This post is part of the Epilepsy Blog
Relay™, which will run from Nov. 1 to Nov. 30,
2017. Follow along!
Epilepsy can provide masses of inspiration. If not the source of creativity, then we most
likely need not feel it has diminished after our first seizures. At least that’s how I see it… but, I guess,
everyone doesn’t think the way I do.
I learn what others with epilepsy are thinking and feeling
by reading responses to questions posted on www.myepilepsyteam.com. The differences in ways they interpret topics
and queries is fascinating. So, I asked
about creativity and whether they feel their epilepsy made them more or less
so. By and large, a couple of themes
surfaced:
1.
They were creative before their epilepsy
presented and, happily, continue to be.
2.
They associated creativity with IQ, saying that they
experienced declining cognitive skills after their first seizures. Their creativity sometimes did and sometimes
didn’t diminish.
These, of course, were the most frequent answers, not all of
them. I’m happy to see the first and
surprised by the second. Is creativity
really tied to what is measured in IQ tests? (Personally, I don’t think so.) Is it
being defined too narrowly?
Me? I have more than
a single view of my creativity.
On the one hand, I feel my epilepsy may have made me potentially
more creative. When my first seizure hit
at age 18, I experienced an aura that brought on what turned out to be illusions,
but they were nonetheless beautiful. I
almost floated among people, unable to communicate with those around me, yet
knowing everyone’s thoughts. For a brief 20 minutes, I felt as though I was
watching a play. Then, with no
intermission, I found myself in a hospital.
Thirty-nine years later, that aura remains a crystal in my memory. I can’t remember what I ate for lunch
yesterday, but my senses come alive when I think of that first encounter with
my epilepsy.
But it remains unmined.
Is it a missed inspiration for creativity? I wrote one rather stream of conscious poem
about it, but, truth be told, I didn’t really spend the amount of time on it
that a “real” poet does. Nonetheless, I
continue to feel that the memory of my aura could help stoke my
creativity. If I haven’t acted on it
yet, does it mean I’m not creative?
On the other hand, I have novel ideas when it comes to strategic
planning and marketing. They may not be
artistic in the classical sense, but they certainly are creative. And they bring me joy.
Here’s where I ask again if we have the tendency to define
“creativity” too narrowly. Is it just
artistic skill? Of course not. The arbiters of the English language don’t define
it as such. Despite this, many limit its
meaning to the arts until they think about it again.
So here’s to opening ourselves, we with epilepsy, to the beauty
and joy of all the varied kinds of creativity!
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