"Tesla Time" Journal 4-3ish?

Alana Prettitore
April 22, 2008
4-3 ish
Tesla Entries

There is a fine line between genius and madness. Explain how this might be said of Tesla. Give at least two examples.

In Tesla’s lifetime, he achieved a great many accomplishments are contributions to society. While it is essentially indisputable that he was an unbelievable thinker and genius, he bordered on the side of madness. For instance, even from a young age, Tesla was able to envision certain flashes of light and then have insight into future inventions and so forth. He experienced, as he called it, “moments of inspiration”. In childhood, he suffered many illnesses; during this troublesome time period, he often saw random flashes of light along with hallucinations, words, and other strange symptoms. He possessed “picture thinking”, and sometimes wondered if the colors, sights, and sounds that he sometimes saw were only visible to him. This borders on the inexplicable; the fine line in which genius meets madness.

Second, while Tesla was able to move to America alone, make it successfully in a foreign country, and shamelessly network with the super elite of New York City, he had many social phobias and severe hang-ups. He had severe afflictions to hair, touching, shaking hands, and many other ordinary human interactions. Dating made him uncomfortable and while certain gorgeous, famous women pursued him, he was easily freaked out. What would make one man inexpressibly excited would make him most certainly awkward and uncomfortable. In fact, he claimed to have cut sexuality out of his life at age 40. Not many men would ever consider this; yet, for Tesla, his social behaviors were completely off the wall. This indicates the madness within. While he was lonely and conflicted, he never ceased his odd behavior.