Limelight:
The many faces of genius
By
Lubna Abdel-Aziz
The fate of Michael Jackson will not be settled for months in US courts, but even then, whatever the outcome, the question will always remain -- is he or isn't he? A genius or a madman?
Few would argue that Michael Jackson is one of the musical geniuses of his age, if not in history. There is also little doubt that his behaviour is a deviation from the accepted norm. Trapped in a Peter Pan body, with a tiny voice to match, this 45-year- old lives in a fantasy world he calls "Neverland", a complete amusement park full of toys and games, a merry-go-round and Ferris wheel, and a host of exotic animals and birds. He surrounds himself with a large group of "Lost boys" and together they share the wonders of life through the eyes of innocence. Decades of controversy over his many cosmetic surgeries, his marriages, his children, the make-up, the costumes and all-round eccentricity has not discouraged his many fans around the world, who remain steadfast in their support of their "King of Pop".
There is no genius without the tincture of madness (Seneca, 38 BC -- 65 AD)
Creativity is defined as "the production of something new and valued", and madness as "self- destructive deviation in behaviour". Is genius a gift of greatness or a curse from the gods? The link between genius and madness has always been baffling, but can a connection between mental disorder and enhanced creativity be identified by scientific method? Research into the interaction between them suggests there may indeed be a connection. Derangements among the greatest thinkers have been duly documented, but that is not to say that it is a prerequisite for art production. Not every artist exhibits mental or deviate behaviour, and not every mental patient is an artist or a genius. Nevertheless a high percentage of creative artists exhibit moments of inspiration as an "electrifying convergence of rational and irrational thought". Such a powerful, mysterious, perhaps even divine act may be beyond the scope of scientific enquiry but it has not stopped analytic scientists and historians from trying. Their studies have traced a clear trend of artistic creativity and emotional instability.
Dr Arnold Ludwig of Kentucky in an impressive 1992 study of 1,004 20th century artists and writers found that 74 per cent exhibited symptoms of psychiatric illness at some stage of their lives, compared to 32 per cent for the national average. Dr Adele Juda of Munich in her study from 1927-1943 found that artists and scientists as well as their "brothers, sisters, children and grandchildren were more likely than the general population to suffer from mental disorder or commit suicide".
In 1989 Kay Redfield Jamison studied 47 writers and visual artists, 38 per cent had been treated for a mood disorder compared to less than 15 per cent of the British population. Data from the US Census Bureau showed that the overall suicide rate among artists was three times the national average.
Deviant behaviour amongst great thinkers has been acknowledged long before any scientific process existed. The Greeks believed creative inspiration was achieved through altered states of "divine madness". Socrates declared that: if a man comes to the door of poetry untouched by the madness of the muses...he and his compositions will never reach perfection, but will be utterly eclipsed by the inspired madman! How much poorer would we be without the creative talents of the likes of Ernest Hemingway, Virginia Woolf or John Berryman who all committed suicide! Where would the world be without the music of Robert Schumann, the vivid colours on the canvases of Vincent Van Gogh, the great literary works of Leo Tolstoy who were all admitted to asylums!
Plato knew of what he spoke when he said: Creativity is a divine madness; a gift from the gods. The number of writers with mental disorders is staggering, among them: William Blake, Lord Byron and Alfred Lord Tennyson who wrote about their experience of emotional extremes; Hans Christian Andersen, William Faulkner, Victor Hugo, Robert Burns, TS Eliot, Dylan Thomas, Eugene O'Neil, Honoré de Balzac and Edgar Allen Poe who wrote: They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. In their grey vision, they obtain glimpses of eternity...they penetrate, however rudderless or compassless into the vast ocean of the light affable...Men have called me mad, but the question is not settled whether madness is or is not the loftiest 'intelligence'.
The list of composers suffering from a form of emotional disorder is overwhelming, Maurice Ravel, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Peter Illyitch Tchaikowsky, Nicolo Paganini, and Gustav Mahler to name a few. And of course the greatest prodigy in history, Mozart, and one of the greatest composers of all time Beethoven top the list. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart suffered great periods of depression that evolved into "darker themes of poignancy and isolation during his later years". Ludwig van Beethoven, arrested several times for voyeurism, experienced great periods of depression and resignation due to his loss of hearing. Artists in the public eye find it hard to keep their skeletons tucked away in their closets. Their turbulent lives openly reveal and testify to the link between creativity and psychic instability, which led Marcel Proust to remark: Everything in the world is created by neurotics. No great genius was without a mixture of insanity.
"When a superior intellect and a psychopathic temperament coalesce," wrote psychologist William James, "we have the best possible condition for....genius." Writers are afflicted in the highest numbers; they are moody, introspective, wrestling with their inner demons, looking inward, constantly reaching glorious highs and lethargic lows. Disturbance of mood is the primary ailment, which includes major depression, dysthymia and bipolar disorder, better known as manic depression. Bipolar disorder is a recurrent mood disturbance characterised by cyclical and extreme mood swings, a rollercoaster ride between euphoria and depression. Many may also show such psychotic symptoms as delusions, hallucinations, paranoia or grossly bizarre behaviour.
Mild mania has some benefits. It is associated with quicker thinking, greater verbal fluency, play on words, increased self-confidence and greater optimism. But severe depression can stifle creative thinking. How much poorer would the world be without the glorious madness of its creative thinkers! Of course: You don't have to be mad to be a genius, but it helps!
The overwhelming results of studies find a greater incidence of bi- polar sufferers among artists than among the general population, and "the link is as well established as a scientific truth can ever be." Effective treatment is now available and can produce a calmer life for the artist and those around him? If to be creative requires a willingness to cross and re-cross the lines between rational and irrational thought, and were we to choose, would we choose to end it, or would we choose genius! Is it fair to allow artists, writers musicians, scientists, to give up their emotional stability, or in some cases their lives, for the creation of art that shall benefit us? On the other hand would the artist be denied those rare moments of ecstasy? Would he be robbed of his creativity, his genius? Is genius worth the sacrifice?
We have raised many a question that has no answer. It is the nature of the subject matter that is so exalted, so vast, so complex, so tortuous, and perhaps so 'divine', it is beyond the reach of mortal minds to comprehend or explain. We shall forever be asking is it better "to dip into irrationality" to access that state of divine thought?
One thing is certain, as Jonathan Swift noted: When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by the sign that the dunces are all in confederacy against him.
As for the life and music of Michael Jackson:
Though this be madness, yet there is method in't
William Shakespeare, Hamlet II-2
