Genius and insanity abound on all fronts of every person every day. So, where is the line? Is it a line of making in the shadows of professional relationships or does it come from the personal relationships we hold so dear and continually try to dismantle? There really is no creative fine line between anything. The lines are made, thick and black and glaring. The only question here is of a difference between genius and insanity. What is the difference? Genius is all around us. From the smart moves of a financial tycoon to the despairing moment-by-moment life a poet lives. And what of insanity? Where does it come to play? Insanity is the inside coat pocket of society. We are all accused of being insane; of making poor decisions, of living without thinking, and of trying when futility is so noticeable that it hurts. But we try anyway. When genius fails, we go for the insanity.
Everywhere we look people are comparing themselves to the genius, to the insane, to the dead. We must make our own moves, be them a touch insane or perhaps sparked by genius. It is within all of us to write a “Sophie’s Choice”. A work of literary genius penned by the insane. To be human is to have more than a moment of insanity. To be human is to have more than a moment of genius. The genius are often insane, and the insane are often genius. The two go hand-in-hand, living the duality of life the comes from the pressure of the opposing sides. Without one, you cannot have the other. Styron and Hemingway are proof-positive that insanity is the underlying foundation of genius. Bukowski and Kerouc are the genius that lives in insanity. Within society though, they all lived and created. Insane, genius, or otherwise they all had their moments to share, their stories to tell, their insane genius to battle. From drink and clinical illness and genetic predisposition we have come so far. Life is not what it used to be. It is now a battle raging in all of us. That is why we write, love, hate, and share ourselves with total strangers. We all have a bit of genius and crazy in us. That is what makes us people. The insanity of life drives our genius. We are the derivative of the life we lead. Some moments are better than others, some worse, but they all chisel us into something that needs something else. We drive and fight and want to press on. To be better.
There is nothing better than stepping across a line in the sand. To say: “I have done it.” The genius oft times don’t step across that line, but leap across it, screaming: “I have done it!”. Usually it is insane, but to make a mark and progress us forward, it is necessary that someone do just that. As the genius knows, it is not about what you do, but rather how you do it. Sometimes it is practical to take the daring step, to oppose, and to kill the critics back with a fury of: “you didn't like it the first time….what do you think now?!?”. Genius coming forward forces us to think and rethink what we thought we knew. The insanity lies in the chance taken. The daring, under-encouraged, and the addicted are the jewels in the crown of humanitarian prospects. Fame and fortune not withstanding, it is in all of us to be the genius. Rightly so, it is also in all of us to be the insane. To not be either is to be nothing. We need the insane as much as we need the genius. The insane are the genius. And the genius are insane. There is no line, not in this sandbox of American society.
Author,
Thomas Kurkoski
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| Follow your heart. Even when others believe you're insane. |
