Mental illness, creativity, and genius are extraordinary phenomena of the human mind, impossible to define and circumscribe in a clear and precise manner.
These are extremely important issues, yet unfortunately, we pay them very little attention. It’s obvious that detecting and developing the talent and genius of every child is essential to creating societies where individuals flourish, are happy, creative and brilliant. Do you feel this is happening in your environment?
We’re training individuals who acquire considerable knowledge of the external world through technology and science but know very little about their inner world, that of the emotions and the spirit. This excessively materialistic approach to education and the world poses real problems; it creates a world where people no longer know each other, no longer love each other and almost never find satisfaction… It’s a major problem!
I offer here a glimpse into the development of my own mind, not to put myself forward, but rather to alert you to the fact that there are millions, if not billions, of people like me. I am convinced and have often expressed it, that all children have the potential to identify and develop their genius.
There are many adults who regularly talk to themselves, out loud. Others also talk to themselves, but silently, in their minds. Some talk to themselves without being aware of it, while others hear voices or see images without knowing where they come from.
We are here at the heart of the most subtle mechanisms of the human psyche. We’re referring to the brain processes responsible not only for language, thought, reasoning, and emotion, but also for the extraordinary capacity for imagination, abstraction, dreaming, hallucination, artistic and scientific creation, as well as experiences of altered consciousness, shamanic trance, ecstasy, stepping outside oneself, near-death experiences, the presence of multiple characters, and many other phenomena besides. The possibilities of the mind and psychic phenomena are innumerable.
You can already see that we’re beginning to scratch the surface of mental illness. The question then arises as to what precisely is meant by “mental illness”. Whatever the case, one thing is
certain: some people experience psychic phenomena that lead them to incredible suffering and self-destruction. Maybe we can talk about “mental illness”, maybe not, I don’t know. I prefer to leave this question to the specialists in the field, even if they can’t agree on common definitions or the same philosophical foundations of the mind – which is quite normal and proper to all sciences and philosophies.
Now I’d like to draw your attention to a very strange phenomenon, at least in my opinion.
Look at any book on psychiatry, or simply at the psychological and psychiatric services available in most modern societies. You’ll find that there are hundreds of disciplines dedicated to healing problems, symptoms, and illnesses. However, there are few, if any, resources for those who experience but do not suffer from paranormal psychological symptoms. And therein lies the heart of our subject.
In other words, if a child (or adult) hears voices, experiences hallucinations, creates parallel worlds, or develops multiple inner personalities, there are, to put it simply, two possible scenarios. If the child presents pathological symptoms, he or she is considered a case requiring psychotherapy or psychiatric treatment. However, if the same child presents exactly the same symptoms linked to paranormal psychology, but without any significant impact on social integration or mood, it goes completely unnoticed. It’s precisely this type of child that I’d like to talk to you about.
This child could have an extraordinary gift, but how could he possibly know? As things stand, it’s practically impossible. Why is that? Because most of the time, our psyche develops on the assumption that our inner world is similar to that of others. Thus, a person could reach an advanced age, with several personalities communicating with each other in his head, without ever suspecting that this isn’t the case for everyone else!!! As a result, instead of taking advantage of it, he or she does nothing at all, or even worse, ends up seeing it as a problem rather than an advantage, and so decides not to pay too much attention to it.
Whereas those who focus on their inner world and develop personality disorders can once again turn to a psychologist or psychiatrist specializing in this field.
So we have a mental health radar that categorizes individuals into a continuum of two groups: the sick on the one hand, and those considered healthy on the other. However, this radar leaves completely unnoticed those who are actually too healthy. Thus, geniuses (who often present an altered form of mental illness) are only recognized when they manage to create a work that is perceived as brilliant by a wide audience.
It’s completely absurd! We make it easy to detect people who develop a disease, but we make it extremely difficult for those with a particular genius. Yet people with genius also need support. These are millions of individuals, incredible artists, musicians, composers, writers, entrepreneurs, and inventors, who, for lack of support, guidance, and resources, end up never being able to fully develop their talents!
These people are all around us, we deal with them on a daily basis, and it seems perfectly normal to leave them in this situation. Why should we? Quite simply because they’re not suffering, they’re managing to integrate socially and they don’t represent any danger to others! So we tell ourselves they’re fine, and leave it at that.
Yes, these people are fine, but I’ve been saying it for a long time, and it’s hard to make myself understood: they’re not just fine, they’re too fine! I’ve been writing these words for years, notably in “Des mots pour penser…”, using terms such as “excess of happiness”, “too much happiness”, “excess of intelligence” and so on. I keep repeating that these people also need support, but this is often misunderstood.
In fact, every time I use the expression “excess happiness”, people ask me: How can someone feel an excess of happiness? My answer is: It happens when a person feels that their happiness, intelligence, or creativity is superior to those around them. This becomes a problem because instead of perfecting their talents, they tend to conform to the average. Or they may feel lonely and misunderstood, leading to the development of social or psychological problems. Some people may even unconsciously engage in slow self-destruction, resorting to alcohol, drugs, and so on.
So I’m writing this text above all so that those who identify with this solitude of genius and creative mental illness don’t let themselves be fooled by the failures of our radars. Let them know that they’re not alone and that they don’t have to destroy their talents because they’ve been told it’s wrong to be and think beyond others. On the contrary, these people need to manifest themselves more and more, by talking about themselves, about what they feel, and by creating things… It’s important. We need these people, and from here I say to them: We love you and we need your genius, even if around you you can mostly see sticks in the wheel.
For my part, I’ve always had access to texts from an early age. They resonate within me, unfolding from my thoughts to my consciousness, taking shape in perfectly structured and written texts. Writing thousands of pages of all kinds requires no effort on my part. With the same brain and hundreds of hands, I could undoubtedly produce tomorrow a treatise on psychology, a gripping novel, a gripping film script, an exposé on religion, the story of a fictional life, a political essay, poems, mystical texts, strategies for achieving goals, detailed plans for projects, and much, much more.
What’s more, without the slightest effort, I can easily put myself in the shoes of imaginary characters, feel their emotions and describe the mechanics of their thinking with ease, using evocative words and metaphors.
Since then, I’ve been constantly living in imaginary worlds, constantly mixing reality with imagination. For me, the world seriously looks like this: confused, strange, and even hallucinating, at least to the “normal” observer.
For a long time, I flirted with madness, or what we call mental illness. However, in my case, this was never detected by the mental health services, because I never completely severed ties with the conventional world in which we evolve. I can easily go out into the street, work, maintain a social life, and appear completely normal.
However, inside my mind, texts are constantly flowing, without interruption. I witness stories of murder, rape, and war, as well as incredible projects, innovative strategies, and improbable, extraordinary love stories. I make clear connections between complex concepts and explore the mathematical probabilities associated with events, all described in accessible, logical, and clear texts. It’s all happening inside me all the time, without me having to make the slightest effort.
What’s more, I have the ability to plunge easily into states of trance or “flow”. In these moments, I can analyze concepts in detail, give lectures or write entire pages, while completely losing track of time and space. I’m no longer aware of my immediate surroundings, I don’t know where I am, and I lose track of the passage of time.
Another notable phenomenon is my extraordinary ability to describe my emotions, impulses, perversions and thought processes. What’s more, I can easily and constantly enter into very strange, even paradoxical emotional states, and even describe them. For example, I can feel both love and hate, or sadness and happiness at the same time. What’s more, I often feel my emotions in a detached way, as if they belonged to another character or entity within me.
Where it often gets complex, and people tell me they don’t understand anymore, is when I explain that, according to my perception, events in the universe all take place simultaneously, or even that the concept of time has no existence. In other words, in my own world, I’m already born and already dead! Sounds strange, doesn’t it? But so are you! You’re already born and you’re already dead. This is what I perceive all the time, and I don’t need to make the slightest effort to see the world in this way.
Of course, I make choices about what I decide to share or keep to myself about my observations. Sometimes, what I perceive can be too shocking. For example, I may see a baby and at the same time perceive it as dead, but I’d rather not talk about it. Because… it’s not what other people see, and it can look really strange. So I use this wonderful gift I have to write beautiful (or horrible) things, especially to create texts that help readers expand their consciousness or see things from a different angle. That’s always been my passion.
Now, you might ask me if there’s a problem. Yes, I say there’s a problem because I have no one, no organization, no psychologist I can turn to for the guidance I need to truly perfect my talent, share it with as many people as possible and make a living from it myself. It’s a (luxury) problem!
In any case, I’m deeply happy with my mentally ill condition. I want not only to keep it, but also to preserve and develop it. This is what I’ve been doing all my life. My raison d’être is to develop this talent to its most extreme limits; in other words, I want to become more and more unreasonable and insane, to explore the depths of this universe that I perceive with startling clarity and which is totally extraordinary, and transmit it in writing or through the spoken word.
What motivates me most of all is that all my experience over the years has shown me that this transmission is of extraordinary benefit in the lives of many individuals. So, if I can give people the benefit of something that’s extremely easy for me to do, why not do it?
Finally, I hope that this text will directly or indirectly benefit all those with creative gifts similar to those of mental illness.
I tell them it’s essential to study this disease, celebrate it, protect it and nurture it!
Nadim M. 