Why does Genius border Insanity?

Stupid can border on insanity, also, I am afraid.

Genius and insanity abound on all fronts of every person every day. So, where is the line? Is it a line of making in the shadows of professional relationships or does it come from the personal relationships we hold so dear and continually try to dismantle? There really is no creative fine line between anything. The lines are made, thick and black and glaring. The only question here is of a difference between genius and insanity. What is the difference? Genius is all around us. From the smart moves of a financial tycoon to the despairing moment-by-moment life a poet lives. And what of insanity? Where does it come to play? Insanity is the inside coat pocket of society. We are all accused of being insane; of making poor decisions, of living without thinking, and of trying when futility is so noticeable that it hurts. But we try anyway. When genius fails, we go for the insanity.

Everywhere we look people are comparing themselves to the genius, to the insane, to the dead. We must make our own moves, be them a touch insane or perhaps sparked by genius. It is within all of us to write a "Sophie's Choice". A work of literary genius penned by the insane. To be human is to have more than a moment of insanity. To be human is to have more than a moment of genius. The genius are often insane, and the insane are often genius. The two go hand-in-hand, living the duality of life the comes from the pressure of the opposing sides. Without one, you cannot have the other. Styron and Hemingway are proof-positive that insanity is the underlying foundation of genius. Bukowski and Kerouc are the genius that lives in insanity. Within society though, they all lived and created. Insane, genius, or otherwise they all had their moments to share, their stories to tell, their insane genius to battle. From drink and clinical illness and genetic predisposition we have come so far. Life is not what it used to be. It is now a battle raging in all of us. That is why we write, love, hate, and share ourselves with total strangers. We all have a bit of genius and crazy in us. That is what makes us people. The insanity of life drives our genius. We are the derivative of the life we lead. Some moments are better than others, some worse, but they all chisel us into something that needs something else. We drive and fight and want to press on. To be better.
There is nothing better than stepping across a line in the sand. To say: "I have done it." The genius oft times don't step across that line, but leap across it, screaming: "I have done it!". Usually it is insane, but to make a mark and progress us forward, it is necessary that someone do just that. As the genius knows, it is not about what you do, but rather how you do it. Sometimes it is practical to take the daring step, to oppose, and to kill the critics back with a fury of: "you didn't like it the first time....what do you think now?!?". Genius coming forward forces us to think and rethink what we thought we knew. The insanity lies in the chance taken. The daring, under-encouraged, and the addicted are the jewels in the crown of humanitarian prospects. Fame and fortune not withstanding, it is in all of us to be the genius. Rightly so, it is also in all of us to be the insane. To not be either is to be nothing. We need the insane as much as we need the genius. The insane are the genius. And the genius are insane. There is no line, not in this sandbox of American society.
Author, Thomas Kurkoski.

Could not have said it better myself.

Maybe the difference is more thus.
Genius and insanity: We got warned in training that very intelligent people on certain tests can score very similarly to people who suffer from psychotic disorders. Why? different ways of seeing reality. This is why it is imperative that one does not diagnose a patient based on pencil and paper measures only. People who are very intelligent and suffer from disorders seldom leap without looking. Often they have a good idea of what the consequences of leaping are and have taken them into account, albeit more quickly or in a manner that is unlike that of most people. They often are less quiet about making the leap than are "sane " genuises and offend people while leaping. I think this is what can get them into trouble

Insanity and stupidity: these are the guys who don't look before leaping. We just never hear about these guys. These are the ones who tie the rockets on their backs thinking they're going to get to the moon and everyone says "Go figure". Sometimes they get lucky and really stop and think and do something great. More power to them, I say! I don't think you have to be that insane to fit into this group. Sometimes it's just the guy who ends up impulsively saving the lives of several other people because the idea suddenly hits him to try something no one else ever has, but he doesn't know that. He just doesn't have anything left to lose...

Sanity is a societal concept. The average form the concept and the average don't like their safe world view challenged.

Lost Savant,

This is a complex issue to which there is not a short answer, however, I am going to answer briefly anyway. I think this issue falls within the blessing and burden model. To be intellectually gifted is potentially a wonderful gift, but it also becomes a burden for many people in the sense that many geniuses are not able to function easily, or are also sensitive and insightful about issues that do not even register in the "average" person's mind.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year,

EJ

Ummm, yeah. What they said.

I'll go with all of the above, since topics like these are making my head spin these days .

I'm with Hayward on this issue. I'm feeling overwhelmed. I think the key (probably already said) is in the nature of the thinking processes. The genius thinks at a much higher level than the average person, perceiving connections that the average person could never perceive. I hate to think of the human versus ant difference, but it can almost be that strong. (My son shared with me a book about geniuses.) When people think differently than most folks, then they start getting perceived as "insane."

Well, from my personal experience:
We have done a whole battery of psychometric tests at work recently, and we also did them when I was still in school. To cut a long story short, I am in a very analytical type of job, and scored near the top of my colleagues in the psychometric testing. This increases management's expectations of me, and I don't cope.

So, I probably have very good analytical skills and above average IQ - yet I am bipolar, and left on my own with my thoughts, I become my own worst enemy. I don't see my analytical skills as beneficial when it comes to dealing with my emotions - it makes it worse.

That can be learned. Just like we are taught other ways to use our thinking... rationality for example is also taught... it is not genetic. We are taught (or at least should be taught) to analyze the outside world, to apply different approaches to it... it can be use for our own thoughts as well.

My analytical way of thinking gets in the way of a healthy state of being. One cannot analyse every single feeling and emotion. I spend all my time in my head, and get tangled in my own thoughts and feelings

True that. That is why I stopped mood charting and journaling. I started to viewing everything as a symptom.

But you can try to rationally set the feelings and moods aside from your actions. I guess there is some spirituality involved (but for me all this is rational to a degree...), but one can separate the lawyers of momentary feelings from who they are...

Thanks Venus - i still have a lot to learn about myself and then learn coping mechanisms. I guess this is the mindfulness part of things - separating feelings from actions.

Nature always looks for the edge of chaos. Every ecosystem will tend to grow more complicated in a process which makes it more versatile and powerful but also more prone to instabilities.

The evolution of mankind works in much the same way. By increasing the thought space inside our minds nature makes us more capable of invention and innovation. But expanding thoughts leads to less and less solid ground to walk on.

As nature attempts to approach the edge of chaos sometimes accidents happen and the system is destabilized. This can also happen in our brains. The consequences may come in the form of ADD, mood disorders, autism, schizophrenia, hypersensitivity or maybe simply susceptibility to headaches and hey fever.

If you except leadership figures and statesmen I think you will be hard pressed to find any true genius who is not neurodiverse in some way.

http://www.thelocal.se/26708/20100518/

I found learn to deal with wider and wider range of emotions very usefull... because you can never control the emotions fully, they will still appear. If you are comfortable with them, you will sail through more easily...

I agree....I also agree in "Personal Perceptional Reality"

Again I concur!!!! That's why I feel there is a difference between "normality" and "reality".

The distinction between psychological illness and creative thinking is wafer thin, new Swedish research confirms, arguing that there is a feasible explanation for why the age-old myth of genius bordering on insanity could in fact be true.

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It is previously known that highly creative abilities are somewhat more common in people who have familial history of mental illness and thus carry a greater risk of both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Researchers at Stockholm's Karolinska Institute have now sought to explain this link by studying receptors in the thalamic region of the brain.

"We have studied the brain and a certain type of receptor, known as dopamine D2 receptors, and we have shown that the dopamine system in healthy highly creative people is similar to that found in schizophrenics," Dr.Fredrik Ullén, who led the study at the Department of Women's and Children's Health at the institute, told The Local on Tuesday.

The study, penned by Ullén and Örjan de Manzano, and entitled Thinking Outside a Less Intact Box, indicates that certain characteristics, such as being able to make bizarre and unusual associations are common to both schizophrenics and healthy highly creative people.

"Our study indicates that certain characteristics of psychological illness can benefit those who are otherwise psychological healthy," Ullén explained.

"You could say that this study proves that genius does in fact border on insanity, but people diagnosed with psychological illness can not be highly creative, this is important to underline," he said.

While Fredrik Ullén explains that while the exact nature of the mechanisms in the brain which impact on this link are as yet unknown, the brain's dopamine system could provide a feasible explanation.

"A lower reading, common to both highly creative people and schizophrenics, may afford a greater richness of thought, less filtering of information and thus the ability to make more associations, in more ways. Thinking outside the box might be facilitated by having a somewhat less intact box."

The study identified "highly creative people" with the help of psychological testing which among other things assessed ability to apply multiple uses to objects and find a greater number of solutions to a problem.

Fascinating Study, thank you Bzy for the input . What box? I don't see a box....giggle....