Getting manic, staying up all hours, feverish, obsessed... it's been a cliche about the gifted since Sherlock Holmes's day. Is it inherent? There is some evidence mania (and manic depression!) is more common among geniuses. Is a touch of mania a necessary cost of greatness? It does help get the work done--but oh, the crash...

These dreams wrestle with mania. What's a safe balance--or is there one?

RELATED TOPICS: sadness and depression - genius and giftedness - drugs - creativity and the flow state - See also the full INDEX OF SUBJECTS.

The World Dream Bank has 1500 dreams and dream images plus 500 other pages on dreamwork and shamanism, creativity, genius, art, surrealism and fantasy. Unless otherwise noted, all material copyright Chris Wayan, 2001-2006.

What this site is - How to read these entries - Ratings: profanity, sex, etc - Add your dreams! - Copyright - Downloading -

	AFTER THE BANG: by Wayan; 2001/5/16, a poem on the World Dream Bank. The Big Bang happens, you're inspired, you make something of it... then what? The Big Whimper?
	BALANCE?: by Wayan, 1984/10/10, a dream about dreams. Silky, my sentient starship, gives me a scolding about playing it safe...
	BRIGHT NICHES IN THE CASTLE WALL: by Jenny Badger Sultan; summer 2003. A painting of a series of dreams. Dreams warning of mania and paralyzing shame alternate with calm dreams of life and growth...
	CHURCHES BURN WHEN YOU LEARN TO FLY: by Wayan; 1989/9/1, a didactic flying dream. I pay the price, but learn the difference between merely getting off the ground, and true mastery...
	GIFTED CHILDREN NEED...: by Wayan; 1980, a journal extract on geniuses. Advice of a specialist on the care and feeding of child prodigies, embarrassingly relevant for adult geniuses...
	GLASS EATER: by Wayan; 1982/12/10, a dream on managing ESP. I live in an asylum for fragile psychics. When one man over-uses his talent, he compulsively eats glass... CAUTION: DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME
	HEALING THE RING: by Wayan; 1984/8/22, a nightmare on... anger? I bear a Ring of Power meant to corrupt me. I cleansed it, at a cost, but can't wield it till I've read its spell...
	THE HOLY HARP: by Wayan; 1994/3/22, a dream of musical guilt. The Goddess's harp, that calls in the seasons, just passed on. But the new harper has a shocking admission...
	ICARIAN PAIN: by Wayan; 125K, 3 ill., 1982/10/19, a dream of shyness, and flying, and pinching yourself. I meet some cute dancers, but rather than flirt, I just try ballet leaps too. I get more than I bargained for...
	MY SINE-FRIEND: by Wayan; 1984/3/6, an emotional dream of time and rebirth. An animal-girl I know lives like a sine-wave, first forward in time, then backwards, dying at every zero...
	NOT LOVE, BUT NOT ABUSE: by Wayan; 1996/6/6, a dream on gradualism. I dream I don't love my girlfriend, I just confuse non-abusive treatment with love....
	SURRENDER DARCY!: by Wayan; 1982/6/14, a dreamtale on pride and prejudice. I'm Doctor Who, being chased by an air-surfer who demands we give up a reserved, proud man... CAUTION: MILD NUDITY
	TAROT: THE SULKY: by Wayan; 300 x 480. Tarot card, 3x5", 1978-1981. At the Dream Circus, a grumpy little greenish Scotsman rode a sulky, pulled by a playful black horse who...
	WERE-COMPOSER: by Wayan; 1995/2/15, a trashy dream. I help a brilliant, starving composer turn his family curse into a profitable business...
	WERE-TROUT: by Wayan; 1997/8/2, a dating-advisory dream. I'm a one-legged hopping hermit in the ruins of LA, and my only hope for love is to conjure a girl from a...

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