Why are geniuses (geniuses? genii?) almost always crazy?

Question

Is it like a pre-requisite on the resume or what?

Answer 1

No, this is again another mis-conception, look at stephen hawkins for example, very normal personality characteristic. This idea comes more from the observation that those with bi-polar depresssion were often associated with being great artists, musicians etc, however no scientific credability of this has ever been established and it tends to be associated with the artistic types.

Answer 2

Part of this is tradition. Historically, especially in more European cultures, you had this notion of the "artistic temperament", or of the person being guided by a "genius spirit" (a.k.a. a Genie), or of being "touched by Angels/God". Basically, it was a way to *explain* how people could *think* so differently without just flat-out calling people monsters (not that that didn't happen--it did too, search up "Galileo" or "Copernicus" sometime in the context of "church persecution"). So there's a tradition of seeing those who think *differently* as being "otherworldly" as it is....

But part of it too is the way society *reacts* to these people. Albert Einstein wasn't *always* accepted and respected by his peers in physics you know. Before Einstein had finished his work on Relativity and published it, most folks in that field of physics just wanted this "weird violinist" to go away. They looked down their noses at him, thought he didn't belong, and generally treated him like dirt.

And, you see this a *lot* in schools as well, that there are *many Many* more insults in High School for geeks, nerds, and people who are "too smart" than there are for people who are considered "stupid". Essentially, *nobody* likes smart people, not really. On principle, people will attack and disrespect the smarter, more intelligent person *until or unless* said person shows that he or she can be a "team player", suck it down and join a *group*.

This, in a nutshell, is the whole and entire difference between the careers of "Thomas Edison" versus "Nikolai Tesla"....just search those two names up on Wikipedia, it's that clear.

Edison's work was fundamentally more conservative, and after the light bulb, less revolutionary.....but the companies and businesses *wanted* him around, he was more sociable, more controllable by the groups and cliques.

Tesla, on the other hand, always did his own thing, and both in his life and afterward, was often ridiculed, attacked, and outright *ignored* for being his own man and *not* being a team player with the rich and powerful. He dared to be *brilliant* every time, damn the torpedoes and social consequences, and it cost him severely. Some would say it cost him his *life*.

So...while some of that "crazy" might well be traditional and entirely about living up to the hype of the *label* "genius", a *lot* of that "crazy" actually comes from having the rest of society *turn on you* and treat you like an outcast for "thinking too damn much". And this is especially true if that thinking *threatens the Rich People, god forbid*. Then this so-called human race declares *Open Season* on you and goes postal.

I hope this helps. ^_^ Have a Star!

Answer 3

Bradley p has this one but I'd like to add that in some cultures the crazy ones are often revered as saints. I will never forget the time that I was sitting in the middle of a city bus in Dublin Ireland the day after I had arrived from Vancouver, B.C. Canada. A very loud and boisterous crazy person tried to board the bus without paying and was yelling to the other passengers. I ignored him until he pointed to the (I thought) person in front of me and yelled, "And you, you just got here from Vancouver, didn't you?"!!! Maybe he was on some kind of drugs, but either way he was acting crazy yet from my point of view had access to information "normal people" do not.
See what I mean?

Answer 4

Our mind is only so big. We only use a small part of that. Can you imagine the focus necessary to be a genius? My theory is that all of our minds are relatively equal and that we choose the areas that we want to apply the little part of our brain that is allowed to work, and that is our limit. So that focusing will prevent one from being "worldly" or "all around". Thus the appearance of "crazy".

Answer 5

Only on the form in some form. In order to make any sense of the universal chaos, one must be crazy to begin with. I knew what I was getting into and chose to become anyway.

Answer 6

If the masses label as 'crazy' it is because they DO NOT UNDERSTAND THEM....and low vibrational thinking interprets 'different' as scary....weird or undesirable.


If the genius calls them self 'crazy' it would simply be another way of expressing the crossing over into the land of possibility instead of the status quo.

Answer 7

Writers, painters and musicians may turn out genius work because they suffer personality disorders. Albert Einstein was absent-minded. (He called once to find out what his address was.) All of us are a little crazy from time to time.
I think it is just more noticeable in the gifted.
C. :)!!

Answer 8

how do you define sane? the human mind is "crazy"... insane and under the illusions of living in the world of form, the world of separation and duality

Answer 9

Henry David Thoreau put it very succinctly re: a brilliant man that he once knew who was 'crazy:'
"Frequently those whom we assume to be half-witted are really one-and-a-half-witted."

Answer 10

You are not geniuses, but nobody say you are not crazy..........