Gee..I dunno about this. To me, madness denotes loss of sanity, reasoning, and mental illness generally. Everyone I've known or taken care of who suffers this way would not call it a gift.
Poetically perhaps it can be considered to be so...some very gifted, artistic and yes, geniuses were considered crazy!!
Guy sitting in a noisy contraption that looks like a giant box kite on the top of a hill claiming it will fly. Genius or madness will be determined by the out come.
The Wright Brothers Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903
Madness is what people call those who think the impossible. Genius is what they call people who make the impossible happen.
Good one Charles......was thinking of Beethoven, he had to be crazy to think he could compose.
posted by Espirit
about 1 month ago
There is a power in Madness. Those little boxes we all keep ourselves in without even thinking (because we are sane) do not incumber the INsane. Overwhelmingly, the madness is a burden and source of illusion for the victim. But, with surprising regularity, it frees them to discover truths we are far too sane to see.
It is a Strength of Weakness.
Madness is being a danger to oneself. Genius is being a danger to someone else.
Fine line, there, though, isn't there.
I am not sure we define madness today the same as did Socrates in his time. I believe he was referring to the Oracle's ability to have visions of the future.
I would not agree genius is a form of madness as term is defuned today. Both are the manifestation of mental activity, but quite different.
I don't mean to be a party pooper but.....
Thats a dangerous concept. Madness (mental illness) is no divine gift. Unless you have some other definition than the dictionary variations.
posted by donalea
about 1 month ago
I saw something about the Oracle of Delphi on TV. At one time a woman lived there and she would answer questions. Some kind of gas was seeping from the earth at Delphi which made her high. According to the History Channel the original Oracle of Delphi was a real person, and she was not mad or crazy. She just got stoned everyday.
posted by mobaker
about 1 month ago
visit a locked ward in an psychiatric institution and ask this question.
yichel
posted by yichel
about 1 month ago
