Consider: Creativity and Mentality

A while ago, I started a poll on the old blog asking if readers thought there was a connection between mental illness and creativity. 100% of the votes answered yes.

I thought I had a leg to stand on when writing up my response to the poll. But, as I began writing, I had difficulty developing a workable definition for mental illness, and kept finding myself pestered with the question: What is an untroubled mind? Isn’t the mind an affliction, anyway, that must be overcome for inner peace? The human mind is naturally problematic. So, if that’s the case, isn’t “mental illness” stating what is implied? So maybe the better question could have been: Do you see a connection between mentality and creativity?

What is a mad artist? Maybe one who’s let his mentality rule.

So creating iconic constructions of the troubled or mad artist is a lazy approach to obtaining and evaluating information. The troubled artist, the troubled author, the troubled poet…I seriously think that sometimes artists consciously will themselves to madness simply because it’s part of the packaging of the artist.

Does poetry emanate from mentality? What does mentality have to do with creativity?