The problem with insanity is the fear almost every people have toward it.
At the begining of the consideration of madness, it was believed to be a God's act, whether a punition or a gift. During centuries, this was the total consensus, from genuines to hysterics. It permetted to protect the social tissue from dissident point of views, to establish a "normality", this beeing just a security.
After that, perception of it changed, but not the magical thinking toward it. Maybe religions are to blame here, or the too slow evolving of Humanity. I really don't know.
Considered this, there are two ways people apprehend this so called "madness" even today : reject it, or enviate it. Both cases, it's a state of mind that is considerably difficult to apprehend and judge. We are all mad for at least someone in the world I guess. As you said there is a social, historical backgroung, but there is the personnal background too. We all live in our little movie, interacting with other movies from time to time. As long as there is no suffering, there is no problem with it, who cares ? We all do what we have to do as best as we can do, whatever people can judge mad or not. For me it's just the process of living, not madness or insanity.
I relate insanity to suffering, self dissolution not into God, but into archetypal fears, paranoia, and that's why I made this remark on the other post
. In other world, the true need of the other to reassure "vis a vis" of this madness, help take the best of it, gaining confidence into this world again. It requires time before beeing able to canalize this different energy to create whatever it is, wich is gonna conquire hearts of the others with its light.
However, I think many of us considered having touched madness while on psychedelics, but I think we are/were wrong here, it's just another point of view of reality.
I'm not sure to be that clear, I really have to improve my english