Why is there such as strong link between genius and complete madness?

Question

Sigmund Freud, Bobby Fischer, Jim Morrison etc.

Answer 1

To be recognised as a genius, you need to be able to think differently from everyone else........you need to be thinking and doing things that no-one else has ever thought of.

But, if you do think or act differently from everyone else, then you are outside "normal" society and therefore everyone thinks you are mad.

Answer 2

There is a fine line between genius and insanity. Let's compare this to a clock. Start at 12 o'clock and proceed clockwise. Once you get to 11:59 (let's not take Am or Pm into consideration) that is the point where genius is established and everything makes explicit sense. You then reach the 12 o' clock position and are so confused that you feel like a total dumb-***, so you go to 12:01 and insanity kicks in. You can make this loop around the clock several times and then realize that the further you go on your quest for knowledge---the less you know. There are so many dimensions. Madness and insanity is when you are unable to move counter-clockwise and find your way back to a comfortable realization and understanding.

Answer 3

Being a genius means thinking outside the box. If you think out the box for too long you end up being out of your box . I don't know whether Jim Morrison was a genius or bobby fisher but Sigmung Fraud suffered mental illness due to his strange upbringing and that gave him an interest in his own psychology. He developed original ideas based on his own thought processors and would probably developed neurosis if he had been a manual labourer. Someone like Einstein I consider to be a genius . He worked out concepts that are so far out of standard ways at looking at things that even now they are very difficult to grasp unless you have a thorough grasp of physics and mathematics. I don't think Einstein would ever be considered insane.

Answer 4

Actually there is a strong link between Polar depression and genius , many poets seem to have had this symptom in particularly. If you have an interest get hold of a book called
The midday Angel which gives tables and relationships of hereditary links to Manic depression.

Of course Musicians come in second in the table and surprisingly though artist are low on the league I assume that they can get their neurosis on to canvas quicker and norms in society are more ready to accept radical works in this media as being Experimental

Answer 5

I never heard, until now, that Sigmund Freud was regarded as mad. Or that Jim Morrison was a genius, either.

Answer 6

I just wrote a paper on this, and to sum it up, to have the ability to see more broadly, to understand things is to see all the horror, sorrow, and brutality, and futility, loneliness and frustration in trying to share this with those who will never have the capacity to see things the same. Is there such a thing as madness, or is it just a different way of being?

Answer 7

Is there? And how do you define "madness"? Being able to see into "other dimensions", and being many steps beyond the average moron on this planet, and living a non clone existence, does not = madness, my friend.

Moreover, many of those who are "in charge" of repairing the madness, the psychiatrists and Ph.d. psychologists i've run into; and, no, not in their "professional" role, are some of the most confused and pathetic human specimens i've yet encountered. Altho', at least they do have triple digit i.q.'s--somewhat refreshing :))

Answer 8

Because ignorance really is bliss. The more you are able to see the stark realities of the world and the way it works, the madder you become at not being able to change or fix it. You would be much happier and better adjusted if you were totally ignorant.

Answer 9

I believe it's due to the fact that, genius's tend to think rather radically, or in a way that seems radical to normal society. And they tend to support their beliefs very strongly. In some cases their prepositions are to a particularly extreme point, where their sanity is questioned.

Answer 10

Genius typically has to do with extra-ordinary output, whether it's in volume, nature, etc, which usually calls for some kind of manic or hyper state, hence it's close association with "madness".