The condition of alienation, of being asleep, of being unconscious, of being out of one's mind, is the condition of the normal man.
R. D. LaingSociety highly values its normal man. It educates children to lose themselves and to become absurd, and thus to be normal.
R. D. LaingWe are born into a world where alienation awaits us. We are potentially men, but are in an alienated state, and this state is not simply a natural system. Alienation as our present destiny is achieved only by outrageous violence perpetrated by human beings on human beings.
R. D. LaingOur capacity to think, except in the service of what we are dangerously deluded in supposing is our self-interest and in conformity with common sense, is pitifully limited: our capacity even to see, hear, touch, taste and smell is so shrouded in veils of mystification that an intensive discipline of unlearning is necessary for anyone before one can begin to experience the world afresh, with innocence, truth and love.
R. D. Laing