystical side on the part of any number of people in mental health. Having screwy brain chemistry can be helpful in spiritual experience; and Dostoyevsky, being an epileptic, wrote his greatest work during his epileptic fits. What is a disadvantage in one pursuit can be an advantage in another. My solution is to make good of a bad situation. Take the propensity for psychosis and use it to create legitimate spiritual experience and legitimate personal growth.

We see some of this being done in AA. I have been involved with AA, and I have been impressed with much of what I have found. Some of these people develop better character than most non-alcoholics. They say that they aren’t saints, but they are willing to grow along spiritual lines. And many people who do that actually do become saints.

So I say, take a bad situation and turn it into a good situation. Take the person’s propensity for psychosis and use it to direct him to genuine spiritual betterment. The more this is done, the less the taxpayer will feel taken advantage of. And the more the people’s capacity for generosity will produce good results.