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Eccentricity

Heart&Brain

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A few years ago I watched a documentary about a Scottish Psychiatrist who had specialised in researching eccentricity. Unfortunately I don't remember his name, nor his exact definition of eccentricity, but he considered it innate and an interesting human variation that could neither be grasped by concepts of normality or insanity. But I remember some of his findings:
Eccentricity is rare: 1 out of 10.000. (Finding enough research subjects was a funny story in itself, since eccentrics will not be pre-collected neatly in psychiatric hospitals, prisons, schools or other institutions for researchers to come and study...)

Anyway, he found his sample of eccentrics and these are some of the results I remember:
Compared to the general population on average eccentrics have a slightly longer life-expectancy. They have less incidents of mental illness. They live in single households more often. During their lifetime they have a higher number of committed romantic relationsships but then with shorter duration. They get a smaller number of children than average. They tend to be much more energetic and driven. They experience themselves as happy with their life more often than the average population. Their average intelligence is above normal and they can be highly educated. They tend to experience less anger and conflicts and are less likely to be criminal offenders or resort to violence.

They pursue with zest their own idiosyncratic goals and are not interested in getting societal acceptance, nor do they seek societal attention, outrage or engage in powerstruggles. Live and let live-outlook.

Examples of eccentrics included a British professor of theoretical physics who had spend most of his life experimenting to make a perpetuum mobile! He would explain how he obviously knew that it was impossible according to the laws of physics, but that he couldn't see why this would prevent him from keep trying when he enjoyed his project so much!

Another example was a rich American lady from the LA-area, Jenny something who lived in the middle of the 20th century. Ever since her youth she loved to sing opera and payed for expensive lessons with famous singers, made records with her singing and hired famous concert halls to give her own concerts. She lived for this, never got married, never took any part in the usual rich-bunch social mores.

The only problem was she couldn't really sing by any normal standards! She got terrible reviews and was ridiculed, but she didn't really pay attention. Eventually she got a dedicated audience who simply loved the funny freedom of these absurd opera-concerts and the honest and genererous love and energy she radiated and shared.

She is dead now, but on her tombstone she left something like this:
Many people said that I couldn't sing. They may have been right.
But nobody can say that I didn't sing.

Isn't that beautiful? The subjective intensity of doing, enjoying and enthusiastic sharing is celebrated over the conformity of judgement, objective performance and social success.

So, eccentricity as goodnatured egotist vitality?
A nice human variation, me thinks!
 

LostInNerSpace

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A few years ago I watched a documentary about a Scottish Psychiatrist who had specialised in researching eccentricity. Unfortunately I don't remember his name, nor his exact definition of eccentricity, but he considered it innate and an interesting human variation that could neither be grasped by concepts of normality or insanity. But I remember some of his findings:

Seems like he tested a nice bunch of eccentrics. One presumes he would have got different results by first jolting them with a proverbial cattle prod.
 

CrystalViolet

lab rat extraordinaire
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A few years ago I watched a documentary about a Scottish Psychiatrist who had specialised in researching eccentricity. Unfortunately I don't remember his name, nor his exact definition of eccentricity, but he considered it innate and an interesting human variation that could neither be grasped by concepts of normality or insanity. But I remember some of his findings:
Eccentricity is rare: 1 out of 10.000. (Finding enough research subjects was a funny story in itself, since eccentrics will not be pre-collected neatly in psychiatric hospitals, prisons, schools or other institutions for researchers to come and study...)

Anyway, he found his sample of eccentrics and these are some of the results I remember:
Compared to the general population on average eccentrics have a slightly longer life-expectancy. They have less incidents of mental illness. They live in single households more often. During their lifetime they have a higher number of committed romantic relationsships but then with shorter duration. They get a smaller number of children than average. They tend to be much more energetic and driven. They experience themselves as happy with their life more often than the average population. Their average intelligence is above normal and they can be highly educated. They tend to experience less anger and conflicts and are less likely to be criminal offenders or resort to violence.

They pursue with zest their own idiosyncratic goals and are not interested in getting societal acceptance, nor do they seek societal attention, outrage or engage in powerstruggles. Live and let live-outlook.

Examples of eccentrics included a British professor of theoretical physics who had spend most of his life experimenting to make a perpetuum mobile! He would explain how he obviously knew that it was impossible according to the laws of physics, but that he couldn't see why this would prevent him from keep trying when he enjoyed his project so much!

Another example was a rich American lady from the LA-area, Jenny something who lived in the middle of the 20th century. Ever since her youth she loved to sing opera and payed for expensive lessons with famous singers, made records with her singing and hired famous concert halls to give her own concerts. She lived for this, never got married, never took any part in the usual rich-bunch social mores.

The only problem was she couldn't really sing by any normal standards! She got terrible reviews and was ridiculed, but she didn't really pay attention. Eventually she got a dedicated audience who simply loved the funny freedom of these absurd opera-concerts and the honest and genererous love and energy she radiated and shared.

She is dead now, but on her tombstone she left something like this:
Many people said that I couldn't sing. They may have been right.
But nobody can say that I didn't sing.

Isn't that beautiful? The subjective intensity of doing, enjoying and enthusiastic sharing is celebrated over the conformity of judgement, objective performance and social success.

So, eccentricity as goodnatured egotist vitality?
A nice human variation, me thinks!

I found this oddly uplifting.

Hmmmm....eccentric is a word I have bandied about to describe me, that and off beat, although I wouldn't consider myself a true eccentric. I have no desire to prove it to anyone. I've known one or two true eccentrics...one was an art teacher, and egotisical was the word I use for her, and a friend at uni-he was really adorable. His child like glee was infectious, and his oblivious ways...he was just very lovable.
 

nozflubber

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Rich people are eccentric.

Poor people are just weird.

Somehow the word "weird" fails to capture the entirity(sp?) of people like Ted Kaczynski, but you already knew this when posting!
 

Synapse

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Whats normalcy then?
Whats mainstream?

Whats a sheep and whats a black sheep.

I wanna be a ninja turtle. :D

Do I consider myself eccentric or just left of center eclectic, I'll go for erudite, hahaha I wish. Its like saying am I really INFP, truly doggedly FINP or was that PINF, I has an undercoat of TENJ so watch out. Normally I'd feel eccentric but I don't invent stuff.

Like a straight linear path, the road most traveled tends to be the least satisfying.

All I'm doing is creating branches that deviate towards a different experience all the while traveling along the same path though in a different direction. Which means I'm either way ahead of the ball game or severely behind the ball game or just messing around in the middle hoping to coast along life's corridors as a straggler or a wayfarer or both. Wait does that include all the fringe benefits, I'd go for that.
 

substitute

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Whats normalcy then?

It's a hideous looking and awkward sounding word that's been invented by someone I want to find and shoot, in order to replace the already existing word "normality".
 

substitute

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My dad: guy with undiagnosed Asperger Syndrome born in the 1930's. Never wore jeans his entire life. Gave over his life to finding and restoring AJS motorcycles (before they became Matchless) and Rover 16's from the 1940's. Extremely gifted mechanic, but never did it for a living - joined the army to look after the horses, left, got married, had 5 kids and went to live in the middle of nowhere far from family and friends, and pursue self-sufficiency to ridiculous levels (eg making kids grind home grown wheat between stones to make flour, etc). Wife left him 17 years later, after he had still never had a job paying more than minimum wage, whilst performing rare feats of mechanics in the garage every night. Offered a job for a professional vintage car restoring company - declined. Single-handedly built an entire garage and extra three rooms for his house, living alone in a small village, again far from anywhere or anyone else that he knew. The rest of the village knew him as the guy that drove around in the 1947 Rover 16 or on the 1952 AJS motorcycle, or possibly on an electric bicycle, wearing full bright yellow So'wester and rain cape like an old fashioned fisherman, who always smiled and laughed and fixed anyone's lawnmowers no matter how fucked up they were and never charged a penny. The day he died at age 67, he had been working on his Rover 16 - he was taking a tea break before installing a new carburettor when he suffered a fatal heart attack and died with a spanner* in one hand and wearing a tweed suit. His funeral, at the Jehovah's Witness hall (as per his assumed request, as he left no will) was attended by 300+ people, and the picture on the OHP of him had the words "always smiling" underneath them. Even though he absolutely never made any effort to make friends and couldn't conform to society even if he'd wanted to. All he left to his kids were the vintage vehicles and a cat - his house had been rented and none of his kids had anywhere to store the vehicles, so they had to be sold before the landlord took possession.

He was known as the local eccentric.

*I think you Americans call that a wrench.
 

Nocapszy

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That guy was awesome.

Except the flower thing... what was that about?
 

antireconciler

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I put my theory on some of this in a post quite a while ago. It's here if you're interested. It was rated highly by the illustrious Night, and really what better recommendation could there be?

Great analysis.

There seems to be a bit of insecurity both directions: in he who over-emphasizes his uniqueness and in he who overly de-emphasizes it.

But it is flat out hard to just permit ourselves to be different where we are different, and similar where we are similar. That realization, "oh, I thought I was different and I'm not", or "oh, I thought I was so similar and I'm not" so very rarely come easily and painlessly. I blame no one for having not made them any more than I can blame someone for having not faced death.

But it is flat out hard to ...

Voltaire said:
Compared with what?

Shut up Voltaire.
 

substitute

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Great analysis.

There seems to be a bit of insecurity both directions: in he who over-emphasizes his uniqueness and in he who overly de-emphasizes it.

But it is flat out hard to just permit ourselves to be different where we are different, and similar where we are similar. That realization, "oh, I thought I was different and I'm not", or "oh, I thought I was so similar and I'm not" so very rarely come easily and painlessly. I blame no one for having not made them any more than I can blame someone for having not faced death.

Yeah well, blame don't enter into it, do it? There's no point using moral/value judgements concerning a person just being inevitably what they are. If insecure or unaware is part of what they are, there's no point judging them when the symptoms start showing. I mean you can analyze it and say it's pretty dumb, that it's a shame that they're doing that and that the smart thing to do would be to wise up and be themselves more, but if they don't it's through lack of full realization and that basically boils down to perceptiveness and wisdom... to judge someone as bad for lacking that would be like judging someone as a bad person for having a low IQ or EQ. Good and bad, moral shizzle, don't come into it, IMO.

It never really troubles me to realize I'm "like other people" in some respect or other. In fact it's usually quite a relief, and I log it away as something that gives me a bit more chance than I thought I had of actually getting along with people lol
 

simulatedworld

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It's a hideous looking and awkward sounding word that's been invented by someone I want to find and shoot, in order to replace the already existing word "normality".

Afraid he's already dead--the term was coined by President Warren G. Harding, actually, who promised the country a "return to normalcy", despite the fact that that wasn't actually a normal word. Oh, politicians.
 

Nocapszy

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Not a common word.

Research will reveal to you that it can be found in dictionaries.
And it's not hideous. It's awesome.

I'm thinking I'll try and popularate "normalness" 'cause it seems like a flinasticatedly cool word.
 

antireconciler

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Yeah well, blame don't enter into it, do it? There's no point using moral/value judgements concerning a person just being inevitably what they are. If insecure or unaware is part of what they are, there's no point judging them when the symptoms start showing. I mean you can analyze it and say it's pretty dumb, that it's a shame that they're doing that and that the smart thing to do would be to wise up and be themselves more, but if they don't it's through lack of full realization and that basically boils down to perceptiveness and wisdom... to judge someone as bad for lacking that would be like judging someone as a bad person for having a low IQ or EQ. Good and bad, moral shizzle, don't come into it, IMO.

Then you are merciful, and antidote to anyone who, through their own blame and judgment, comes to feel insecure. You are saying, in essence: there is no use blaming another who blames for lack of adequate knowledge or awareness. Good for you. :)
 
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