What is the limit of a genius vs. an insane person?

Question

May people in our lifes that are privately or socialy know as genious suffer big problems while inegraing in the rest of the society, and this, may times makes other people confuse them.

Answer 1

The following is what I have understood after reading through
some books. Manas is the component connected with reason
and logic. Chitta is the component connected wit intuition.
A genius, in whom the Chitta component of mind works dominantly, appears to be insane at times:

Modern psychologists say that passions have the same
limitations of senses as they tend toward immediate
emotional discharge. Chitta is the quick acting
component of the mind which can be termed as leftist or
negative thinking part. It is called negative because
some psychologists felt that it separates the received
information into pieces, contains unintentional and
contradictory ideas, and lacks internal organisation,
inner consistency, and concrete solutions. On the
contrary, some philosophers thought that this is the
'idealistic view' of thinking about a problem. This
center can handle divergent thoughts like a
multi-channel parallel processing hardware in a super
computer. It is the seat of the element Water. It
controls the processing of liquids in the body and
interaction of the body with the liquids out side the
body. Chitta means emotion or intuition. This center is
connected with instincts, urges, impulses, desires,
imagination, sentiments, passions, caring, pleasure,
exploration, unconventional ideas, moods, insight,
superstitions, immodesty, immorality, analysis of
details, concern about particular features, capacity to
find novel relationships, unrestrained expressions
connected with body or mind, molding of past
experiences into new constellations of meanings,
creation of artistic, poetic and musical works and the
like. Seeing a good work of painting or listening to
music of one's liking will set waves of emotion in
Chitta center. This center helps us to imagine things
in new ways. It is known that lighter side of life like
fun may contain silly and ridiculous situations. An
artist is said to go to the extremes to divorce himself
from environmental constraints. Such is the way in
which Chitta works. This center has seeds of past
memories and can access Jnaana center for more details
of each memory. It controls the sensitivity of the
sense-organs. If the vitality of this center gets
reduced due to any reason, the sensitivity of the
sense-organs also gets reduced. For example, the
sense-organs feel sleepy after an ejaculation in man.
Even if the man has very high artistic talents, they
also will not respond normally soon after the
ejaculation. It takes about 40 minutes before some
recovery is felt. This center can be compared to a
convex lens - it provides insight for the subtle. It's
working is similar to Differentiation in mathematics.
It helps to observe all the minor details, and each
minor detail is given very high importance. In the
fallen object case that we are studying, Chitta will
help to observe the individual parts of the fallen body
as if they are seen through a convex lens. The first
phase of the pattern recognition takes place here. It
will pass on the original signal along with it's
pattern recognition report to it's higher center, the
Manas.

Ancient astrologer Satyacharya described Venus as a
damsel of 16 years age. Chitta can be called
adolescent's mind because they can notice even minute
changes in familiar objects. It may be remembered here
that private organ matures during adolescence period.
It is a known fact that emotions forge bonds between
the infant and her mother, the husband and his wife,
and a person with others in the family. This way, the
center of creation (the private organ) is also
connected with creative ideas and bonds between life
forms. However, scientists are not sure how the so
called emotional mechanism of the brain works. Some
modern philosophers wrote that emotion has a strong
physical component which is primarily felt in the body.
Some modern writers of books on mind-control
described 'emotion' as energy of body in motion. The
very meaning of the word 'emotion' is given in some
dictionaries as that which causes physiological changes
and prepares the body for immediate vigorous action.
This effect is attested by many painters and music
composers who felt intense sensation in private organ
when they created master pieces.

Intelligence implies ability to solve a problem using
pre-established norms and conventional solutions; this
is done by Manas center. Creativity implies a new and
probably a nonconfirmist end product; this is done by
Chitta center. At times, spontaneous and creative ideas
of Chitta may appear like hallucinations of a
schizophrenic or a rebel. Chitta is connected with
separation, dissociation, diversification and
incomprehensible. Manas is connected with combination,
association, unification and comprehensible. If a great
poem is written using impulses from Chitta, it is
repeatedly revised using the laborious instructions
from Manas before it can be accepted by Buddhi center
and becomes a masterpiece. A simple way of
understanding the working of Chitta and Manas is
through the saying that little minds are interested in
the extraordinary, and great minds in the common
interests. Modern psychologist say that emotion works
on an imaginary plane and reason works on the real
plane. Reason has vision but cannot make a person act
instantly; it is the reverse of emotion. On the other
hand, what Manas warns as something wrong will not be
considered by Chitta. This creates the highest mental
struggle in most of the civilized human beings.

Answer 2

Well they say that there is a fine line between genius & insanity. The difference is that the genius has a grasp on reality but has very unorthodoxed ideas & may seem insane to others while the insane person has no grasp on reality. Both exist on the fringes of society. They do not fit in with common people, the majority who are neither geniuses nor insane, who exist within the ordinary "sane but not exceptional" level. A genius may appear eccentric (wearing the same clothes every day so that they don't have to waste time thinking about what to wear for example. It may seem nutty but it makes sense. A great mind has better things to do. These people don't care about image. They don't care what other people think.) A genius may have quirks that others may label "insane" but that have logic behind them. Anyone who invents or discovers something new may be deemed insane because people are resistant to change & have a hard time accepting truly innovative ideas. An insane person may not have the creative capacity of a genius...then again some very creative & ingenius artists were deeply disturbed & may have been "insane" but they still created groundbreaking, visionary works...Sometimes a genius may go mad because a beautiful mind can be very fragile (as shown in the true life-based movie of the same name). If someone is highly perceptive & sensitive, if they know more than the rest of us, if they see & feel more, it could be a burden & could cause them to snap. The harsh world can break them down...

If you stand out rather than fit in, if you think & live outside the box then people may not understand you & will label you accordingly. Genius of course has very positive connotations while insane has negative ones. It's all in the labeling. Some negative words for people who don't fit in: weird, strange, crazy etc). Some positive words for those who break the mold: unique, exceptional, extraordinary...

Either way it would be a somewhat lonely & difficult existence to always feel different. To know that you are not like everyone else...

As far as sanity is concerned however, it's very difficult to prove sanity or insanity. It's all relative. I heard about an experiment where a psychologist posed as an insane person & was committed to an institution so that he could observe it from the inside. He was able to fool them easily enough. Anyone can try to "act crazy." Once inside however, he had a hard time convincing them that he was sane! "No, really, I just pretended to be insane to get in here!" That itself would sound crazy. I think being surrounded by insane people would be very difficult for anyone & would start to get to you. I think that being locked up in a psych ward could drive a sane person crazy because the skewed reality becomes the norm...

Anyway, I'm babbling so I'll just stop now! For me, I admire anyone who dares to live on the fringes...

:)

Answer 3

Genius vs. Insanity: The problem seem to be a two edge sword. The person that is a Genius; is He/She that is not driven Insane by the understanding of what is not common thought.

The Genius is ridiculed, debased, insulted and challenged by those that have not thought of the subject at hand. Granted these people are well read, and well EDUCATED. But aside from what they have been thought, they do not understand the logic of the mental reasoning of the subject.

So a Genius has to overcome the subject first, then the LEARN-NED people, both tasks can drive a person into insanity.

Granted: The fact that most Geniuses lack development in some parts of their personal well being, causes many of us to overlook the reasoning of the person on the matter at hand.

Answer 4

The current definition of "insane" according to the American Psychiatric Association is blurry, but for the most part is someone who falls into the psychotic classification. This includes people who are considered "delusional." By definition, a delusion is a belief held with conviction despite no evidence to believe it or despite evidence to the contrary. So, when a person considered a genius (and I'm not sure here if you mean "genius" according to IQ score) begins to have delusions, then yes the person crosses the threshold into insanity. However, what is a belief held with conviction despite no evidence to believe it?-- anything considered illogical, unscientific, non-empirical, etc. can fall into this category. There are radical atheists who would say people who believe God exists are insane.

The other point I wanted to make was a "genius" who specializes in some field may spend a lot of time alone absorbed in his or her work. This intense focus can lead to more stress than most people experience. Stress can push people more in the direction of mental illness when combined with other factors. This is also why some more "introverted" individuals might lack social graces. We live in a society that values the extroverted person, so it is an immediate handicap for the "genius" to integrate into society.

Answer 5

I think it falls like this: You can have a genious, who is either insane or not, or you can have an insane person, who could be a genious or not. Some are neither and some are both. They fall together more often because being a genious is a huge weight to deal with and can sometimes make someone insane. Some people are so darn smart they seem like they're insane, but they're not.

Answer 6

gen·ius

gen·ius [jnyəss, jnee əss]
(plural gen·ius·es)
n
1. somebody with outstanding talent: somebody with exceptional ability, especially somebody whose intellectual or creative achievements gain worldwide recognition
2. outstanding talent: exceptional talent of a particular kind
3. somebody with particular skill: somebody who has a particular skill
a genius with computers

4. (plural ge·ni·i) quality: a special quality that characterizes a place, period, or people
5. (plural ge·ni·i) guardian spirit: in Roman mythology, a guardian spirit of a person, place, or institution
6. (plural ge·ni·i) demon: a demon or supernatural being
7. influence: a strong influence, or somebody who exerts a strong influence
an evil genius



[14th century. From Latin , “guardian spirit,” from gignere “to beget.”]


in·san·i·ty

in·san·i·ty [in sánnətee]
(plural in·san·i·ties)
n
1. lack of reason or good sense: extreme foolishness or an act that demonstrates it
2. law legal incompetence or irresponsibility because of a psychiatric disorder

Encarta ® World English Dictionary © & (P) 1998-2004 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

In view of the above defintions, if a genius begins to act foolish or otherwise exhibits a psychiatric disorder, they are insane Just as anybody else. Otherwise, they are a stable genius.

Answer 7

You are so very correct. Unfortunately...people are afraid of what they don't understand therefore...if they do not understand or feel intimidated by someone who exhibits such genius, they are generally ostracized and fall into some kind of pecking order.
A movie I believe you would find a wonderful example of this would be "Instinct" with Anthony Hopkins and Cuba Gooding Jr. Of course Anthony Hopkins eh...isn't he always chosen for such roles? He was a genius as Hannibal Lecter too wasn't he? I look forward to seeing "Hannibal rising." Perhaps this will shed some light as well.

Answer 8

I think possibly its the problem of knowing too much. Maybe they are so smart in one aspect that it causes defects in others. Maybe there is something missing from their intelligence equation that they cannot deal with the deep thought that is their own. Maybe they lack the ability to control the intellect? Just because someone is intelligent doesn't mean they are able to deal emotionally with their own interpretations of a particular problem.

Think about this: What if tomorrow you woke up and you realized the meaning to life and were unable to deal with knowing the truth? Maybe at some point knowing too much, has consequences.

Answer 9

I think almost all geniuses are considered insane until their brilliance is brought out for all to see. Many of them are insane, just equally as smart as they are crazy. Haha. But people tend to look at very smart people as being a little crazy until they come to an understanding of what that person is doing, accomplishing, and thinking. Sometimes people aren't known for the genius until after death, when their work is up for public scrutiny.

Answer 10

genius is an organized insanity.that is the only difference. the insane person lacks the ability to put all of their thoughts together to create logical ideas, and the genius can control their responses.