We see that Fool on the Tarot Card deck, wearing his cap of tinkling bells, walking idly where he will. He gazes upwards at the heavens in awe and his feet wander hither and thither, seemingly disconnected from the earth. He is about to walk right off the cliff. Where will he fall? Into the fiery pits of seething Hell? Into the Ultimate Void of No-thing?
Different interpretations have been made of this card. Some regard it as ill forture and perceive the Fool as an idiot who refuses to listen to good advice, but stubbornly goes on his own way as he will. Some regard the Fool as a Holy Man who has no ties to the earth and is about to make the Supreme Breakthrough into Wisdom. Others regard it as both, depending on which way the card falls.
Similarly, different interpretations have been made about what would be termed "mental illness" in our society. Madness was once regarded as visitations from the Muse of Heaven, and people with it tended to be worshipped and revered. Now it is looked upon as undesirable manifestations of the Id and other ogres of the Dreaded Unconscious Mind. People shake their heads sadly and attempt to get the afflicted person "normal" as soon as possible.
It could be they are both right and both wrong. Where both parties miss the mark is in attempting to stereotype all signs of abnormality as either one type or the other. There are different types of madness lying on a spectrum (and I would refer you to an author, Ken Wilbur, for this). A rather unpleasant kind of madness is where one is obsessed by one's own ego and believes everyone is out to destroy that ego or its highly valued possessions (often called paranoia). In lesser degrees, this is regarded as quite normal insanity. However, there is the kind of madness where one hears the Voice of God and perceives a Unity pervading the Universe. Is this something that needs to be "fixed" - or is there something we could learn from this person?
To put it another way, there is negative madness and there is positive madness. Negative madness is highly egotistical; one feels vastly cheated because the world doesn't serve that ego. Positive madness transcends ego; one feels inspired and uplifted to an inordinate degree by the beauties of the universe. Negative madness is obsessed with all the negative emotions: fear, anger, hatred, sadness, etc. Positive madness is drawn to more positive emotions: love, inspiration, happiness, humor, etc. Perhaps there is something that goes even further than this dualistic perspective, a madness that lies beyond even these. Negative madness is locked up in habitual thought-patterns; positive madness goes beyond them (which is why so many creative persons are found in this category).
In any case, the following stories are examples of both kinds of madness. Let us proceed onwards with the Fool on his Wayward Journey.