This
essay is different than all I have written. It deals with a subject that I have
been personally interested for over half a century. I am offering it to you with a
plea and a hope that you might also start to look for the message when you
enjoy the song. EAM
“They did not listen.
They did not know
how.”
These words are taken
from a very highly regarded ballad entitled, Starry, Starry Night, recorded
in 1971 by Don McLean III, a very successful American songwriter and
guitarist. The song was based on the life of the great Dutch modernist painter,
Vincent Van Gogh, and on his most successful painting, Starry Night.
The song has since been recorded by several hundreds of very well-respected
international artists, ranging from the rapper Tupac Shakur to
balladeers like Julio Iglesias, and in several languages that include English,
French, German, Spanish, Italian and Hungarian.
By
his own admission, McLean was moved to write the song after he read a biography
of Van Gogh and learnt of his serious mental afflictions and the turmoil he had
been undergoing. The painting itself, was actually completed in 1889 while Van Gogh was
an inpatient of a French asylum. It was meant to depict the night sky from his
asylum room, and it resonated with the general public for its bold and vibrant
colors, and swirling motions in the sky and in the surrounding vegetation. But
the painting was in fact saying much more than its beauty, yet only a few very observant
people were actually able to appreciate its true symbolism. For with each
stroke of his brush, he was crying out in despair, drawing attention to his
deep depression and to his constant preoccupation with suicide and with death.
People were indeed listening, but were not hearing his message. They were
looking, but not seeing his pain.
I
too, would readily have considered myself to be among the multitude until more
than 50 years ago. In 1967, while I was a resident in Psychiatry in London, one of
my teachers with whom I worked closely, drew my attention to the deep and
intense relationship of the pain and disappointment that are often reflected in
a wide range of artistic expressions we so often take for granted. He explained
that since artists spend their whole lives giving expression to their deepest
emotions in words and in art, it is natural that they would use them to give
vent to their feelings of unhappiness and sorrow, and equally, their hopes and
successes. He further noted that only the astutely trained observer is able to
discern in every song, every piece of literature and every work of art, the
deepest emotion of the artist at that moment. He lamented that we, as
physicians who are concerned with human behavior and the human mind, are not
spending as much time as we should, to understanding the reason behind a work
of art, a song or literary work, and looking for ways to help these people cope
when their cry for help.
Since
then, although I do not consider myself a true connoisseur of art, I have
acquired the habit of examining the underlying reasons for their production by
the artist. Each time that I am attracted by a song, or look at a painting or
work of art, or read a book, I tend to take a brief moment to search out the
reason and message as they affect me. On some occasions my diagnostic
suspicion will be confirmed, but most of the time, for lack of experience, they
remain as merely conjecture. For my own self however, because of my interest in
medicine and in mental illnesses, I find myself eager to look more closely than
others for any signs. I have come to believe that every good story does not
only have a good plot, but also has a good reason for telling by the author.
Unfortunately,
however because people generally prefer to avoid any information that tends to
interfere with their own beliefs and status, they are discouraged from wanting
to seek out any more than they need. They actively try to avoid any situation
that contradicts their level of comfort, even when they may suspect that their
own attitude might be itself questionable. They prefer to live by the safe
principle of don’t ask, don’t tell, and in so doing, hope to avoid any
position of uncertainty. Others, especially those with rigid, inflexible
personalities, who find it very difficult to deal with any change, will be
reluctant to even expose themselves to the possibility of a different
perspective. The end result is that people are more likely to choose the easy
way out and accept things as they appear superficially, rather than entertain
any views that may be more consequential. It is not surprising therefore that most
of us are happy just scratching the surface, and never bother to look under it.
But
the fundamental truth is that unpredictable, temperamental behavior is often
associated with creativity, and many authorities insist that there may indeed
be an overlap between them. Multiple, legitimate studies conducted in many
countries have confirmed the higher incidence of severe mood disorders among
the wide range of artistic expressions, and equally, abnormally high occurrences
of depression, mania, drug abuse and suicide among all the creative population.
Many people have actually argued that there is indeed only a fine line that separates
creativity and madness, and that it does not take much to cross over. This
concept has always existed and in fact accepted for thousands of years, as the
following quotation by the great ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle confirms:
“No great mind has
ever existed without some touch of madness.”
The
list of these people who have indeed suffered with some form of mental illness
is formidable. They come from every section of the creative population,
irrespective of sex, age or degree of success.
They include:
Classic
Painters: Van Gogh, Gauguin,
Picasso, Michelangelo.
Classic composers: Beethoven, Handel,
Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninoff.
Popular composers: Irving Berlin,
Noel Coward, Stephen Foster, Cole
Porter
Celebrities: Elton John, Kurt Cobain, Michael
Phelps, Herschel
Walker, Robin Williams, Kanye West
These are but a few of the countless number of
people who have had to cope with severe emotional incapacity as they continued
to live and give expression to their work. Many succumbed to the pressure and
died earlier than they should, some gave up and chose isolation, while a few
were able to deal with their afflictions and continue their work.
But the real tragedy is that, because of
the underlying attitude of don’t ask, don’t tell, the general audience
who enjoyed their work and encouraged them to continue to do more, were
completely unconcerned and oblivious to their cries for help. In the end many
more of these artists died or suffered in silence, than ought to have done so,
simply because we all prefer to:
“Listen to the song,
but not hear the message.”
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