circa 1500, "typical, common"
in geometry, "standing at a right angle, perpendicular"
from Late Latin normalis "in conformity with rule, normal"
in classic Latin, it meant "made according to a carpenter's square"
from norma "standard, pattern, carpenter's square"
“The real hopeless victims of mental illness are to be found among those who appear to be most normal. "Many of them are normal because they are so well adjusted to our mode of existence, because their human voice has been silenced so early in their lives, that they do not even struggle or suffer or develop symptoms as the neurotic does." They are normal not in what may be called the absolute sense of the word; they are normal only in relation to a profoundly abnormal society. Their perfect adjustment to that abnormal society is a measure of their mental sickness. These millions of abnormally normal people, living without fuss in a society to which, if they were fully human beings, they ought not to be adjusted.”
"Brave New World Revisited"
“I am not sure why anyone adjusts to things prescribed as usual or typical. The very idea of there being such a thing seems rather twisted. Prescriptions are a bizarre concept. A normal life seems to lead straight to a selection of normal ails, with ready-made and very normal pills to compensate for the ails, while a natural life contains none of those issues!
In having trouble adjusting to a normal life, as you call it, it rather seems as if your being and essence are decently equipped to steer you away from disaster.”
"Originals"
~☉~ | lucid definition; added layer of lucidity, or aethereal context |
⚜ | classic definition |
☣ | artificium definition; usually words which have undergone a warped evolution, or a complete perversion of the original sense |