Is there a thin line between genius and insanity?

Question

Who is the most brilliant person you have ever met, and was there anything odd amout them? Are you able to put your finger on it?

Answer 1

I'm intrigued by your question. I beleive that yes, most people that think on a different scale than the average community, are a bit insane. They make themselves that way, through overanalyzing, internalizing everything, predictive thought patterns, unrealistic expectations of society and the people around them, and an array of other self-defeating/self-destructive thought patterns. I believe there are more people out here with this condition, and as they think themselves "crazy" the affect is clear. I myself am what I consider a higher thinker, and my body experiences physical stress in direct correlation to my thought patterns. The racing thoughts, over analyzing etc.
I'm curious to hear what your name imply's. I'm not familiar with that term, could please enlighten me to it's meaning, you may email me at [e-mail] if youw ould like to help me understand that term. Thank you

Answer 2

this would be a fascinating question to ask a psychiatrist that has extensive knowledge of how people act during the manic stage of being bipolar..
In my personal experiences with the affliction there is no line that exists to me.. I am insane and I am a genius.. In my mind, I know all the answers to every question anybody could ever come up with.. but can never find the way to express the right words that anybody else can understand. But to everyone else.. I am just a crazy babbling idiot.. they can't see my thoughts or acknowledge that what I am saying really does make sense. It is very confusing to them.. and easier for them to misunderstand than it is to analyze the imformation to find the reality. People can be so ignorant sometimes.
Call me cocky, conceited, arrogant, or just plain mentally insane, but I have not found my intellectual equal, yet. I am odd for my lack of ability to be able to present my thoughts in a way that most people lack the ability to comprehend.. so I shy away from social interaction.. it is very stessful trying and failing to convince a world of sheep that I am leading the herd. And I have put the finger on it.. the manic side of being bipolar :)
I am sure a definite line exists to other people.. just like I do now, but there are also times when that line is either nonexistent or simply invisible.. at least in my twisted gifted and occasionally cursed mind..
Give me an independent IQ test.. and you will be amazed.. it is around 160-165 but I dropped out of high school as a sophomore and I work a normal job in a normal world just like normal people do.. what a frustrating life this is :)
Great question .. lol.. I needed to vent a little.. ok .. a lot

Answer 3

Truer word were never spoken. Insanity is on a continuum. One has to be a little insane to be a genius because genius is not normal. A genius cannot do ordinary things. A total idiot can do the simplest of things. I once had a professor in college that as he talked it sounded much like random comments. If you wrote what he said and then went back to your dorm room and organized the notes. He was a genius. If not it sounded like a bunch of ramblings. I tested a child because a teacher was convinced the child was abnormal because he couldn't do her work. After I tested him, he was a genius and completely bored in her room. Albert Einstein flunked Jr high math and then became known as a mathematical genius and had to have someone help him do ordinary things. Go figure!

A complete insane idiot could do simple things with no highlights of brilliancy.

Answer 4

The thing with genius is that they sometimes lack the social skills to live with the world around them. for example, my uncle can create anything mechanical that he could dream of but he is a jerk and doesn't bathe regularly. I also believe that everyone has a touch of genius in some aspect of their lives. Everyone is a genius if even in a small way.everyone is insane if even in a small way, too.

Answer 5

You know, it disturbs me that people think that being a genius eans by default you are a social loser with no people skills. WTF? Einstein was a humanitarian... just because he was eccentric does not mean he did not have vision for mankind. IQ and EQ do coexist in many poeple quite nicely, thank you very much.

I have been blessed with knowing some incredibly gifted thinkers, artists, and doers. I have worked with vaccine researchers, international development workers, ecologists, teaching pioneers, explorers, and business visionaries. The best story I can give, though, is the man who inspired me to survive a debilitating depression. His name is Rosanio, and he is 31. He is a Guatemalan peasant farmer, born to an alcoholic father. He dropped out of school in the 3rd grade to support his family. He started with nothing. He has a wife and 5 children. He has built his own house, revolutionized farming and animal care methods for 1000's of people, and has trained himself to be a veterinarian and community leader. His drive is quite simply to be the best damn human being he knows how to be. I had the incredible fortune to work alongside him for a year. His IQ is off the charts, despite the informality of his education. Most importantly is the fact that he knows how to apply it, and how to make others want to apply what he teaches them. I cannot explain where his drive comes from- it has to be something that is just there inside, and that circumstance couldn't quite kill. I hope I can do half as well with my life.

Is he odd? Hell yes! Quite simply, incredibly gifted people see the world from just as different a perspective as the folks who are considered mentally retarded. You wouldn't expect someone with an IQ of 70 to fit in at a child's birthday party, would you? As a parent, you would hav eto lay a lot of groundwork to explain to other kids how to treat that individual with respect, and understand that even though he/she is different, he/she still has feelings that can get hurt. Why should we expect any more/less from someone whose IQ falls 30-50 points ABOVE normal? Underneath, we are all human, but perhaps out frailties get magnified the more others fear us?

Answer 6

oh yes. especially the artistic genius. People in this catagory spend their lives using their bad feelings to produce their masterpeices but in all actuallity they do not reach catharsis as previously believed. The simple fact is that creating these works put them in a state of ruminating on whatever feelings they are using to create thier peice. It can be dangerous if they reach breaking point before reaching the closure that the act of creating usually brings! there are a million different pshychological studies that have been devoted to this mysterious subject.

Answer 7

Yes definitely, it always isn't a matter of grades in school or things such as this either. Some of the great men and women in history seemed to be disheveled and odd or eccentric in school and told they would never amount to anything and ended up being some of the brightest minds of our time. You can't always go by whats on the cover of people its whats ticking underneath.

Answer 8

i met a person of great learning when i was a volunteer at the jesus people center ,,in 1972 and 3 he appeared on the steps after church and as we were working on the place we let him stay and fed him ,,and he didnt leave and would try latin and greek on us but had wierd sayings and announcements ,,he designed a modern coke machine,, and spoke six languages and was a prof of engineering,, and was as looney as bugs bunny on mars ,he had escaped from a private insane asylum ,,and did it like clock work,, and so we called them because of the things he did was some times out of hand ,,and also he was bent crazy ,,he drank all of his water out of a peanut butter jar for the vitamins ,,,after bleaching the jar twice ,,i mean he was thinking on the atomic level ,, also i shacked up for a year and a half with a girl that was getting letters from charles manson ,,and that was wierd ,,an olde dude

Answer 9

there is no line between genius and insanity. the lines are between genius and moron, insane and lucid.

i haven't met the most brilliant person i've ever met. ask me next week - i have an appointment.

Answer 10

Yes, it was a homeless person. The Genius walks on a tight rope and if they fall off they tend to land in and insane world.