I was watching The Simpsons and I heard Lisa say something I liked:
Lisa Simpson wrote:Solitude never hurt anyone. Emily Dickinson lived alone, and she wrote some of the most beautiful poetry the world has ever known... then went crazy as a loon.
It reminded me of something I've recently read by Nathaniel Branden:
Nathaniel Branden wrote:Innovators and creators are persons who can, to a higher degree than average, accept the condition of aloneness.
I know some pretty creative people on C&F, and I know a few have recently voiced concern that being involved in an online forum signals that they need to "get a life," so I thought I would share these quotes and see what people thought.
Anyway, I lot of creative people from the past, would not have been so creative if they were on the modern psychiatric drugs.
I think my own quote was something like this: the drugs did help keep my demons at bay, however, they also kept my angels away, and that was too high a price, so I decided in favor of my angels and against the drugs.
I would think that art of any kind that is inspired by a great night out with your friends down the pub,is not as profound or powerful as art inspired by a night of utter despair when the weight of the world has pushed your soul so far into the pit of darkness that you think you'll never find a way out .
Solitude is not something that I think artists would seek out ,but more it is forced on them due to their inability to express themselves in a more sociable manner.
Trouble being that for the artist ,art is ultimately unfulfilling,for no matter how much beauty they put into a poem or painting or a song or symphony ,it is not as much beauty as they have in their soul.
Unexpressed it eats them up.
Lambchop wrote:Solitude can be handy, yes. It is, after all, difficult to think if you are surrounded by people who won't shut up.
Really? ... I hadn't noticed that to change much when I'm alone.
anniemcu
--- "You are what you do, not what you claim to believe." -Gene A. Statler
--- "Olé to you, none-the-less!" - Elizabeth Gilbert
--- http://www.sassafrassgrove.com
dubhlinn wrote:"All men's miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone."
Blaise Pascal
Slan,
D.
Heh....
I read that quote and immediately thought, "That sounds like it was written by a father of six." But wikipedia makes no mention of B. Pascal having any children. Pascal, I guess, was even more insightful than I ever realized.
Nathaniel Branden wrote:Innovators and creators are persons who can, to a higher degree than average, accept the condition of aloneness.
That's a great quote. It reminds me of something Temple Grandin said about how socializing wasn't everything. Can I google it... yep, here we are:
Temple Grandin wrote:
Just think back to the caveman's days. The really social people, they would have been yakking it up around the fire. It was the Asperger's guy that was off in the corner figuring out how to make the first stone spear.
I don't think being alone and/or suffering breed better art. There were and are plenty of artists of all types who enjoy being with people. I just can't name any right now.
Rose tint my world. Keep me safe from my trouble and pain. 白飞梦
