07.20.09
Two Sides of a Coin
Dr. du Boulbon speaks of neurosis.
From The Guermantes Way, In Search of Lost Time Volume III, by Marcel Proust.
The Bad Side:
He prided himself on not sharing the mania of others, oblivious of the fact that he had one of his own…
Neurosis has a genius for mimicry. There is no illness that it cannot counterfeit perfectly.
If it is capable of deceiving the doctor, how should it fail to deceive the patient?
¤ ¤ ¤
The Good Side:
That poor lunatic is the most lofty intellect that I know. Submit to being called a neurotic. You belong to that splendid and pitiable family which is the salt of the earth.Everything we think of as great has come to us from neurotics. It is they and they alone who found religions and create great works of art. The world will never realise how much it owes them, and what they have suffered in order to bestow gifts on it. We enjoy music, beautiful pictures, a thousand exquisite things, but we do not know that they cost those who wrought them in insomnia, tears, spasmodic laughter, urticaria, asthma, epilepsy, a terror of death which is worse than any of these…
I have told you that without nervous disorder there can be no great artist.
.
elaine said,
July 21, 2009 at 12:26 pm
“I have told you that without nervous disorder there can be no great artist.”
do you completely believe in this meewa? I wanna hear what you think :)
Miracle ♪♫ said,
July 21, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Hehehe… I was hoping to hear others’ reactions first before stating mine. But alright, since you’re the only one who seems interested with this post, I’ll indulge. haha =)
Let us replace “nervous disorder” with the word neurosis. It must be clear that psychosis and neurosis are worlds apart. While psychosis is a worse condition, neurosis can mean various mental or emotional “irregularities”; depression being one example, not to mention extreme sensitivity to one’s surroundings… and I doubt if there was ever any great artist who did not possess such extremities. So yes, I can say that I do agree with this. =)
To top it off, we have Proust himself as proof!
mika said,
July 24, 2009 at 8:08 pm
“Everything we think of as great has come to us from neurotics. It is they and they alone who found religions and create great works of art.”
i didn’t know it was proust who wrote this! :P
there really is something “weird” with artists. though they may not all be like the “tormented artist” people think, even the even-tempered ones have something quirky with them, once you get to know them… on the other hand, you know one thing that surprised me when i entered the college of music? i was surprised at how normal the students were! they seemed like anybody else, they enjoy going out, good and bad jokes, they worry about their love life, and so on. but yeah, once you get to know them, beware! hahaha!
Miracle ♪♫ said,
July 24, 2009 at 11:49 pm
Wow. You’ve heard of the passage before, Mika? It was my first time to encounter it. =)
What can I say? Yes… be wary indeed!!! hahaha