This was one of my favourite discussions on the big R, so I thought I'd carry it over for posterity

OP (u/Exodia251)

Could someone with a strong enough will survive looking at any of the old gods with their mind intact? I don't know if all of them have the insanity factor or just cthulhu, but I'm mainly curious about our underwater priest boy

EDIT: I appreciate all the well written responses! From what I'm understanding it's not just seeing them that causes insanity. It's not being able to comprehend that beings of such size and potential exist on our universe. Or knowing you have no way of sharing the knowledge you have earned without people thinking you've lost your mind.

Response (u/[deleted])

I think the idea is that humans have set beliefs in how the universe works, but these creatures defy our understanding. They exist in a way that isn’t supported by science and I think THAT is why ppl go mad. I heard a fantastic explanation a while back, which went something like this: “If an ant had the ability to speak like a human being, it could theoretically communicate with us and request things of us. The ant is regarded with a kind of rudimentary respect since it clearly is more intelligent/capable than the other ants. We talk to the ant, the ant talks to us, we tell it about the universe and how we understand it, and everybody has a great time! Of course, we humans can’t spend our entire lives hanging around this one ant, so eventually we leave it to its own devices and move on. For us, that was a neat little experience! We humans sally forth on our eternal trudge through our bizarre, massive, endoskeletal lives. But…for the ant? Well, the ant just experienced things that it can NEVER communicate to other ants. Ever. It will never be able to give voice to what happened because the other ants don’t have any ability to comprehend the things it saw or said to us. It will live out its days in swirling madness, surrounded by its compatriots but utterly alone, seemingly insane, frothing about some non-pheromonal method of communication that involved ejecting vibrating air from its mandibles? What? The other ants just shrug and go about their lives, unconcerned with the world above, but that one, single ant, who dared to look beyond the veil, is permanently and completely changed.” That…my friend, is the madness. Not a matter of will, but of reintegrating into a society that cannot, will not, and is incapable of, understanding what happened to you and how the universe looks to you now.

Edit: this is what I was thinking of, thanks fellow Redditors! https://i.redd.it/6rstedlo0rb71.jpg