Virtues of the Genius

July 30, 2014

Most people correlate and relate happiness with the attainment of goals they set in life. This is one of the deceiving touchstones people devise in everywhere since such state of being is in cases confused with being better than others in world where such touchstones are relative and subjective, even are opaque, and being better than others are more of egoistic and phony and people could do much better than what they have already set as goals in life. In fact, they could do much better as result of such given capacity they already have acquired.

However, they claim that they are content, which could bring some sort of fake gesture of happiness in world they can change many things to better and best and they could do many other profound things better than ever. One of the interesting people one ever met in life is those people who have checklist on the type of things they do on daily basis, in which they make kind of check and uncheck things and they claim that I am okay in life. These people have devised their own way of life but they do not have adequate and complete touchstones of life since people in most cases are self-centered and their standards could not escape from being self-centered due to human nature in which people cannot get rid of, which could be positive and negative self-centered activities.

Last time, I opened an accidental conversation with someone since we met in café and we share a common table. And that someone is like one of the achieved person in town. And he said, I am convinced that life is less on what happens to me but more on how I act and react to what happens to me and the sum value and cumulative effect of such actions and reactions of life molded my reality and my life by now. Although such statement and saying sound familiar to me since I read it somewhere, but I realize that what the person says and what he is in reality are in conformity since he achieved something in life.

I, in most cases, take the spirit of what that person claims than the form since it is the spirit of the person that is more significant to that given conversation I had with that given man, than go for investigation to what that given person sayings since it is irrelevant, one does not spend a single minute on investigating such given conversation on the remarks that given person did, by going to the internet or other sources such as who said that, when, where, why, who and the like since it is just futile. Although, there are other people who should be checked on what they say since their motive or intent is not clear. However, that person delivered something and shared me an idea that has a good value and one appreciate and give respect to what the person tries to deliver than go on further checking irrelevant source since it is meaningless.

One believes and thinks that most people are successful in what they are doing since they have some kind of conviction or faith on what they are doing even if they live in amidst darkness and they live in most state of desperation, but they have one thing in their heart and mind, which they claim and call, faith or determination in what they are doing. What they do, they choose and they act is important, but what they believe in is something different and significant since such conviction is not something that cannot be imported or exported, but rather it is a conscious activity and thinking people germinate by their own. One call such conviction or faith as an energy or powerhouse that release unseen force to the undertaking people have or do in their daily routines and it is a driving force that catalyze what most people do in what they achieve and accomplish.

Scandinavian proverb says, faith is like a bird that feels dawn breaking while it is still dark. There is always one thing that hits my mind in which every proverb in any given society is used in form of parables and animals are good victims of such given parables due to reasons that they do not speak and communicate to humans in human way, but societies and people write as if animals such as birds and elephants or rats said this or that. They speak on behalf of them on ideas which humans want to translate and transfer to others. This is obvious and very traditional expressions of passing ideas and sharing experiences of life. We inherit such traditions and go on since we find it appropriate especially in cases when people would like to express their own ideas in different manner, it is a nice way of expressing and describing views too.

The most successful people in most cases are those people who go against the direction of the wind or they are like the law of gravity since they have some sort of determination in what they think and believe. This does not mean that they think and do in opposite to what the mass says for the sake of obtaining such success, but rather what they think and believe in is germinated out of personal experience and exposures and this could be contrary to what the mass think and even if the world gives its back to them, they do it in their own way and style no matter strong oppositions they face in life, they just keep going and doing it. We call such people and they are known as genius people, but they are not arrogant.

The word genius means innate talent. It derives from the Roman mythological belief that everyone has two guardian spirits which attended from birth to death; geno is Latin for “to be borne”. One of the spirits was a good genius, and brought good fortune and the other was an evil genius and brought bad fortune. And accordingly, the name genius is given to those people who have demonstrated outstanding human achievements, endurance or accomplishments.

What make genius people, genius, is one of the interesting aspect people seek since everyone wants to be genius, but the few only posses it since it is derived out of efforts and choice people make in life in which whatever choice and decisions people have in their daily routine will somehow have cumulative effect on the foregoing process and future destiny of their life and reality. What do people find in being genius—knowledge and discovery, courage and confidence, money and wealth, fame and rank, power and authority, respect and honor, arrogance and pride, ego and selfishness, happiness and joy, sorrow and pain, freedom and liberty, slavery and oppression, and what more else?

Tony Buzan and Raymond Keene in their book entitled “Book of Genius” define on what it means by being genius; according to their researches which they made on those people on what made them genius or, in other words, the characteristics of genius people in history and they displayed the following qualities, as one of my sources of references indicate, though one did not read the mentioned book:

• Vision: the ability to see yourself in succeeding your goal
• Desire: the passion or wish to accomplish the goal
• Faith: the belief that you will succeed
• Commitment: the willingness to act on the vision
• Planning: the definition of how to realize the goal
• Persistence: the dogged determination to reach the goal
• Subject knowledge: a thirst to know about your subject
• Mental literacy: an understanding of the brain’s power
• Positive attitude: a belief that things will work out
• Intuition: the ability to sense that something will work out
• A master group: a team of others who support you
• An internal master group: a mental image of supporters
• Truth: an awareness of what is true and real
• Courage: the ability to face fear and go on.

These are indeed awesome attributes of what it is to mean by being genius and as one goes on the checklist and verify the claims amongst the genius people in history, they have almost most of the characteristics stated by such authors who have made wonderful researches and delivered profound ideas. People can be less than what they can be or think and imagine or greater than what they can imagine about themselves for many possible reasons, due to internal and external factors and reasons as well. Thus, people end up in being dull or genius in life for many reasons. Such characteristics cannot be acquired in artificial way, but they are very natural and they are what genius people acquire since they live in the valley of genius-hood and city of the genius.

When people are self actualized and live in higher state of purified or reconciled personality, they do things independently since they just enjoy them doing those things. They think that it is possible to change things and they are confident and courageous to change everything in life. They prefer to transform and convert those uncomfortable things and people that are found in their surroundings to comfortable and conducive ones and they face every situation and problematic conditions with confidence and they use such hard conditions of life as opportunities to do something good and better things in life, and thus, they become successful in overcoming them.

Such people are liberated people since they do not attach anything to personality, it is to mean that they do no interpret things in superstitious ways and manners such as they face bad things and conditions of life since they are bad people, but rather, it is part of human activity and this is one of the facets of this world and they manage to change convert bad conditions to good things and they are bestowed with skills and gifts on how to do such things in good way. Most accomplished people on earth have passed many difficult conditions of life and they are challenged by many bad things and conditions of life, but they overcome them and they do not even surrender to any one of them. They are good examples of life since they tell something on how to have a good life on this world. This does not mean that one uses every recipe of life they apply, but life on this world is contextual and one uses one’s own accent of life.

As there are good people who give good things and are helpful on daily basis; there are also bad people who become obstacle and give bad things in life on daily basis. Both live hand in hand and one should be aware and alert of such people on the action and reactions of what they deliver than on what they wish and they think since what they think and they act could fall apart. One should know on how to face them since they need skill and gifts on how to manage such people with what they call the wisdom thing so that one live with good things of the world even if one is surrounded by bad things and bad people around.

There are few things that do not change and are useful and so important in every century and time of human life. These are universal and they do not have any citizenship, religion, profession, politics, color, race, sex, age and other human category and class and conditions and features. These are patience, serenity, fortitude, insistence, tolerance, forbearing and the like since people obtain something as result of practicing them since they are helpful for such people who acquire them in order to avoid mistakes and failures. The more patience and tolerance people acquire while living amidst bad conditions and bad people, the better fruits and noble results people could see and obtain since change is inevitable and inescapable aspect of this world and human conditions of life.

To add one more characteristics on what genius people are is that they live in forest amidst the big cities in which they could not find anyone who could resemble like them in character, thinking and attitude since they think and live different live. Life in here becomes a matter of thinking which makes them unique and they live by their own state of mind and thinking, since it is the state of being that dictates their reality than changes and chances of this world.

Henry David Thoreau says, “All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours’ toll. In the fight to finish, spirit is the one characteristic we must possess if we are to face the future as finishers”.