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Jan. 3, 2005 What is genius? Where does it come from? Where is it going to? Is genius just the imagination of the genius himself and the unimaginative bewilderment in the empty hearts of his spectators? There are quite a few people in the world who are unusually intelligent, but does exceptional intelligence alone make a genius? No, a genius is someone who brings something new, revolutionary and original into the world. It’s someone who makes the world think, act, live or feel different in a profoundly existential way. The genius is a creative force who constructs something new where there have never even been the thought of it. The genius shocks the world, because people think everything has been done and nothing new is still possible. He truly brings the world something from “out of this world”, like Leonardo da Vinci who invented new technologies and made novel discoveries 500 years before his time - ‘before his time’ because his own time neglected most of his discoveries and proposals, as it was too advanced and because only 500 years later did the rest of the world catch up with him to test his designs and to realize he was indeed something from some other place and time compared to his own life time and in terms of our idea of an intelligent mind. A human being will not be remembered after his death for his intelligence, but for something extraordinary he has done – like having been a great artist, philosopher, composer, scientist, writer, poet etc. There are many super- intelligent people in the world who are not famous for anything, who have done absolutely nothing extraordinary, in fact, they seem like normal unintelligent people leading an ordinary, mediocre life. What is the difference then, between a genius and a super-intelligent person? Is it that the genius is a super-intelligent person who actually puts his talent to use and the discoveries and foundations which others who have gone before him have made? Is it a person with not only intelligence, but also extraordinary perseverance? Simply put, talent means nothing if you don’t put it to use. The genius must make use of his talent – he produces something amazing by means of his talent. Is this the reason why there are so few geniuses in the history of mankind? There have been billions and billions of people who have lived on the planet throughout the history of the human race, but there have been in all the billions and billions of people who have ever lived only a few hundred geniuses. So, what does it takes to become a genius? Is it only super-intelligence and f*****g hard work – it surely takes a bizarre amount of sweat, exhaustion, perseverance and determination to make use of your intelligence, in order to produce something novel and life altering. Just look at the amount of time famous artists spent everyday to produce their works of art – they almost never slept, ate very little, and worked extremely long hours. They were obsessed with whatever it was they were concentrating on - they didn’t just sit there doing nothing and thinking to themselves how smart they are. So, it surely doesn’t just take intelligence, but also extraordinary will power, determination and energy. Very few people have this combination of superior intellect and mental/physical energy. Bach said at the end of his life, “Now I have worked hard.” Michelangelo said, “If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my mastery, they wouldn’t have thought it wonderful at all.” A great composer and violinist once said, “I play the violin so good because I practice 12 hours a day, and now they call me a genius!?” Leonardo da Vinci said, “Just as iron rusts from disuse, even so does inaction spoil the intellect.” Leonardo also said, “Every obstacle yields to stern resolve”. Napoleon Hill said: “Victory is always possible for the person who refuses to stop fighting.” Isaac Newton said, “If I have seen further than others, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.” Friedrich Nietzsche said, “All things that are truly great are at first thought impossible.” Frank Lloyd Wright said, “I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen.” Jim Watkins said, “A river cuts through a rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.” Vincent van Gogh said, “I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart.” He also said, “To produce a good painting is as difficult as too find a diamond.” Stephen King said, “Talent is as cheap as table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent can not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, ‘Press on’, has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” This leaves me with a mystifying question: If genius is just super-intelligence with which some auspicious (or unfortunate) individual was born with, then the product of that genius is not so miraculous, as that person cannot help for having been born with such an atypical talent; and if it’s all about sheer hard work, then it is no marvel either, because being able to physically and psychologically exhaust one’s self is not that incredible - even if genius is the incorporation of the two, namely: intelligence executed by hard work, it still fails to be amazing, because intelligence is chance and hard work is purely the converse of languor. Is real genius something else than just talent and sweat? What is that mysterious extra element at work in the inexplicable being of the genius who shows the world in every such instance of its presence a novel window into the infinite dimension of being? Is the make up of the genius some strange combination of some extra-powerful mental capacity from some super-human origin? Where is the birth place of the genius - the center of the Earth or the edge of the Universe...? Is the genius from some ‘Divine’ or ‘Terrible’ realm!? “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” - Michelangelo ------------ About the author Werner Reyneke: I am a 23 year old passionate writer/poet in my spare time and a computer programmer by proffession. Visit my website to see my first published book. I live in South Africa and have been published in a local newspaper (some poems in Haiku form) for the first time in February 2000. I have also been selected for publication in a VoicesNet Anthology (visit www.Voicesnet.org) and a Poetry.com (ILP Publishers) anthology called "Eternal Portraits"). Visit my website at: http://myweb.absa.co.za/wreyneke/Mybook.htm Email: wreyneke@absamail.co.za Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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