John Nash: Three Phases in the Career of a Beautiful Mind Author(s): Donald Capps Source: Journal of Religion and

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Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 44, No. 4, Winter 2005 (? 2005) DOI: 10.1007/sl0943-005-7176-9

John in of the

Nash: Career

Three Mind

Phases

a Beautiful

DONALD CAPPS
ABSTRACT: This article is the Helen Flanders illness, Dunbar Lecture

terian Hospital in New York City in 2002, the centennial year of her birth. It focuses on three
periods periods, in the evolution and provides of Nash's mental a psychoanalytic interpretation the predelusional, of each. delusional, and postdelusional

presented

at Columbia-Presby

KEYWORDS: narcissism.

John

Nash;

mental

illness:

schizophrenia;

identity

confusion;

transformed

The film,

"A Beautiful Mind," has made John Nash a sort of national celebrity, him much could have greater fame than his Nobel Prize in Economics bringing his life realized. Yet, it was the fact that he won the Nobel Prize that made a a Hol mental with for his illness, story, especially worthy subject struggle theme in American culture, lywood film. The film plays on a familiar popular man or a woman circumstances of the personal triumph beleagured against a person of lesser courage and determination. that could have destroyed illness and live in Princeton?where Given that I teach a course on mental

of me not to have set?it the film was principally would have been perverse a see to in it when like the it played local theater. But I didn't especially gone that prompted me to read Sylvia Nasar's film, and it was this reaction biog the film is loosely based) and then to write not one, (on which raphy of Nash on Nash.1 but three articles to the film were main that it did not address the possible My objections causes of his and of Nash's and that the film's illness, handling origins

Donald include

gational Context (1998), Social Phobia: Alleviating Anxiety in an Age of Self-Promotion (1999), Jesus: A Psychological Biography (2000), Giving Counsel: A Minister's Guidebook (2001),Men and
Their

is Professor of Pastoral Capps and Melancholia Men, Religion,

at Princeton Psychology Stories: (1997), Living

Theological Pastoral

Seminary. Counseling

His

books

in Congre

(2005). He has served as President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and has an
in theology doctorate from honorary Donald Capps, joan.blyth@ptsem.edu. the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Correspondence to

Religion:

Honor,

Hope,

and Humor

(2002),

and A Time

to Laugh:

The

Religion

of Humor

363 ? 2005 Blanton-Peale

Institute

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364

Journal

of Religion

and Health

When

was almost certainly if not downright false. delusional inaccurate, experiences I voiced these objections to my wife, she replied, "Well, it's just a Hol I responded, "But it's not about did you expect?," to which lywood movie. What a fictional lives on Alexander character. John Nash was a real person who Junction." Road in Princeton told me that a woman friend of hers Some months later, an acquaintance about the film. He is a history with her husband had had a similar discussion

at Princeton this is a "male thing" or maybe So maybe it University. professor was the "psychobiographer" In any case, I would not in me that was at work. out of the theater saying to myself, "What be giving this lecture if I had walked a a or a great, is bad is for film." this Whether you, not inspiring good thing to me, judge. or roughly 120 pages, which Imentioned that Iwrote three articles on Nash, lecture has not been of a book. Whittling all this down for a 50-minute can succeed to what I But want this in do easy. morning?and perhaps an on some to of what I have concluded the basis of idea doing?is give you to offer a psychoanalytic of the following: attempt explanation is half 1. Why 2. What 3. How said did Nash was succumb to mentad illness (specifically, paranoid schizo

phrenia) in the first place?

the nature did he manage to have realized of his delusions? to gain control over his a "recovery")? delusions (so that he could be

I used three psychoanalytic For this psychoanalytic theorists: explanation, Erik Erikson, and Heinz Kohut. the Freud, Sigmund Interestingly enough, text by Erikson that I relied upon was published the very same year that Nash

was first hospitalized. It was Identity and the Life Cycle, published in 1959.2
"Forms and Transformation of Narcissism," Also, the essay I used by Kohut, was published in 1966 when Nash was in the middle of his delusional period.3 his study of Dr. Schreber, of course, Freud's much was, essay, published in 1911.4 earlier, as presented in the three articles: In a nutshell, this is my argument 1. Why did Nash mental factors to mental illness? While and/or genetic to Nash have become may mentally predisposed cause was that for at least a decade before his first succumb tempera ill, the

precipitating hospital ization he was suffering from what Erikson calls "acute identity confusion." "resolve" this "acute identity As Erikson points out, some young persons This "identity confusion" of "the patient." by taking refuge in the identity structure was a confusion" was exacerbated by the fact that his personality one. narcissistic was the nature of his delusions? While 2. What political, they superficially were more and and sexual, with both messianic religious fundamentally

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Donald Capps

365

to me was that I found myself conclusion themes. A surprising are view that delusions at recovery, with Freud's attempt though agreeing are It in at least a decade to not this took Nash efficient very regard. they the issues that had precipitated his illness work out, through his delusions, in the first place. to gain control over his delusions? 3. How did he manage One part ofmy answer underwent to this question is that his delusions changes in form in significant the course of this decade. To oversimplify, they were less emotionally charged to this A second part of my answer and became more purely cognitive. persecutory is that Nash decade and himself matured during his delusional a of narcissist described to transformed manifest the (as by qualities began If nar in his essay on the forms and transformations of narcissism). Kohut before his role in his interpersonal cissism played a central relationships to play a role in his delusional and if it continued illness occurred, mental view of himself), there was a clear shift in his per period (in his messianic to others in he related the toward the end of his delusional and way sonality decade and in the years that have followed. This was a result of the fact that, question as he noted he became in his "60 Minutes" interview with Mike Wallace, in his capacity with my illusions." This was especially reflected "disillusioned for self-deprecatory humor, a capacity that began to emerge in the late stages the delusions of his delusional became more replete with puns period when and word plays and less emotionally charged.

a rough biographical I need to provide To put this argument in context, This is necessarily but I think it will at sketch sketch of Nash. incomplete, illness years as ones in which least offer a sense of why I view his pre-mental confusion." from "acute identity he suffered was West His Nash born in 1928 in Bluefield, father, whose Virginia. to divorced his in Texas. He was an due father's grew up parents philandering, electrical the Appalachian Power Company. His mother, from engineer with an affluent physician's studied English and several foreign family in Bluefield, at Martha Washington and had taught school for 6 years College languages John was before meeting her future husband. their first born. His sister was born 2 years later. Martha were notes that the Nashes "social climbers." They became Sylvia Nasar new But and Bluefield's club. John, Jr., was a country joined Episcopalians were whose and introverted "best friends" and "great pas books boy solitary He was especially in sion" was experimenting. interested (sharing electricity a valiant and in chemistry. His mother father's made effort to interest) a more him "well-rounded" make that he join the Boy Scouts, boy by insisting a youth attend class, and the John Alden School, Sunday Society, dancing manners to improving devoted the social of its members. organization A tragic event occurred in 1944 when Nash was 15. At that time, he and two other boys were fooling around with homemade One day one of his explosives. his

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a pipe bomb exploded in his lap. Nash friends was killed when and the third were the not at but third there the time, boy's parents boy placed their son in a as to him from if shield the next Nash's influence. school Fall, boarding Sylvia or not Nasar that have known the extent of his Nash's says may parents "may in the bombmaking."5 In any event, h? lost his two friends, and, involvement in my view, suffered from survivor guilt and from the fact that this trauma was not worked through emotionally. to Carnegie Nash went Tech in 1945 (at age 17) and began graduate studies at several universities, at Princeton in 1948. He had been accepted including his top choice, but Princeton offered him a fellowship and he chose Harvard, Princeton 1951. His for financial reasons. He was theory on game dissertation in 1994. A Princeton awarded the Ph.D. in mathematics in was the basis for the Nobel Award in an immigrant John von Neumann, professor,

Economics on from Germany, had developed game theory, but he had focused exclusively or games zero-sum in which there is one winner and one loser (as, for games, on games in most U.S. presidential Nash instead focused elections). example, that are a mixture of cooperative and noncooperative elements (as, for occurs a new car between the interaction that of the and example, purchaser a the salesperson). receive Nash to at Princeton but faculty position hoped were of his professors several disappointed or classical mathematical dress a more abstract from Massachusetts of Technology. Institute made second-rate its location near Harvard to this highly Nash went that did not ad dissertation an offer He problem. accepted The fact that he considered MIT of an embarrassment something his

narcissistic young man. ambitious, career and continued to MIT to begin his teaching there until 1959. His first hospitalization McLean outside occurred in (at Boston) Hospital 1959 and prompted March at his voluntary which had MIT, resignation awarded him tenure just weeks earlier. He was 31 years old at the time he was first hospitalized.6

Nash's I have

acute

identity

confusion

that he suffered from "acute identity confusion" in the years suggested to his for first mental illness. The basic facts that leading up hospitalization are this these: support judgment 1. At MIT and also at Rand corporation he (where he spent three summers) had a series of intense friendships with other males. His friendship with at MIT ended when Bricker Jack Bricker out of graduate studies. dropped His friendship to MIT with Paul Cohen, the mathe recently appointed matics at in 1959. His position he was hospitalized ended when faculty, in 1954 when he was arrested for indecent RAND was terminated exposure on a Santa Monica in a men's bathroom beach. In Nasar's these biography,

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367

homoerotic

are described as more and encounters adolescent friendships adult relationships, which may suggest that Nash's emotional was as at it trauma when he the suffered were, fixated, age 15, development was earlier. Nasar indicated also notes that Nash's to Cohen relationship than mature

both highly libidinal and highly competitive (in relation to mathematics).

2. During he met this same period, Nash had two heterosexual In 1952 relationships. nurse a was who to his 22. She became Stier, 27-years-old as and their son, John David, was born in June, 1953. Eleanor pregnant sumed that Nash would in but 1955 he marry her, eventually began dating Alicia Larde, who was a student at MIT and from a prestigious Catholic Eleanor to Alicia, learned of his relationship family in New York City. When Eleanor she informed his parents that they had a 3-year-old father grandson. Nash's on the grounds ordered his son to marry Eleanor that this was the honor

able thing to do, but Nash did not comply. John Nash Sr. died of a heart
later. This was the second major trauma in Nash's life. His mother of having accused Eleanor caused her husband's death through her that her son was father of a 3-year-old revelation guesses child, and Nasar that she may well have blamed her son as well, though there is no evidence attack to support this. What is almost the case is that Nash blamed certainly himself. Alicia and John were married in 1957, a few months after his father's death. Their was born in March, son, John Charles, 1959, when Nash was hospitalized. Alicia postponed the naming of their son until Nash was in a mental and emotional to participate condition in the naming. This took several months. Nash him the gave Meanwhile, nickname, "Baby Epsilon." the bare facts of the years preceding Nash's mental given merely But they support Erikson's view that a key issue in "acute identity confusion" is intimacy, which may be expressed in the form of a "polarity of sexual identity versus bisexual Erikson diffusion."7 that some young suggests a to feel social the make choice to with their bisexual persons pressure regard confusion" before they are prepared to do so. He also suggests that a young person is exposed to four experiences: physical intimacy, energetic competition, breakdown. and decisive choice. I think that psychosocial self-definition, occupational men Nash's other with to the fact that young relationships point energetic was itself libidinized moreso than the physical competition (i.e., sexualized), intimacies with women. he experienced I also believe in the that, gradually, course of his delusional became delibidinized period, they (i.e., desexualized). If Nash suffered from "acute identity confusion" his twenties, throughout did occur this mental breakdown it a 2-month when was There did? why 1958 through December 1959?when his behavior period?from February became unusually bizarre. While his behavior had never been conventional, his research assistants and some faculty colleagues noticed that he was acting on occasion. at this time? Several factors stand out: strangely Why I have 2 months

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heart attack 2 months after he learned death of his father of a massive son's illegitimate child. in Mathematics. This to be awarded 2. His failure the coveted Field Prize was 4 would which awarded years, guarantee virtually only every prize, at a major university. the offer of a professorial the awardee position 1. The of his 3. His to and rivalry with Paul Cohen, who, unlike Jack Bricker, attraction to the solution of mathematical Nash's intuitive ridiculed prob approach was hospitalized, to Cohen was the his relationship Nash lems. When advanced his mental break for his MIT associates explanation primary a causal connection between homosex down. In effect, they were making

illness. uality and mental none of his associates considered this a to Alicia Larde. While 4. His marriage a role. I it His in think his mental factor breakdown, played significant no noncom the of meant that he could game longer play being marriage a male a female friendship off against As an friendship. mittal, playing come to to for Jack in game that by arranging theory, he knew expert to for a meal, he could observe how they interacted Eleanor's apartment he behaved one another and toward him. On one occasion, ward badly to and Paul reacted in Paul's toward Eleanor presence, sympathetically to feel they were ganging ward Eleanor. up This, in my view, caused Nash a precurser to his subsequent he on him, and was paranoia. Similarly, were after meet but Alicia to for Paul Alicia Cohen, married, they arranged was very careful not to allow this threesome?herself, John, and Paul?to of an important occur. In a sense, the game was up, and Nash was deprived a I and Nash, call forced-choice this One situation, might coping strategy. that the of Put another had felt he games way, believe, type trapped. are and competition about in his dissertation written (where cooperation von John were his of the mixed) game professor, type by replaced and one loser). had introduced (where there is one winner Neumann, in May, 5. The birth of his son, John Charles, 1959, one week prior to his was Alicia that fact when The release from McLean pregnant Hospital. was associates forward Nash's also to behave Nash put by began bizarrely breakdown. factor in his mental at MIT as a possible They contributing left out and Nash felt rele became when Alicia that pregnant, suggested and affections. This wife's attentions to in his status secondary gated as the New Year's is supported by the fact that he appeared interpretation Baby at a New Year's in Nasar's biography and only in diapers tended the party felt have however, fact that Alicia Party on December him showing sitting bottle. Friends who at from a baby's milk drinking costume was a bit "over the top." It may, that Nash's to the some deep oedipal feelings that were related reflected was pregnant with their first son. There is a photo of Nash 31,1958. in the same chair with Alicia clad

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bizarre the film "A Beautiful his behavior, Mind," emphasized to various embassies and his involvement in secret writing foreign activities. It does not go into his religious his view that he political delusions, was a "messianic that he was to replace figure" who seems to have perceived over all Christendom. the Pope as the earthly Nor does the film sovereign mention that he turned down a professorial chair at the University of Chicago, even before where Paul Cohen did his graduate work, and made this decision tenure at MIT. that he was to receive In the letter he wrote being informed the offer, he said that he was soon to become of Ant the Emperor declining As letter to Erikson's relevance concept of "acute particular as notes Erikson in Man such Luther, identity Young a a in troubled "rock to young manner, persons may regress, schizotypal as subhuman?like a crab in which bottom attitude" they imagine themselves or a mollusk.8 as It seems Nash that envisioned himself the significant a to the rival the but continent that secular of Emperor (historically, Pope) arctica. delusion has confusion" because, contains have been few humans. Over whom and what would he on the Emperor here a wordplay penquin. rule? There may also This

for his

Nash's During mental

grandiose his

and paranoid

delusions

decade" (as I call it), when he was in and out of several wrote he of letters to former fac hundreds scores, perhaps hospitals, and friends. These letters were, of course, deemed odd and ulty colleagues are an bizarre by their recipients. But following view that delusions Freud's at recovery, an I believe that these letters were a form of self-therapy, attempt to think through what had gone so terribly wrong in his twenties. attempt Time does not permit me to go into all the facets of these delusional materials, "delusional

but Iwant to highlight two important themes:

1. The first is the theme of his supplanting over the Pope as the sovereign Christendom. This has obvious father-son and relates psychodynamics, to his refusal to comply with his father's order to marry Eleanor directly Stier and his sense of guilt over the fact that his father died of a heart 2 months attack to the fact that Alicia was Roman later. It also relates on the Catholic and Nash had refused to be married in a Catholic Church was an that atheist. he grounds 2. The second is his use of the Jacob-Esau story in the Bible to work out his over his relationship emotions to Jack Bricker. Bricker's given name was so saw Nash in himself the role of Esau, whose brother tricked him Jacob, out of his inheritance. on this biblical His ruminations story occurred the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. At this time, Nash had the impression during that he was a Palestinian of Israel, which being pursued by the government in part his identification with the ostracized brother. But he was explains

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on names. He called himself von Nassau, also given to punning Johannes street where main in Alicia and Nassau the their son Princeton, he, being John Charles lived after Nash was released from McLean This Hospital. was a pun on the name of the mathematician, John von Neumann, who had from Germany and was an immigrant invented (where his game theory, the similarity Note between "Nash" given name was probably Johannes). a it's to From short and "Nassau." "Esau." "Nassau," relatively leap his sense the Jacob-Esau that story, Nash was able to express Through

Jack Bricker had betrayed him?siding

out of the doctoral

with Eleanor against him and then

while

Nash was away on sabbatical program dropping own he had committed to the leave?and wrongs also, I believe, against as he spoke at this time of what he called the "repen Jack and Eleanor, to develop. of a game board he was function" He tingness attempting a "court of inquiry" that would like Job?imagined investi also?perhaps and 'Interactions" of Jacob and Esau. He imagined gate "the life histories" in absentia," that he was already on trial "sufficiently and sensed complete is his own chief accuser" and "the road to self that "it is as if the accused accusation is a road that leads to death not redemption."9 to work the unre indication that he was using his delusions through is that as time went issues confusion" of his "acute identity on, his more to shift intellectual toward energies began mystical preoccupations in the alphabet. In psychoanalytic the numerical value of letters involving with numerology of mathematics) (itself a parody terms, his preoccupation were that his delusions less emotionally much charged than they had signaled been (i.e., when he was a messianic with the Pope or the figure in competition An solved

Esau figure who had been deprived of his birthright by his brother's treachery)
and were mother's like brain teasers. The change began to occur when he left his in Roanoke, where he had gone to live in the apartment Virginia, to after his mother's death. At that time, and returned Princeton mid-1960s, as a in in home Princeton her modest Alicia him boarder Junction. accepted at from in shifted this time Judaeo-Christian His interests themes religion his thoughts in the earlier years of his "delusional that had dominated decade" an emotional This shift also suggests and focused instead on Zoroastrianism. as a Persian asso (or Iranian) decathexis, religion had none of the personal that the Judaeo-Christian ciations religion had for him. In the article to interpret in which I use Freud's Schreber essay on Daniel Nash's delusional and period, I devote several pages to the theme of "paranoia in this essay Freud desires." homoerotic argues repressed as contradictions familiar forms of paranoia may be represented "I (a man) love him (a man)." Thus: proposition: 1. Delusions that the most of the simple more

"I do not love him, I hate him." Because "I of persecution assert, it is transformed "He into hate him" cannot be acknowledged, by projection hates me, which will justify me in hating him." (persecutes)

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2. Delusions jection 3. Delusions 4. Delusions As Freud here

"I do not love him, I love her." The pro assert, I love her." loves me, and therefore "I do not love him, she loves him." of jealousy assert, of megalomania assert, "I do not love at all. I do not love anyone." of erotomania is, "She out, the delusional sense

is a of being a messianic figure The messianic all claims on form of megalomania. figure has relinquished loved. There are, for him, no more emotional those he formerly entanglements, of all such entanglements enables him to focus his and his renunciation on of the world. and the salvation thoughts energies points all of these delusions, and that one can experienced at delusions of repressed were, say bottom, symptomatic is the cause of that homosexual desire homoerotic desire. This does not mean it means that mental illness. On the contrary, illness is an effect of the mental on I of believe that homoerotic Nash was aware, also desires.10 repression some level, of the connection his delusional between states and his repressed at one point about his "merciless homoerotic for he wrote desires, superego," I believe that Nash that therefore his about his longing (in a letter to Eleanor Stier) and, at another point and for his own form of "gay liberation." liberation from "castration" for

Nash's Finally, decision

transformed

narcissism

of Nash's there is the matter he refers to as his "recovery"?which to control him. In the "60 Minutes" not to allow his delusions inter on a diet, this to going that the delusional view, he compares implying are attractive to a connected (as they give him a sense of being thoughts to take them seriously. realm of being) but he dare not allow himself higher to that his recovery was believes Sylvia Nasar largely due to his return a sort of and to the fact that Princeton Princeton from Roanoke, provided was for him. While I agree that Princeton (and con community therapeutic than Roanoke had been, I also agree with tinues to be) much more hospitable Freud's could not have been case, his recovery that, in Schreber's judgment were as "casual" as a change in residence. due to anything Internal processes On I have of primary the could other doubt that Nash hand, importance. not his when he did had his this mother have died. time, recovery begun By in this well-educated and genteel woman from a prominent Bluefield family son were in had become an alcoholic, and she and her grown living together common misery. Her death, plus the fact that his sister's efforts to have him were team who reviewed his case, recommitted thwarted by the psychiatric afforded him the chance and their psychic of Heinz to return changes Kohut's

with The view,

Alicia

son, John

to Princeton, Charles. that

and

to Uve

in the same house

internal, by means

can best be understood, in my occurred of the of narcissism. "transformation" concept

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Journal of Religion and Health

In my article on this phase of Nash's the life, I devote several pages to making case that Nash was, in fact, a "narcissistic I suggest that, while personality." took great pride in his body during his twenties?a Nash swimming pool photo an nar in Nasar's had excellent confirms that he biography physique?his on his mind. focused mainly of the biography cissism The subtitle identifies him as a "mathematical genius." In his discussion of the narcissistic of the etiology Otto personality, some the histories life of that these reveal that suggests patients Kernberg some inherent could have objectively aroused the "possessed quality which or of others. For example, unusual attractiveness envy or admiration physical a some special talent became the basic of [that] refuge against feeling being and of being the objects of revengeful unloved hatred."11 This observation by a narcissistic that underneath exterior there is a deeper suggests Kernberg core of paranoia, own point on of course, Freud's in his essay which was, a states Daniel Schreber. also that "these often occupy Kernberg patients as or in their the such the pivotal point family structure, being only child, only a to fulfill the family aspirations; ^brilliant' child, or the one who is supposed a number of them have of the role of 'genius' in good history played having their family during childhood."12 career as a mathematician Nasar's account in his twenties may be of Nash's as a an exceedingly read the story of of his young man with high opinion to confront the realities mental of the academic world. He coveted gifts having a position were at Princeton but his mentors in him vaguely disappointed because he chose to write on game theory rather than a really deep problem in an abstract area of mathematics. a position He gained at MIT but its geo was a continual to Harvard reminder that he was not (at graphical proximaty that time) in a topflight mathematics His failure to be awarded department. in 1958 was a crushing blow to him. His subsequent the Fields Medal decision to take on the Riemann one had previously in been successful Hypothesis?no to a disastrous at the February it?led 1959 meeting of proving presentation the American at Columbia Mathematical and he was Society University, out of the auditorium." Few of his auditors that he realized virtually 'laughed was seriously ill at the time. In short, a series of "narcissistic prior to his breakdown. injuries" occurred As Kohut and others have pointed of not one but several out, the experience a narcissistic such injuries is typically what to seek prompts personality did not seek therapy. of course, In fact, his committal to Nash, therapy. was involuntary a lawyer to McLean and he immediately contacted Hospital help him gain his release. In his article on the forms and transformations of narcissism, iden Kohut tifies five ways in which the ego may the narcissistic "harness and energies" new the narcissistic into more highly differentiated, "transform constellations are: (1) creativity; to be These (2) the ability psychological configurations."13 own a sense to the one's (3) (4) contemplate capacity empathie; impermanence;

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Capps

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I suggest of humor; and (5) wisdom. that, prior to his mental breakdown, were of his primary limited almost exclu narcissism Nash's transformations in his intuitive to mathematical (as reflected approach sively to his creativity In the course of his illness, the other transformations however, problems). that is, and they were for his recovery, began to develop, largely responsible the control of his delusions. in his creativity I suggest that Nash's investment creativity, Regarding a not narcissistic (as a "mathematical was, one, and genius") surprisingly, of his late twenties?failure to receive therefore the disappointments the of his to Paul ridicule Cohen's intuitive Field Medal, solving approach was to mathematical which (an approach ill-adapted problems especially ability at the and the disastrous performance Mathematical narcissistic Society?were considerable emotional under stress relating to his "acute injuries. Already was resources to he to unable find the inner confusion," necessary identity to withstand these assaults. Thus, his "beautiful mind" began disintegrate of paranoid and his into the warring factions characteristic schizophrenia, was now being on delusional to his creativity expended relating projects messianic Nash role as savior of the world. As Nasar's reveals, biography later said that he took these delusions because they came to him seriously "the same way" his mathematical ideas had come, thus confirming that his work 1959 was deeply in the rooted in his narcissistic drives. (He also noted creativity arose from his "60 Minutes" interview that he now knows that his delusions the same his brilliant "subconscious locus, as it were, from which mind," intuitions mathematical arose). I can only sketch his delusional the signs that, through decade briefly to and beyond, manifest Nash the features the other of transfor began to be empa of his narcissistic mation As far as his capacity personality. out to his oldest son, John David, by He hoped him. that this sharing would personal sharing role" in his own "personal and personal and long-awaited play "an essential to John David was This indicates his out liberation'." that 'gay reaching the realm out of still within of narcissism (and not motivated primarily or to his love" disinterested this out altruism). Nonetheless, reaching "object an expression son reflected of feeling for his son who was, by now, at much own identity problems the same age as when Nash's and for what surfaced; all his son endured of the Nash also made years paternal during neglect. thetic is concerned, he began confidences with efforts, return As to relate successful, to Princeton from Roanoke. to contemplate for his capacity is his more to his younger son, John Charles, on his to reach on the Riemann Hypothesis), of the American meeting his to overcome

the best evidence impermanence, on of his being the occasion essay autobiographical in 1994. He notes the Nobel Prize out of a awarded the fact that coming as its "less joyous delusional existence one's rediscovered has aspects," to of thought imposes a limit on a person's concept of his relation "rationality of this written

his own

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Journal of Religion and Health

who achieved the the cosmos."14 Unlike Zarathustra, immortality through at 66, acknowledges the prospect millions that his best of his followers, Nash, is behind him, but he still has "hopes of being able to work as a mathematician value achieve of something through my current studies or with any new ideas seem to me to reflect what Kohut that come in the future."15 These comments a man come to terms with who has of the calls the "quiet assurance" one not on will that he the fire his who realizes set world transience of life, and solve the Riemann puzzle). Hypothesis of a sense of humor, Nash, the emergence his delu during Concerning of a humorous mind. sional decade, made puns and word plays suggestive was context dark and pathological. As he began But the emotional to in a great deal of self-deprecatory he engaged humor (and recover, however, is a wonderful interview in the "60 Minutes" of reflection his performance (for example, notes that his "self-deprecatory his self-directed humor). Nasar perceptively On of the Nobel the afternoon humor self-awareness."16 greater suggests Prize announcement, Nash gave a short speech at a small champagne party at Princeton site of the Mathematics in Fine Hall, Department, University. to to give speeches" He said that he was "not inclined but had three things Prize would his he the because He credit (1) say: improve rating hoped to have a credit card; (2) he should to say that he is pleased really wanted he had won the whole be sharing the prize with others, but he wishes prize a for game and (3) he won because he needs the money badly; theory, to imagine may interest that "the world wishes intellectual subject of great in his "He said this with be of some utility." Nasar adds, skepticism enough in this voice to make it funny."17 I would add that he implied the world is, ever was. more was he delusional than he Moreover, living respect, perhaps of game for economics, for, after all, he was proof of the nonutility theory one of the major to game and he wasn't contributors able, before theory, a to credit card. for this, qualify As noted, his sense of humor was also in full display in the "60 minutes" to have thought interview. When asked whether he would Crowe of Russell was I in he think and himself the when it film, "No, not," play responded, that he thought Tom Cruise would be ideal for the part, he replied suggested to be a "man of idea but that he considered that this was his wife's Cruise of has it that been "a man of action" seems, he, by way contrast, (implying, is unlike of rather short stat that himself, and, moreover, Cruise, thought") ure. When it was noted that the Nobel Prize committee sent a representative to determine at whether Nash was likely to behave abnormally be an "unde Nash and said that this would the awards chuckled ceremony, the awards Instead of expressing towards sirable possibility." anger or disdain to Princeton the award, Nash for checking him out before making treated their committee to wonder what he worries and left the viewer they thought humorously, and them.18 do to embarrass himself might actually

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Donald Capps

375

the fifth transformation of Concerning like information and knowledge, wisdom, but, unlike them, goes beyond the cognitive it. What wisdom does is to "amalgamate" or emotional with the more psychological transience

Kohut that narcissism, suggests is located in the cognitive sphere to include sphere while continuing the higher of cognition processes

of one's of acceptance processes In a very real sense, this is the final transformation and of humor. of narcissism, of all the other transformations for, as Kohut writes, the truly wise are able in the end to transform the humor of their years of into a sense of proportion, a touch of irony toward the achievements of maturity individual existence, including their own wisdom. The ego's ultimate mastery over the narcissistic self, the final control of the rider over the horse, may after all have been decisively assisted by the fact that the horse, too, has grown old.19

Nasar's

penultimate paragraph in which Nasar adds an epilogue wisdom: points to Nash's

in the original relates John

1998 edition (the second edition and Alicia's in 2001) remarriage

The straight-from-the-heart talk with friends about sadness, pleasure, and attachment suggests a wider range of emotional experiences. The daily effort to give others their due, and to recognize their right to ask this of him, bespeaks a very different man from the often cold and arrogant youth. And the disjunction of thought and emotion that characterized Nash's personality, not just when he was ill, but even before are much less evident today. In deed, if not always in word, Nash has come to a life in which thought and emotion are more closely entwined, where getting and giving are central, and relationships are more symmetrical. He he may never achieve another break may be less than he was intellectually, a more but he has become deal than he ever was.20 great through,

This, I believe, is the wisdom that Kohut himself had in mind when he
that such wisdom is the highest, it is the most because suggested integrative, of all the transformations of narcissism. In conclusion, I would deemed to be over say that experiences usually states and the whelmingly negative?delusional aging process?were largely for Nash's factors "recovery." This is not to say that environmental responsible did not also play a supporting role. But, in the end, the "recovery" was an a picture internal of what Kohut one, and this is why Nash himself presents a calls "a quiet inner triumph with an admixture of undenied melancholy,"21 with about what associated he have melancholy thoughts might accomplished had he not succumbed to, or taken refuge in, the role of the "patient" when he was at the peak of his "mathematical I suggest that a mind which has genius." realized such a "quiet inner trimph" with an admixture of undenied melan in its way than the mind beautiful of a young and arrogant own in I But reveal include the convic my biases, which genius. saying this, tion that the aging process brings unexpected gifts. choly is more

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376 Journal of Religion and Health

Notes
A Beautiful 1. Sylvia Nasar, The Life of Mathematical Genius Mind: and Nobel Laureate John Nash "John Nash's Predelusional Phase: (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998); Donald Capps, A Case of Acute Pastoral Donald 2003, Vol. 51, pp. 361-384; Confusion," Identity Psychology, A Case of Paranoid "John Nash's Delusional Decade: Pastoral Capps, Schizophrenia," Psy and Donald John Nash's Period: A Postdelusional 2004, Vol. 52, pp. 193-313; chology, Capps, Case of Transformed Vol. 52, pp. 291-313. Pastoral Narcissisme Psychology,

2. Erik H. Erikson, Identity and the Life Cycle (New York: W. W. Norton, 1959).
of Narcissism," Journal of the American Psycho in Andrew P. Morrison, 1966, Vol. 14, pp. 243-272. ed., Reprinted on Narcissism (New York: New York University 1986), pp. 61-87. Press, Papers in this article refer to the reprinted version. Page numbers an Autobiographical 4. Sigmund Notes Account of a Case of Freud, "Psychoanalytic Upon in Philip Rieff, Paranoia Simon (New York: (Dementia Paranoides)," ed., Three Case Histories in 1911. and Schuster, As noted, this article was originally 1963), pp. 83-160. published 5. Nasar, op. cit., p. 327. Kohut, analytic Essential Association, 6. Inside America's Premier Mental (New York: Life and Death Hospital one of McLean's was that Nash mentions distin 2001), Alex Beam, he was not distinguished at the time of his hospitalization. p. 6. Of course, patients, guished op. cit., p. 136. Erikson, Erik H. Erikson, in Psychoanalysis and History (New York: W. W. Young Man Luther: A Study Norton, 1958), pp. 103-104. Nasar, op. cit., p. 327. Abelove's and the Americans," See, for example, "Freud, Male Homosexuality, Henry chapter, in Deep Gossip of Minnesota Press, 2003), University pp. 1-20. (Minneapolis: Otto Kernberg, in "Factors in the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personalities," on Narcissism, P. Morrison, Andrew ed., Essential op. cit., p. 220. Papers Press, In Gracefully Public Aifairs Insane: 3. Heinz "Forms and Transformations

7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

12. Ibid., p. 220. 13. Kohut, op. cit., p. 73. 14. John Nash, "Autobiography," Nash Princeton (Princeton: 15. Ibid., pp. 10-11.

in Harold University

W.

Kuhn

and

Press,

2002),

Sylvia p. 10.

Nasar,

eds.,

The Essential

John

16. Nasar, op. cit., p. 385. 17. Ibid., p. 379. to his "merciless 18. In light of Nash's reference his delusional it is during period superego," in his essay titled "Humor," that Freud, that humor is under the aegis of suggests noteworthy its nonpunitive, side. See Sigmund the superego, but reflects in "Humor," Freud, forgiving Freud and Culture, ed. Philip RiefF (New York, Collier Character Books, 1963), pp. Sigmund 263-269. 19. Kohut, op. cit., pp. 84-85. 20. Nasar, op. cit., p. 388. 21. Kohut, op. cit., p. 82.

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