Creativity and Mental Illness Essay -- Biology Essays Research Papers

Creativity and Mental IllnessMen have c each(prenominal)ed me mad, but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence--whether much that is glorious--whether entirely that is profound--does not spring from disease of thought--from moods of mind exalted at the expense of the general intellect. Those who dream by day argon cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night - Edgar Allen PoeWhen you are insane, you are busy being insane - all the time... When I was crazy, thats all I was. - Sylvia Plath Is creative genius aroundhow woven together with madness? According to the dictionary, to create is to bring into being or form out of nothing. much(prenominal) a powerful, mysterious, and even impossible act must surely be beyond the scope of scientific inquiry No wonder creativity has for so long been explained as the expression of an irrational, intuitive psychic underground teaming with forces (perhaps divine) that are unkn own and unknowable (at least to the sane, conventional mind). The ancient Greeks believed creative inspiration was achieved with altered states of mind such as divine madness. Socrates said If a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection, but are utterly eclipsed by the inspired hothead (8). Creative inspiration - particularly artistic inspiration -- has often been thought to require the sampling of dark depths of irrationality while maintaining at least some connection to everyday reality. This dive into underground forces reminds one of a skin-diver with a breathing tube wrote Arthur Koestler in his influential book... ...ard Mental Health Letter, bump into 1996 http//www.mentalhealth.com/mag1/p5h-cre1.html6) Artistic Inspiration and the Brain , Another response to Dr. Bruce Miller study - FTD & creativity http//www.artsfusion.com/1999/janu ary/awfeaturejan.html7) The Systems View of Life , includes discussion of how creativity is fundamentally built into all living systems -by Fritjof Capra, theoretical high-energy physicist and author. Capra studied with Werner Heisenberg at the University of Vienna. He does research at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and lectures at the University of California, Berkeley. http//magna.com.au/prfbrown/capra_3.html8) Amazon.com, To order the book Touched with apprise Manic Depressive Illness and the Artistic temperment - by Kay Redfield Jamison http//www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/068483183X/themeadowlarkpre/102-1781957-3733743