Have I Gone Mad?

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Alice remains one of my favorite characters to follow ~ down the rabbit hole or through the looking glass, either works for me. She moves with cool confidence and commonplace expectation through a landscape of dream and adventure. Her questions reflect the juxtaposed juncture of 'mundane' and 'exceptional.'

Like this one: "Have I gone mad?" She's asking this politely of the Cheshire Cat who occasionally reveals himself to be only a grin. In the mundane world that very action would be the answer to her query!

I love his response: "I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret... all the best people are." As Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was first published in 1859, it was likely the first book to use the term 'bonkers' to mean crazy. Looking up the word's origin, it is claimed as 'unknown' and has it originating in the 1940s or 1950s. Clearly, most of those looking at its origins have not read Alice..... how sad for them! I digress ~~~

Being bonkers, mad, crazy, whatever term one chooses to use, is a good thing. It describes lightness and play in one's heart ~ a capacity to express oneself in ways that are beyond the normal. All creatives are thought mad at some point or another. All dreamers are too. This kind of madness, though, is both blessing and curse. Name-calling generally leaves one feeling judged and out-of-sorts. Yet it is also a way to explain the feverish directed passion that can overwhelm someone when they catch, or are caught by, the creative spirit.

How do you feel about being called 'bonkers'? Are your creative moments planned? or overwhelming? or timely? Are you glad to be in the company of others with that moniker? or do you steer clear of those with a creative passion bent?