[p2p-research] Creativity = madness?

Sat May 29 22:48:47 CEST 2010

hi Andy,

I have been convinced of this a long time ago, not sure if you know this but
I lived for 18 months in a neoreichian community and did 6 more years of
intensive body-mind work in my late twenties.

However, there is a very crucial difference which may not be overlooked and
makes genius and madness different, although one can turn into the other and
vice versa,

i.e. geniuses go through these different realms, but can make the difference
between them, they come out of the dark night of the soul with shamanic
mastery, on the other hand, mad people cannot distinguish between the
different truth claims of the different realms, and for this reason become
socially dysfunctional, while shamans and geniuses can 'travel back and
fro', knowing where they are and where there are speaking from ..

Michel

On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 10:10 PM, Andy Robinson <ldxar1 at gmail.com> wrote:

>  Bioscience catches up with Deleuze/Guattari anHi d Laing, thirty years
> behind.
>
> I've told some of you about "missing filters" in autism as well (the
> suspected cause of sensory overload).  One of the implications of the
> "filters" theory which is rarely drawn, is that people who have a lot of
> filters are actually seeing an ideologically distorted world - what they see
> and experience is quite literally restricted.  This theory fits closely with
> Barthesian and Althusserian theories of ideology, with the Freudian idea of
> repression, and with character-armour and affect-blocking in Reichean
> theory.
>
> Paradoxically therefore, escaping from the fixities of
> neurotic/transcendental/conformist thinking and reactive desire, becoming
> more critically literate and more open to difference, is the same thing as
> 'going mad' - or entering the spectrum of 'madness'.
>
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10154775.stm
>
> Saturday, 29 May 2010 2:32 UK
> Creative minds 'mimic schizophrenia'
>
> By Michelle Roberts Health reporter, BBC News  Artist Salvador Dali is
> known for his surreal paintings and eccentric personality
>
> Creativity is akin to insanity, say scientists who have been studying how
> the mind works.
>
> Brain scans reveal striking similarities in the thought pathways of highly
> creative people and those with schizophrenia.
>
> Both groups lack important receptors used to filter and direct thought.
>
> It could be this uninhibited processing that allows creative people to
> "think outside the box", say experts from Sweden's Karolinska Institute.
>
> In some people, it leads to mental illness.
>
> But rather than a clear division, experts suspect a continuum, with some
> people having psychotic traits but few negative symptoms.
>
> Art and suffering
>
> Some of the world's leading artists, writers and theorists have also had
> mental illnesses - the Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh and American
> mathematician John Nash (portrayed by Russell Crowe in the film A Beautiful
> Mind) to name just two.
>
> Creativity is known to be associated with an increased risk of depression,
> schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
>
> [image: Thalamus] The thalamus channels thoughts
>
> Similarly, people who have mental illness in their family have a higher
> chance of being creative.
>
> Associate Professor Fredrik Ullen believes his findings could help explain
> why.
>
> He looked at the brain's dopamine (D2) receptor genes which experts believe
> govern divergent thought.
>
> He found highly creative people who did well on tests of divergent thought
> had a lower than expected density of D2 receptors in the thalamus - as do
> people with schizophrenia.
>
> The thalamus serves as a relay centre, filtering information before it
> reaches areas of the cortex, which is responsible, amongst other things, for
> cognition and reasoning.
>
> "Fewer D2 receptors in the thalamus probably means a lower degree of signal
> filtering, and thus a higher flow of information from the thalamus," said
> Professor Ullen.
>
> Continue reading the main story<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10154775.stm#skip_feature_02>
>
> Creative people, like those with psychotic illnesses, tend to see the world
> differently to most. It's like looking at a shattered mirror
>
> Mark Millard UK psychologist
>
> He believes it is this barrage of uncensored information that ignites the
> creative spark.
>
> This would explain how highly creative people manage to see unusual
> connections in problem-solving situations that other people miss.
>
> Schizophrenics share this same ability to make novel associations. But in
> schizophrenia, it results in bizarre and disturbing thoughts.
>
> UK psychologist and member of the British Psychological Society Mark
> Millard said the overlap with mental illness might explain the motivation
> and determination creative people share.
>
> "Creativity is uncomfortable. It is their dissatisfaction with the present
> that drives them on to make changes.
>
> "Creative people, like those with psychotic illnesses, tend to see the
> world differently to most. It's like looking at a shattered mirror. They see
> the world in a fractured way.
>
> "There is no sense of conventional limitations and you can see this in
> their work. Take Salvador Dali, for example. He certainly saw the world
> differently and behaved in a way that some people perceived as very odd."
> 'TROUBLED' GENIUSES
>
> Continue reading the main story<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/10154775.stm#skip_feature_02>
>
>    -
>
>    Writer Virginia Woolf
>    -
>
>    Painter Vincent van Gogh
>    -
>
>    Painter Salvador Dali
>    -
>
>    Painter Edvard Munch
>    -
>
>    Composer Robert Schumann
>    -
>
>    Mathematician John Nash
>    -
>
>    Pianist David Helfgott
>
> He said businesses have already recognised and capitalised on this
> knowledge.
>
> Some companies have "skunk works" - secure, secret laboratories for their
> highly creative staff where they can freely experiment without disrupting
> the daily business.
>
> Chartered psychologist Gary Fitzgibbon says an ability to "suspend
> disbelief" is one way of looking at creativity.
>
> "When you suspend disbelief you are prepared to believe anything and this
> opens up the scope for seeing more possibilities.
>
> "Creativity is certainly about not being constrained by rules or accepting
> the restrictions that society places on us. Of course the more people break
> the rules, the more likely they are to be perceived as 'mentally ill'."
>
> He works as an executive coach helping people to be more creative in their
> problem solving behaviour and thinking styles.
>
> "The result is typically a significant rise in their well being, so as
> opposed to creativity being associated with mental illness it becomes
> associated with good mental health."
>

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