Crazy Or Creative?

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I spent the evening reading a book about neurology.

There is no qualitative difference between schizophrenia and dreams. But what about craziness and creativity?

Most people arent creative. The author says theyre 'efficiently mediocre." That is, you can teach them to make pot-holders or paint by the numbers, but its rare for them to come up with anything original. They simply improve the quality of the potholder and make them quicker. Mediocre people have little in the way of imagination. And imagination is simply the mind mixing up what's there into new patterns.

Apparently creative people know intuitively that what they imagine is not what they experience, unlike schizophrenics.

 

[CeriseNoire]

That's very interesting to me since it fits within a concept that's always fascinated me. I've always wondered what made creative types different and if it somehow explains some of the behaviors and problems they seem prone to.

Do you mind sharing the title of the book?

 

[KarmaKitty]

That's very interesting to me since it fits within a concept that's always fascinated me. I've always wondered what made creative types different and if it somehow explains some of the behaviors and problems they seem prone to.

Do you mind sharing the title of the book?

Hmm, I'd like to know too. I want to know if I'm prone to creativity!

 

[starrkers]

Hmm, I'd like to know too. I want to know if I'm prone to creativity!

I'm not creative, I'm just crazy.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

THE CEREBRAL CODE: Thinking A Thought In The Mosaics Of The Mind, William H. Calvin

This is not lite-reading.

Much of the book is about how the brain cobbles a thought together from scratch. Its poorly written and difficult to read. The ideas are fascinating, but he doesnt express them clearly or simply. I compare it to a country bumpkin giving directions.

 

[redpaint]

I guess you could say I am creative. But I remember a time when people would say I just was not right. I seemed to always veiw the world around me differntlyu than those around me. All I know is I have to draw and paint, make music, I play several insterments. I have these things in my mind and I have to get them out. I don't know maybe I am crazey.

 

[Guest]

It's a fine line, in my opinion.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

REDPAINT & BAYGURRL

Youre both correct, if I understand the theory right.


Schizophrenics are impared because they cant separate themselves from what they imagine. Their hallucinations/dreams swallow them. Like LSD swallows normal people.

Creative people are able to maintain the separation between what they imagine and the outside world. I mean, they know there is a difference and are able to go back and forth between inside and outside without losing their way.

Normal people simply improve on potholder patterns someone else creates. They cant be creative in any significant sense, because theyre trapped in the here & now. Theyre limited to reacting to what creative people do.

Its funny. When I was a kid I didnt get why drugs had no distinctive effect on me. Nuthin much happened out of the ordinary. Thats because my ordinary is like normal people on drugs.

 

[AllardChardon]

I guess if a person is not very creative by nature, they might like to watch instead, like lots of cable TV.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Spectators are important. No question about it. And they keep the creative writing classes filled.

 

[gauchecritic]

Normal people simply improve on potholder patterns someone else creates. They cant be creative in any significant sense, because theyre trapped in the here & now. Theyre limited to reacting to what creative people do.

That doesn't sound very convincing.

Bit of a sweeping statement but: All people that can use language can create. That's an inherent part of language, it's what the human brain is built for (at present).

Being creative is a matter of choosing meaning, context and correlation.
Some people get taught so thoroughly and so well that when they look at the word brick they picture a brick. A creative mind goes beyond the label. The essence of the phrase "A rose by any other name..." separates the label from the thing.

So creativity boils down to: manipulation of an environment by symbolism which, as it happens, is also a definition of language.

I think it's a matter of degree rather than presence v. absence.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

GAUCHE

I think create means create NOT change the color of the potholder.

I mean,when I crap I dont really create anthing new or different.

 

[lesbiaphrodite]

I'm creative and have certainly been known to behave in a way that others deem as 'crazy.' I find it easy to create alternate worlds for artistic purposes and to people them with characters who simply appear at random in my head. I don't believe these worlds exist elsewhere, but I do believe the sphere from which they originate is magical and perhaps crazy.

 

[CeriseNoire]

I'll have to check it out at some point despite the poor writing. I wonder if there are any better books on the subject. Thanks.

The reason I take a particular interest in the subject is that I've often wondered about some destructive behaviors in creative types and whether they are more prone to slip into insanity at some point.

 

[AllardChardon]

I do believe that without encouragement and opportunity, many young people end up using substances in place of a creative outlet. If a person does not have any creative people in their world doing things (other than flapping one's lips), it is difficult to see one's artistic possibilities.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I don't even know what "creative" means. Means you draw pictures of birds? Means you do interior decorating? Means you write stories? Make flutes out of drain pipes? Invent the seqway?

Everyone says they're creative. No one wants to be a blob. But what do they create? Daydreams? Fuck stories? Water colors? Is that creativity? What if you make butt-ugly sculptures all day? Does that count? Or sit around making up nonsense words.

What the fuck are we talking about here? We don't even know!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

DOC

I believe the conventional meaning of creative is to make something new and original...the answer in search of a question.

 

[Vukovina]

Interesting, but I agree with the vagueness of "creativity":

Is it creative to cook up a good meal?

What about to make someone happy, or sad, or angry. Is that creating an emotion, a response?

In yet another sense, almost all people have the capacity to create because they have the ability to create new life, babies. Since every person is unlike every other person, creating a child is a creative outlet, no?