A good topic, one that has been discussed elsewhere with both insight and humor:
http://www.cracked.com/article_16559_7-eccentric-geniuses-who-were-clearly-just-insane.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity_and_mental_illness
Given our history as a species and the sheer *number* of people considered by
our modern society to be great artists but whose society while they lived
considered them to be crazier than a bedbug, I cannot help but be grateful for
each little spark of madness we've managed to keep alive, while society
attempts to douse it and keep it from ever becoming the flame of true creative
genius.
Robin Williams - Spark of Madness
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From: salyavin808 no_re...@yahoogroups.com
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Monday, June 8, 2015 10:14 PM
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Genius and insanity...
This is interesting. Seems fairly obvious that a mind supercharged with
hypomania will be more creative than a more typically dull one. That Van Gogh
was a manic depressive seems like it might be a reliable
diagnosis-at-a-distance, but that doesn't mean he wasn't also a great painter
anyway, oh no. The guy was a genius too. His radical blend of impressionism and
elements taken from Japanese painting coupled with an observant eye for nature
and knowledge of the ultimately pointless and ephemeral nature of life and his
belief in social justice made him a radical figure and not much understood in
his day.
But would he have been more successful if he'd been normal? There's no way to
know. But a soul on fire looks at the world in a different way and doesn't just
accept it. To feel the world's pain as well as your own isn't everyone's lot in
life - fortunately for them - but it does give the sufferer/blessed a
perspective that makes everyone else confront something they hadn't seen.
Drugs are another way of breaking the chain of social conditioning. It's hardly
any wonder there was a massive cultural revolution when the CIA stopped trying
to brainwash people with LSD and gave it to a young writer called Ken Kesey.
The rest is (or should be) history.
So yes, I'm firmly in the camp that thinks breaking down internal barriers sets
you free to create the sort of things you actually want to create rather than
the ones the birth-school-work-death-world wants you to choose from.
New study claims to find genetic link between creativity and mental illness
||
|||| New study claims to find genetic link between
creativi... Results imply creative people are 25% more likely to carry genes
that raise risk of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. But some argue the
evidence is flimsy||
| View on www.theguardian.com |Preview by Yahoo|
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