Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan(RIP), and Steven Tyler have all said that they wrote their best work after they got "clean." Obviously they also wrote and performed when they were high so what made the difference? and can we as listeners tell? As someone else mentioned the creative high is very real and very addictive. There are those who operate on a different plane and seem to be able to create at will or with what seems to be little effort. Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys is bipolar but his condition was not formally diagnosed for many years. He created some incredible music in between locking himself in his room and existing only on fried chicken.
It is quite often mentioned that a fine line exists between genius and madness and many of our most creative people straddle that line. Some cross over and come back, some don't. I think alot of the performers who take drugs are attempting to continue the high that comes with the audience, the creation of the art, the feedback all of those things. If that is what drives you and it is not always there you may feel the need to replace it. I could go on but shan't.
As for the multiple personalities and bipolar and other such mind "afflictions", I believe we all have them. It's just that some of us never get to the point were the affliction takes over. Why? Darn good question. In my Writing class we talked about the inner voice. We all have "voices" in our heads. The proverbial angel on one shoulder, devil on the other, and all the other thousands of thoughts and ideas that run through our heads on a daily basis. Most of us don't give them a real hard listen. What makes a schizophrenic decide to listen? Again I don't know and do they have any choice in the listening anyway?
The brain is such a monumentally fantastic machine that we may probably never know all the myriad ways in which it works or doesn't. We constantly juggle multiple tasks, ideas, readings, people, thoughts and all in one little place inside our head. Makes mine hurt just to think about it.
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