Insanity of Genius

When someone takes on a big task they must break away from the pack, in doing so they encounter negative forces and views. The closer they get to complete their task then the more powerful these forces become. If they produce or succeed at accomplishing the task then people will claim them as genius. However, if they fail then they are viewed as insane. In Salman Rusdie’s, East, West he writes a short story called “The Harmony of Spheres”. In this short story there is a character Elliot Crane who disrupts the natural flow around him to take on this task of exploring his theory about satanic cults and supernatural beings. Crane has many actions and thoughts that are creating disharmony with others around him.

            In order to achieve something great there must be a disruption in the normal day to day flow. Here is an example of Crane performing such a disruption “One night he woke at three a.m., convinced of the presence downstairs of something absolutely evil” (135).  In this example Crane is running around naked with a knife looking for evil presences. While this sort of action makes no sense to me or most people, they are many other acts they don’t make any sense to me as well. For example when a body builder puts on huge amounts of muscle, people look at them like they are insane, however when they win a competition they are viewed as hero’s.

            Crane also shows glimpses of genius. Rushdie writes about Crane “He told me about Mesmer’s theory of Animal Magnetism” (137). Crane explains a very complex theory that many people would struggle to grasp. Because of this you see hope and direction from Crane. Even though he may have episodes of what is viewed as insane there are glimpses that indicate he might be on to something that could be beneficial.

            Sometimes Crane is able to control the swirling ideas in his head and sometimes he is not. Rusdie writes about Crane’s imbalance, “just another voice in the cacodemonic crowd. Band! And, at last, silence” (142). When Crane took his life he was dealing with so many thoughts and theories at once that he just could not take it any more. But this was more than a mere act of insanity it was an act of not being able to go any further. Because Crane’s theory was so vast and complex he had to dive deeper and deeper into it. Eventually he got so deep that he was unable to handle the constant imbalance.

            So is Crane and people like him who break the natural flow a genius or insane? Society will make that decision based on whether he succeeds or fails. Whenever harmony is broken in society there is this pull trying to restore balance. Sometimes people try to venture away from the path and fail and nothing happens. But sometimes people venture away from the path and are able to succeed in changing the natural flow.