Creativity is both the product of and the tool to enhance human progress. Creativity has spawned everything from paintings to music, from buildings to inventions. Without creativity, humans could not progress as they have. Humans would be content with the status quo and would not have motivation to enhance their lives or the lives of future generations. Rather than being in charge of the land and the creatures who live in it, humans would have to adapt to the environment that surrounds them. Without the tools to mold the environment to serve their needs, humans would need to either move in search for the environment that suits them or simply adapt to the land they are in.
Creativity is an extremely important part of modern society. There is some speculation that intense creativity exhibited in a single person is the result of a deficiency in other aspects of mental activity. Psychological and mental disorders and illnesses are sometimes blamed for extreme creativity exhibited by an individual. Often, artists exhibit symptoms similar to depression or bipolar disorder. Some even exhibit symptoms of schizophrenia, which can be a result of untreated bipolar disorder. Symptoms of these illnesses are exhibited in Peter Tschaikowski, Leonard Bernstein, van Gogh, and Beethoven. Although very creative with their craft, these artists all had trouble with their personal lives (Nettle, 2000). These issues prevented the artists from being understood by much of society, and as a result often created isolation. The isolation, although beneficial to the creative process, ultimately compounded the original issues.
In a time when homosexuality was unacceptable, Peter Tschaikowski found himself in quite a predicament. Tschaikowski was not attracted to women and had no desire to facilitate a façade to obtain social acceptance. Because he could not have a male lover, he was unsatisfied both sexually and emotionally. As a result, many of Tschaikowski greatest works were written as an outlet for the pain he was feeling. Some scholars believe that his death was caused by a suicide attempt. Tschaikowski dove into an icy river and later died of pneumonia; many have held up the assumption that this dive was an attempt to end his own life because of his deep depression (McManamy, 2009). Tschaikowski creative instincts were actually not instinctual at all. Instead, they were the derivative of emotional turmoil and instability.
American composer Leonard Bernstein had similar internal conflicts to Tschaikowski. Bernstein lived in constant secrecy. Bernstein felt a great deal of shame because of his homosexual and bisexual feelings. He kept these feelings a secret. The shame developed into a deep depression that Bernstein battled with over the course of most of his life. Bernstein was considered a child prodigy. He continued to advance his career throughout his life, although some would say he gravely overextended himself. Bernstein composed, conducted, lectured, and taught. He used his creative gift as a way to escape the reality of his life and depression. Overworked and under rested, Bernstein suffered from a nervous breakdown and was forced to slow down. Bernstein decided to resign from his position of Music Director of the New York Philharmonic and devote himself instead to a much quieter life of composing music. From time to time, he made appearances as a guest conductor with several organizations. Bernstein’s youth greatly influenced his creativity. Bernstein used information that had been made public about himself, such as his Jewish heritage, to compose many great pieces of music. Bernstein wrote of his deep depression only in his private writings. A contrast to Tschiakowski, Bernstein did not use his music as a creative outlet for his afflictions. Instead, he wrote his feelings down, almost as a form of self-therapy. Bernstein was married and had children. While Bernstein felt a deep love for his family, he could not overcome his deep sexual desire for men. As Bernstein lived with an inner battle between his desires and his obligations, he sank deeper and deeper into depression.
Vincent van Gogh was an artist who was tortured by his own actions. Van Gogh, although married with a family, lived with several different women over the course of his life. Van Gogh seemed to be in a love affair with himself, and to him, no woman could ever live up to the greatness of him. While some may say that he loved women, others say that he in fact only loved himself, and hated women for not being able to live up to the expectations he had created for them. Much of van Gogh’s work is very dark and appears angry. Van Gogh somehow was able to bridge the gap between abstract and realism. For instance, none of his art appears realistic, yet it evokes so much emotion. It enables the viewer to see their own version of reality, while still being completely unrealistic. Van Gogh is famous for cutting off his ear. After a night of drinking absinthe, van Gogh heard voices telling him to kill another artist who he had recently parted ways with. To silence the voices, van Gogh cut the bottom of his ear lobe off and delivered it to a brothel where a prostitute he had been with lived. This was van Gogh’s obscure attempt at a loving gift for the woman. Van Gogh caught gonorrhea at one point and is speculated to have also suffered from syphilis. Widely unaccepted during his own time, van Gogh slipped into a deep depression despite his issues with pride. Some physicians now think that van Gogh may have also suffered from bipolar disorder.
Ludwig van Beethoven was a creative genius. His symphonies and sonatas are used today in movies and television shows. Beethoven’s music has truly stood the test of time. Beethoven often felt frustrated when he could not translate what he “heard” in his mind into notes on sheet music. This frustration controlled his life and overtook his thoughts. Because he was constantly focused on his imperfections, Beethoven became very bitter. Beethoven isolated himself and was misunderstood by the socialites that surrounded him. As a child, Beethoven was abused by his father and babied by his mother. The combination of his childhood mistreatment and not being understood as an adult made Beethoven miserable. Beethoven became more and more distant from reality. His greatest work was written while he was completely detached from society. Beethoven was, in fact, deaf when he composed his last symphony, but it proved to be his most successful work.
Each of these artists has a passion for their art, and not for much else. Each artist fought with a deep internal conflict. Isolating themselves from any deep emotional attachments to other people, each artist lived in their work. Shunned by society, each artist struggled to silence their inner demons. Art was the outlet that most likely kept these artists from going completely insane. Although these artists were all genius, not all creativity will produce genius results. Whether or not creativity can be categorized as genius depends on how the piece affects society. If the piece is sustainable or widely impressionable, it could be considered to be artistic genius.
For me, creativity is spontaneous. I am not influenced by any mental illnesses as we have seen in these artists. I am not influenced by trouble in my life. I do not have a deep feeling of being misunderstood and I don’t have a need for acceptance. Most of my life is spent in the world of reality. I spend time accepting the reality of my life and of the world around me. I rarely picture things in new ways, the way many artists do.
I like to think of what is and what will be rather than what could be. My choices are based on the most likely result. I consider the facts before making decisions and do not question myself once I have made a decision. Because my mind works in a more analytical way than in an artistic way, I find it difficult to be creative. Many times creativity seems like more of a forced action to me than a flowing one, contrary to the way many artists feel. My creative process, when dissected, is not really creative at all. When I know that I need to be creative I write out all of the possible solutions and then map out where each of those solutions lead. I then choose the most favorable path. My creative process is, in fact, an analytical process.
The word has had many famous artists in its history. Many of these artists suffered great injustices. It seems as though some sort of turmoil assists in the artistic process. All of these artists are widely regarded to be artistic geniuses. Whatever the affliction they suffered, society benefited from art being the outlet from that affliction.
References
Nettle, D. (2000). Strong Imagination: Madness, Creativity and Human Nature. Oxford
University Press.
McManamy, John. “Music of the Heart – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky.” McMan’s Depression andBipolar Web. Retrieved from http://www.mcmanweb.com/tchaikovsky.html
Physics Forums. (2010). Physics forums. Retrieved from http://www.physicsforums.com/showthread.php?t=10432
Beethoven's web page. (n.d.). Ludwig van Beethoven. Retrieved from http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Bio/BiographyLudwig.html
bach-cantatas.com. (n.d.). Leonar Bernstein. Retrieved from http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/Bernstein-Leonard.htm
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