Do TLE and Geschwind Syndrome Inhibit The Ability to Live a Meaningful Life?
One can argue that Franco does not live a meaningful live since his obsession began. Sacks writes that Franco rarely leaves the house to travel or attend films or other various sources of entertainment (166). Nothing seems to hold his attention or even interest him at all besides his art and dreaming about Pontito. This is the same with other people affected by TLE and Geschwind Syndrome. They become so afflicted by hyperreligiosity, hypergraphia, their obsession, or other symptoms, that they cannot spend time on anything else.
However, people with TLE and Geschwind syndrome have meaning in their lives in other ways. For example, renowned Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky found meaning in his life in writing novels. He achieved success writing classics such as "Crime and Punishment." Surprisingly. Dostoevsky found a sort of bliss in his psychic seizures. In her article "Finding God in a seizure: the link between temporal lobe epilepsy and mysticism," Jess Hill stated that Dostoevsky once said "happiness unthinkable in the normal state and unimaginable for anyone who hasn’t experienced it… I am in perfect harmony with myself and the entire universe" (Hill). Furthermore, renowned neuroscientist V.S. Ramachandran writes that his patients claim they see "the true meaning of the universe" for the first time in their lives and they are comforted through these experiences (Hill).
