Posted by racer on December 26, 1998, at 20:42:03
In reply to Re: Serzone and MDMA by Mr Zest, posted by Nancy on December 13, 1998, at 15:28:37
Sorry, can't email directly - that's closer than I can be right now.
But I will say this to your manic experiences: if you look closely at the "great" artists of the western world, many of them have been bi-polar. And many of those who were not had close relatives who were.
My favorite story is William Cowper. He was a poet of the late eighteenth century (Mr Dalloway used to recite one of his poems in the book...). He was locked up for madness: he thought the Devil was talking to him. Then he told the doctors that God was talking to him. They declared him cured and sent him home. Sound kinda like a really simple explanation of bipolar? In 1936, the kennedy professor of latin at Oxford gave a lecture on poetry in which he said that madness was conducive to creativity. He claimed that the 18th century had produced only four true poets: Cowper, Collins, Smart and Blake. Surprise, they had all been locked up for madness in their lives. (Don't get me started on why the lecture was wrong about "true" poetry! I could be here all week. Though, I would feel better at the end of it... I like the subject.) There is a lot of anecdotal evidence to say that there is an obverse side to the torment of bipolar disorder, and there is a lot of information on it available.
I hope that helps
poster:racer
thread:902
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19981201/msgs/1757.html