There are not so many geniuses among us, which is why their amazing abilities and talents have always caused not only admiration, but also envy. However, outstanding personalities for the most part, along with outstanding abilities, had a number of such properties and qualities that can hardly be envied by a normal person.
According to research carried out by scientists, those of the people who left a noticeable mark on history had, to one degree or another, expressed mental abnormalities, which are commonly called insanity.
An interesting experiment was carried out among patients of one of the psychiatric clinics in Moscow, where intuition and clairvoyance were tested in newly admitted patients in the acute stage of schizophrenia. The tasks were simple: it was necessary to guess the drawing on the card, which was facing upside down, or to name the numbers that would fall out. Unbelievable, but true: 86-92% of the patient in the acute stage of the disease named everything correctly. After treatment, ten days later, the same indicators fell to 20-30%. In this regard, the question arises: is it possible that insanity is a special form of genius?
Vladimir Efroimson, head of the department of genetics at the Moscow Research Institute of Psychiatry, has been studying biographies and analyzing the lives of more than 400 people for 60 years, who can be categorized as geniuses. According to the results of the work carried out, Efroimson came to the conclusion that hereditary diseases in such people manifested themselves surprisingly often. And in the first place, alas, are mental disorders. As a result, a mysterious paradox is obtained - the more brilliant the creation, the more madness in the personality of their author.
For example, the famous mathematician of antiquity Pythagoras, known for his works in the field of trigonometry, was the first scientist who came to the conclusion that it is quite possible to describe natural phenomena by mathematical laws. The merits of Pythagoras are numerous, but along with this, the great mathematician had a number of oddities, which included the prohibition to sleep across the bed, eat beans, or have folds on the bed.
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Michelangelo. This name is known to everyone. His paintings are striking in their depth, and still remain the most famous and most mysterious works in the world. The artist, whose foresight bordered on clairvoyance (and maybe it was) had his own unusual habits: Michelangelo could not stand to swim, he practically always wore the same clothes, often went to bed in shoes. On top of that, he subsequently developed autism, and the artist could leave the interlocutor without explanation, breaking off the conversation in mid-sentence.
Empedocles of Akragant, the most famous philosopher of Ancient Greece, doctor, priest, statesman and scientist. Already then he said that light moves at a certain speed, that the Earth is round, and that air is a substance. Legends circulated that Empedocles possessed extraordinary power, which allowed him to resurrect a woman who showed no signs of life for a whole month. Along with his undoubted merits, Empedocles was sure that he was a god and that he was immortal. It is for this reason, according to one of the versions, that Empedocles threw himself into the mouth of Mount Etna - to prove that he would come out unharmed from there. The sad outcome of this act is understandable.
Nikola Tesla. A mysterious scientist, unique, who for many years outstripped science with his predictions and inventions. According to Robert Lomas, he “invented the 20th century”. Among his discoveries: robotics, electricity, computers, nuclear physics, radar, and more. But along with his almost supernatural abilities, Tesla suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He was pathologically afraid to touch dusty objects, avoiding round things. In order to enter the building, Tesla for some reason must have walked around him three times. And the room number in the hotel where he stayed had to be divisible by 3.
Famous creative personalities, poets and writers no less than scientists suffered from various mental ailments. From childhood, everyone's favorite storyteller Hans Christian Andersen suffered from neurasthenia. Fears overcame him for any reason: he was afraid of heights, illness, women, losing documents, etc. There were rumors that the great storyteller could spend a whole day at home in tears.
Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, a genius writer, never gave the second volume of his book "Immortal Souls" an opportunity to be published - in one of the attacks of mental confusion, he burned it. The writer was terrified of being buried alive, which, they say, happened due to lethargy.
F. Schiller found inspiration for writing in the event that rotten apples lay on his table, but Emil Zola literally tied himself to a chair - so the writer worked on creating books much better.
The most talented painter Isaac Levitan with amazing liveliness could convey the beauty of nature on his canvases. But he didn't draw people. The reason is a sharp rejection and fear of communicating with people. Those human figures that are in his paintings were drawn not by him, but by his friends. The diagnosis of the great painter was disappointing: manic-depressive psychosis. Attacks of foolishness and childishness gave way to Levitan's periods of severe depression, and oddly enough, it was then that he created his magnificent masterpieces. Sigmund Freud, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens suffered from similar disorders.
Nostradamus, Alexander Blok and Jean-Baptiste Moliere suffered from epileptic seizures. It is known that each seizure weakens the psyche of such patients, which subsequently affected the state of mind. The list of people with "weirdness" includes many more great people. For example, Socrates heard a voice advising him what to do in a given situation. But here's an interesting coincidence: the word "mania" in Greek, in Hebrew "Mashugan" and in Sanskrit "nigrata" translates as both "prophecy" and "madness".
That is, the ancients also noticed how unsteady the line between genius and insanity. Indeed, in a state of hypomanic psychosis, people often hear voices, and many of the greats, being in just such an insight, listened to them being "dictated" by poetry, formulas or music. And those who quite seriously believe that being born a genius is a rare success should think about it, but is the life of these most talented people suffering from neurasthenia and irritability much happier compared to the life of an ordinary, but balanced and calm layman?