Geniuses vs. Madmen

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An excerpt from my journal:

"The genius and the madman embark on the same journey, have the same goal, and walk the same path; it is their destination which set them apart. The journey is enlightenment, the goal is truth, the path is knowledge, but the destination is either brilliance or madness. Brilliance is but the product of controlling madness, it is the refining, processing, bottling, and distributing of madness for safe consumption to the masses. Madness is the product of living in the mind, to allow yourself to be swallowed whole and reside in the belly of the whale. The genius will successfully navigate through this whale. They will not only study while inside the mind, but but will study the mind itself. They will master what they study, and by studying the mind they become the master of it. Without mastery of the mind one can not adequately produce brilliance from madness without dire consequences, for the result is the madman. The madman, contrary to the common colloquialism, does not lose his mind, instead, he is consumed by it, forever losing himself in the mind. The madman consumes madness in its raw form, unable or unwilling to successfully brew it to brilliance. The madman may dive into the deepest corners of the mind in search for truth, but the genius finds his way back to the surface."

Thoughts?

A "madman" bought bitcoins when there were worth pennies.

Others said, "You're mad. You're nuts. You're throwing your money away".

Now the "madman" is lauded as a "crypto-currency genius".

lol not quite what I was getting at but it definitely applies in some ways. Either that or he was a lucky fool.

I believe "genius," at times, arises when "madness" is bottled up, and made--through many forms of editing--palatable to the "masses."

Other forms of "genius," though, are already refined enough not to need editing at all.

Sometimes a madman and a genius can be the same person. To name a few:

Thomas Aquinas
Martin Luther
William Tecumseh Sherman
Robert E. Howard
Andy Kaufman

Just to name a few.

Yes, success is a big part of "genius".

"mad man"
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1. Thinks of ideas few others have.
2. Ideas are deemed fruitless ideas.

"genius"
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1. Thinks of ideas few others have.
2. Ideas are deemed fruitful ideas.

My point was he might have just had dumb luck