to thine own self

Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Sun, 24 Oct 1999 19:26:06 +0100 

    I'd have thought, Jim, that 'history' suggests 
    the concentration necessary for the accomplishment 
    of anything of value - whether artistic, scientific, 
    social, or whatever - often entails a rather ruthless 
    disregard for the feelings & needs of others.  
    Many great artists, for example, were kindly 
    enough people - taking reasonable care of 
    their dependents & so on.  But they were, 
    to a man, quite ruthless in not allowing 
    consideration for others take priority over 
    their obsession with their own work.

    I was always curious why I should be fascinated 
    with this powerful element of self-sufficient 
    self-absorption when I read about it or 
    encountered it.  I was lucky enough, quite early on, 
    to read Freud's essay on Narcissism - 
    a quality of personality that he suggests 
    is common to a great artists, criminal psychopaths, 
    beautiful women, animals, babies, & al.  
    Ever the most gullible of chaps, I found it 
    extraordinarily satisfying & illuminating.  
    Perhaps because it could be used to validate 
    the twists in my own infantile makeup.

    Remember that for every Hitler there was 
    a Roosevelt (whose wife said after he died: 
    'I simply served his purposes ...')  And that 
    this list is devoted to an artist who doesn't 
    sound exactly like the chairman of the local 
    St Vincent de Paul Society for the Indigent.

    Scottie B.