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| Sarah Jung, pic filched here |
In a prior post, we delved into the romanticization of mental illness and how this rather common aspect of the human condition is particularly romanticized in those people who we call—and who call themselves—artists...
Now, let's delve into oversensitivity. This quora post features a quote from Pearl S. Buck explaining quite well the definition of sensitivity I'm aiming at:
The truly creative mind in any field is no more than this: A human creature born abnormally, inhumanly sensitive. To him... a touch is a blow, a sound is a noise, a misfortune is a tragedy, a joy is an ecstasy, a friend is a lover, a lover is a god, and failure is death. Add to this cruelly delicate organism the overpowering necessity to create, create, create—so that without the creating of music or poetry or books or buildings or something of meaning, his very breath is cut off from him. He must create, must pour out creation. By some strange, unknown, inward urgency he is not really alive unless he is creating.
