Sublime

Actually, pigeonholing is something people need to do in order to feel that they have set the chaos of existence into some kind of reassuring order.

The noted neurologist and author Oliver Sacks had this to say about originality, in his essay “Prodigies” from the book An Anthropologist on Mars: Creativity, as usually understood, entails not only a “what,” a talent, but a “who”—strong personal characteristics, a strong identity, personal sensibility, a personal style, which flow into the talent,

He claims that in order to discover the truth, one must first know oneself fully. And to do that, one must remove oneself from one’s customary point of view, even from one’s own century and country—and then examine oneself from a distance!”

“My creative expression must be the most important thing in the world to me (if I am to live artistically), and it also must not matter at all (if I am to live sanely).”

The joy of being observed ran so deep that Breuer believed the real pain of old age, bereavement, outliving one’s friends, was the absence of scrutiny—the horror of living an unobserved life.

Carry It with You Now write the thought on a small piece of paper and hold it up.

Mihaly made the case for “positive psychology”: that we should primarily focus on the things that make life worth living, and find ways to boost them.

When artists are burdened with the label of “genius,” I think they lose the ability to take themselves lightly, or to

a peaceful, meaningful existence.