"The great creators—the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors—stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid."
Ayn Rand
I don't know whether this generalization is true. I suspect that these cases have become really frequent only with the coming of industrialization and compulsory education.
ReplyDeleteCreativity has become an obsession after 68, and stubborn anticonformism has replaced critical spirit.
I have never heard that Leonardo da Vinci has been considered crazy for his inventions.
There is something sick and obsessive about the individualism of "the white man", especially in northern countries. It is an individualism considered better than the family. And this kind of individualism tries to heroicise lonelyness.
Everything which is really great is timeless, seasonable and unseasonable at the same moment.
Jesus says, "tell me about it!"
ReplyDelete"Every great new thought was opposed."
ReplyDeletemy opinion: the opposite is true.
"Every great new invention was denounced"
my opinion: yes.
We are open for ideas and very often too intensively. But we are sceptical about technical functions and deservedly so.
I would say, we are afraid of everything which is new, when we feel that its EFFECT will be huge. In this case even something which strikes us from the beginning with beauty and harmony will frighten us. Maybe even more than something which is new, but ugly.
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