What do Art, Mental Disorders, Sports, and Linux have in common?
“To be an artist is to be dysfunctional”, said David Bowie. I’m obsessed with art, and being socially dysfunctional, with two mental disorders (Autism Spectrum Disorder and Bipolar Disorder), I wholeheartedly agree with Bowie.
Why does most art come from disturbed minds? Art is normally created by dysfunctional people because they normally have a social dysfunction, so they need to make art to express themselves and to make themselves understood to the world.
Dysfunctional people also see and feel the world differently, and with art, they can channel their feelings, they can show the world how they see and how they sense what is around them and what is inside their minds and inside their hearts.
Typical vs Diverse, Linux vs Windows
An easy way to explain socially dysfunctional people and how they see and function in the world is that their brains run Linux and only Linux software. It’s hard to find software, and the software is only compatible with their specific Linux version and their Linux flavor, their software is also very different from what the rest of the world is used to use and even different from other Linux brains.
Meanwhile, the majority of people, the rest of the world all run Windows, with software compatible with each other, and if they don’t have certain software, they can easily get and easily install it, being instantly compatible with their surroundings — their compatibility getting recognized and accepted.
Art is the only way to fit in a neurotypical world
To make a comparison, I’ll use “sports” and the act of cheering for sports, going to sports events, and talking about sports. Since this is one of the most common topics and interests all over the world, and I get constantly asked about this or that match, this or that athlete, this or that team, and I never cared about it (and I never followed anything about it).
Sports represent the opposite of everything about having mental disorders and about being socially dysfunctional. Sports represent the “socially functional” side of the world, it provides and contains all the elements the typical and functional world needs. From all the stimuli to the sense of unity and community, to the connected flow of thought. It’s the direct way in which the typical mind can connect with each other, in a single chorus.
And by “typical” I don’t mean inferior, I just mean it typical in the literal sense, as in majority, the common, the expected. It’s a short way to say a “neurotypical person”. On the opposite way, there’s the “neurodiverse” and also the “socially dysfunctional” folk.
As for “disturbed mind”, I both refer to disturbances caused by psychosis and psychotic minds as well as mental disorders that do not necessarily mean psychosis, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, that changes how we perceive the senses, the human connections, the feelings, and more (in which I fit in).
I’ve been a software developer for more than 20 years, but one of my biggest “reasons to live” is art, that’s why I try to be in touch with art 24/7 and that’s why I also enjoy art, study art, explore art, make art, and want to keep making art forever.
I hope to also one day I can only study and make art all day long, every day, full-time, without any other worries or responsibilities, in what I call “art life”. Only art for the sake of art.
