Genius

A couple of weeks ago I did a post on mediocrity. Now I'm going to look at the opposite, the perfection of mind, genius.
I'm interested in genius. What it is, what it means to the person, if it is something you're born with or something you can acquire and if so, how. I think at some point or other everyone has wondered what it would be like if they had some sort of genius, be it academic, artistic or any other type.
But what is a genius?
First lets look at the Rain man type, the savants. Some can calculate huge maths problems in their heads, remember tens of thousands of digits of pi, or draw incredibly detailed images of landscapes after only seeing them once. Are they geniuses? In my opinion they aren't, despite their amazing abilities. To understand my reasoning behind this, think of the most impressive thing about yourself. It could be your ability to draw, write, ask interesting questions, tell jokes or anything else like that. Even talking is amazing if you think about the hundreds, even thousands, of thought processes that go into it. Now consider the most amazing things about savants. It's generally pretty easy, be it their memory or mathematical abilities, it's what separates them from the rest of us. The main difference between your most impressive thing and a savant's is, in probably 99.9% of cases, a computer can outperform the savant, but not you. No matter how amazing someone's ability to do complex arithmetic, even the earliest computers could beat them. No matter how many digits of pi they memorise most modern phones could actually hold more. The person who can almost perfectly draw a huge landscape is no match for the actual perfection of a cheap phone. However, a computer can't draw the emotion of a sunset, can't truly understand a joke or do any of the other things that make humans so impressive. Even if you consider your greatest ability maths, it is probably not so much your ability to do calculations as much as your ability to work out how to solve a problem. A calculator might be able to help you work out the answer, but it can't work out how to solve the problem itself. What this requires, and what computers lack, is abstract, creative thought. And this is what makes a genius.
Take Vincent van Gogh. He didn't paint the world exactly as he saw it, he painted the energy of the landscapes, the emotion of the lands. This is something a computer is no where near being able to do and is where I believe genius lies. Another classic example of genius is Albert Einstein. Again, his genius wasn't his ability to do maths, but his ability to understand and explain complex physics, which requires abstract thought and the ability to connect separate ideas. This is true with anyone considered a genius, that their ability is not straightforward talent, but rather the ability to understand and see things in a way others can't, something which can seem like an almost unearthly gift.
But is it? Are geniuses really born geniuses, with abilities us mere mortals can only dream of?
Of course not. Works of genius don't really just happen, hundreds of hours of work go into them, with tens of thousands of hours spent studying first. Michelangelo once said "If you knew how much work went into it, you would not call it genius." So what really sets a genius aside from the rest? Primarily dedication. There is a proverb that states "Genius is patience." Of course you also need to be creative and nearly always insane. But the important thing to remember is that genius is not a super power, it is merely a fortunate collection of traits.
So how does one achieve genius?
Short of practising for thousands of hours the only advice I've been able to pick up from the masters is to try thinking in new ways. If you think of thought as the purest form of art and expression, although only accessible to yourself, then it can be seen that what most people do with their thoughts is the equivalent of doodling, while geniuses paint masterpieces. This isn't because they have inherently better minds, but because they have learnt to control their thoughts better. So by practising thinking in different ways you can open new doors of reasoning and creativity. For example, try thinking only in music, with abstract thoughts represented as notes, or think in terms of space, lifting objects in your mind and changing their colour in your head. This will essentially exercise your mind, allowing you to view things in new ways and take your first step to genius.



I really must stop writing these abstract essays for my blog, I'm beginning to sound like an Oxford grad turned new age teacher. Eurgh.