What drives a Genius?

[SuperMegaUltraGenius]

I wonder if any Geniuses who happen to frequent this forum would be willing to share with the less gifted of their brethren what constitutes at the core the mind of one possessing superior intelligence. Basically what makes a Genius?

Is the Genius a type that from birth is biologically predetermined to develop into a Genius or is the Genius the main result of beneficial influences in the environment. Is this question even answerable?

What I'd like to know particularly is how a Genius evaluates his/her own precocious mental abilities, and what do they think was/is the driving force behind the development of their psyche.

By the way, my username is facetious, I don't consider myself a genius, but I am interested in the phenomena of Genius and that's why I'm here asking questions.

[Dan Rowden]

Your questions seem to relate to the conventional notion of what genius is. This forum employs a rather more philosophically inclined idea. You may want to read the Introduction threads if you haven't already.

[David Quinn]

As a co-founder of this site, I explored this issue in a recent blog: Expanding the Limits of Genius.

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[SuperMegaUltraGenius]

Thank You, your blog is very insightful, your writings are quite profound. You display a clarity of thinking I can only admire.

When I think about how I can attain such a sublime state of mind I remember Nietzsche:
“How shall I reach the top?” No time. For thus reflecting! Start to climb!"

Maybe with 25 years of deep thinking I would be as wise, but I'm not even 25 years on this earth, so you have the head start.

[David Quinn]

Yes, reaching the top is a matter of will and desire, more than anything else. It's important to make each day count!

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[SuperMegaUltraGenius]

I have the desire, I don't think I have enough discipline though. There's only so much a person can digest.

[jupiviv]

As a co-founder of this site, I explored this issue in a recent blog: Expanding the Limits of Genius.

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I won't be able to comment on the blog unless I create an account(I recommend using wordpress instead of blogosphere), so I'll just do it here. Firstly, the analogy to the original Roman definition of genius is a bit far fetched. I think the word "genius" originally meant spirit, essence, life force or something like that. I think "spirit" or "essence" would be the closest to the meaning of the word genius as used in this forum. A genius is someone who knows what his spirit is.

Secondly, I don't think there is even a proper definition of genius anymore. People seem to use it to describe anyone who impresses them. There are people who call Lady Gaga a genius. Here's a quote from on genius from Sex and character:

"Universal apperception, general consciousness, total timelessness is an ideal, even for men of “genius.” Genius is an inner imperative, not a fact that is ever fully accomplished in any human being. Therefore a “genius,” and he in particular, will be least able to say about himself: “I am a genius.” For genius is, by definition, nothing but a complete ful¤llment of the idea of humanity, and therefore genius is something which every human being ought to be and which must in principle be possible for every human being to become. Genius is the highest morality and therefore everybody’s duty. A human being becomes a genius through a supreme act of the will, by af¤rming the whole universe in himself. Genius is something that “individuals endowed with genius” have taken on themselves: it is the greatest task and the greatest pride, the greatest misery and the greatest elation possible for a human being. However paradoxical this may sound: a human being is a genius if he wants to be one."

[Diebert van Rhijn]

I won't be able to comment on the blog unless I create an account(I recommend using wordpress instead of blogosphere), so I'll just do it here.

It looks like just a Wordpress blog to me. Do you hate creating accounts or something?

[David Quinn]

Yes, it is a Wordpress blog.

There are still some teething problems. For example, your comment, Diebert, was held for moderation because the settings dictated that a person had to have his first comment approved (by me, the moderator) before he could post comments freely. I've since changed that. I believe it is now the case that anyone can post a comment immediately, as long as they register.

I'll see how that goes. If the site gets too many spammers and trolls I'll change it back.

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[David Quinn]

As a co-founder of this site, I explored this issue in a recent blog: Expanding the Limits of Genius.

I won't be able to comment on the blog unless I create an account(I recommend using wordpress instead of blogosphere), so I'll just do it here. Firstly, the analogy to the original Roman definition of genius is a bit far fetched. I think the word "genius" originally meant spirit, essence, life force or something like that. I think "spirit" or "essence" would be the closest to the meaning of the word genius as used in this forum. A genius is someone who knows what his spirit is.

Do your research. It definitely meant a guardian spirit. The Romans were insecure and superstitious, and not very wise. Much like ourselves, really.

Secondly, I don't think there is even a proper definition of genius anymore. People seem to use it to describe anyone who impresses them. There are people who call Lady Gaga a genius.

That's certainly true. It's like everything else in our cynical, nihilistic, feminine age. Everything is getting dumbed down, to the point of becoming white noise. It won't be long before everyone will be labelled a genius.

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[Cory Duchesne]

That's certainly true. It's like everything else in our cynical, nihilistic, feminine age. Everything is getting dumbed down, to the point of becoming white noise. It won't be long before everyone will be labelled a genius.
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Definitely a good point. Einstein himself insisted (and this is one of his more popular quotes on facebook) that "everyone is a genius, but if you expect a fish to climb a tree, it will grow up believing it's stupid)."

Although I think Einstein had interesting intentions (putting genius in a context to acknowledge differences, but inspire individuality) there are better ways to go about it.

Comedian CK Louis recently addressed this very issue:

CK Louis on How we Talk (the Words Genius and Amazing: abused so that consciousness can be avoided)

[jupiviv]

Yes, it is a Wordpress blog.

Ok, but there are other wordpress blogs that let you comment without registering, and they have wordpress. com in the address.

Do your research. It definitely meant a guardian spirit. The Romans were insecure and superstitious, and not very wise. Much like ourselves, really.

I looked it up, and you're right. From the online etymological dictionary:

genius
late 14c., "tutelary god (classical or pagan)," from L. genius "guardian deity or spirit which watches over each person from birth; spirit, incarnation, wit, talent;" also "prophetic skill," originally "generative power," from root of gignere "beget, produce" (see kin), from PIE root *gen- "produce." Sense of "characteristic disposition" is from 1580s. Meaning "person of natural intelligence or talent" and that of "natural ability" are first recorded 1640s.

[David Quinn]

I have the desire, I don't think I have enough discipline though. There's only so much a person can digest.

If the desire is strong enough, discipline will follow.

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[oxytocinNA]

I wonder if any Geniuses who happen to frequent this forum would be willing to share with the less gifted of their brethren what constitutes at the core the mind of one possessing superior intelligence. (1) Basically what makes a Genius?

Is the Genius a type that from birth is biologically predetermined to develop into a Genius or is the Genius the main result of beneficial influences in the environment. (2) Is this question even answerable?

What I'd like to know particularly is how a Genius evaluates his/her own precocious mental abilities, and what do they think was/is the driving force behind the development of their psyche.

By the way, my username is facetious, I don't consider myself a genius, but I am interested in the phenomena of Genius and that's why I'm here asking questions.

The word "genius" is about as useful as the word "love".
1) Do you think you would understand?
2) Yes

[Tenver-]

nvm

can delete if wished so

[Tenver-]

Hello. I just wanted to you reply to you, OP, so I made this account.

Genius is something which has man in its power. It is the non-negligible duty to put in to the world what you have in your mind. In that way, you could say it is a moral affair. It is the act of choosing to put forth what you see - in your mind or put before you in reality. It is a duty and privilege. Often, genius represents something of the infantile - personally, I judge perhaps a bit higher those who appear more infantile in look and with higher understanding and consciousness in the mind to be a higher genius - to be an infant in the world of madness with the consciousness of the highest few. The infantilism represents a bit maybe the task and the necessity that the genius must fulfill and uphold to be classified as such and to live up what it means to represent before you honestly and sincerely what you have in your mind through all the hardships of life. This takes a toll on most people and as such only the rarest few can stay true to what their task commands them through the battles of life. The child has all ears and eyes open and as such is the most optionally open learner. The geniuses that reach fame has coupled this with a mass talent. Often, genius is the result of extremity in the genes and the fulfilled duty to live up to what your mind represents for you. It would be easier to run to madness and live with the notion that much things are going wrong in the world or the image or reasoning you have before in the objects of desire will be unexplored, that notion is unendurable for the genius. So it does what it must and thus the genius has enslaved the man and crackles him with its whip to go where it wants to. Why? Because the man must do what the images of attraction in his mind tells him to and live up to notion of what it means to represent before you what you see in your mind. The duty-full notion of living up to what the center of the universe required him to. To do else, to negate that impulse which you think will move you and the realizations of your images in the right way would be to fail the conundrum of the universe and the genius cares too much about that to do that. This requires the rarest of men; to not succuumb to excuses and not abandon or fail that project or image which you think is necessary. You can have talent which is ability and will, and you can have genius which is the route of fulfilling your task of living up to what the image commands you, which includes discovering, describing, shaping and putting into the world that.

Genius as a human live on passion and emotion. They are too entangled and animated by the imagination and reasoning within their fields of talent that their genius challenges them with and that they cannot deny because of the duty they feel and thus remains on the path of genius with the beatings it takes. Geniuses cannot put these things down, because they are powerless to them. Their talent and the duty they feel is so strong that it leaves them powerless other than to chase down in the attraction and the corners of the landscape and the world that the model represents for them in their field. In this way, they love the subject. Probably because of their personality and intellect as relating to the field. So they have this passion that is directed towards the model of the world they have and towards the subjects of their talents, and they cannot let it go because the pull is too strong and the duty too high.

Often, famous creative geniuses such as Einstein and Da Vinci have a consciousness that is shared with few of the world. This comes from the talent and the execution of their task. Thus they are weighted the most by the implications of the reality of life. In themselves but also too a high degree in others. They see the disorder in the system and the necessity and inevitability of the forces that compel us to do as we do. This is part of the tragedy of the consciousness and that which genius must not let down and fight with fire and fierce in the way of their subject. You could say that is part of the duty they feel, the social duty; the other is the personal duty, the duty to represent what they think is their innermost core and the flame which they carry around, the "I cannot do otherwise". They cannot always explain why, but it would fail the core of the universe in that little way which they represent. In this way, you can also say that genius is of the soul, it does what it does because it cannot do otherwise, it must do what it does to represent its soul; to be, live and bring forth that which its mind compels it to. This again too is a heavy toll on the person and thus many break off into splitting itself into what it can do and not what it must do. Genius cannot live with representations that its mind gives it without doing something about it. It would be conflicting and what you could call madness.

Often, genius has something cracked about it; it has its strengths and has its failures and lackings where its weaknesses show. It has one foot in the camp of madness and three feet in the camp of sanity. Thus, it is a conjectured representation of sanity which is though higher than far most people in the realm of their talents and builds on the base of the necessity to live up to what the capabilities of the genius allow. In this way, you could also say that often the genius serve a higher form of consciousness; it does not fall prey to the mismanners, promises and hauntings of man, it serves a higher consciousness born out from the images of the necessity of the system and the failures of the system of which everyone including themselves are part of. From this comes the duty, to live up to and use what was given to them to shake this consciousness and perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, widen the miniscule gap of vision into Mother Nature that we have as a species and confront the feed that comes from reality.
The genius is so extreme and always in some ways weaker that it has some idiosyncrasies where it weaknesses fail to follow along its strengths. This may have something to do with the cracked parts of the genius, you could say. It hates incompleteness and wishes to fulfill its potential to its extreme and thus has some parts where it does not fit in you could say. The creative genius, and all creative people in general perhaps, uses its libidinal energy towards this creative pursuit and thus is engulfed in this product.
The creative genius does not let down the product or the soul of the being they inhabit because to let that down would be to let down the representation of the universe and they love the subjects which is within their talents and the representation of the universe that presents them to.

Genius loves truth because truth is the only thing that may invoke the conflicting problems of the world and bring them into light to take a look at them and from them discover and find a better representation of the universe that may enlighten more of that problem and make more possible a solution based on facts to serve the purpose to live up to what has been entrusted to them. Genius respects truth because truth is higher than themselves and others; truth describes, weighs and decides in the end. Thus the genius creates a project born from the image in their mind tailored to their person, manners and limits that will most revoke and inform them of the core or truth of things. Therein comes the hardship and the inability to turn down their attraction and their duty. As such they are enslaved by their genius for better or worse.

Genius is a part of madness and sanity where some of the parts of truth has been picked out and is attempted represented in the world. It governs from reason and imagination and thus will some times be in madness and sometimes in sanity, it must do so to find out what the truth is; it is extreme and represents a sensibility and sanity higher than most in some areas. It must pay for what it has been given and does so one way or the other.






Now, I just wanted to reply to you because you seemed earnest, honest and with a good amount of sensibility, and this is what it turned into. Take it for what it is, not read through.

[Dennis Mahar]

Tenver,

that picture you've drawn there makes genius look like 'a fly stuck on flypaper'.

very funny.

[oxytocinNA]

[quote Tenver-] It is the non-negligible duty to put in to the world what you have in your mind. In that way, you could say it is a moral affair. It is the act of choosing to put forth what you see - in your mind or put before you in reality. It is a duty and privilege.[/quote]

negligible: so small, trifling, or unimportant that it may safely be neglected or disregarded: The extra expenses were negligible.
Can I assume you meant negotiable?

Duty: something that one is expected or required to do by moral or legal obligation.

Duty without value in exchange ... Hmmm. That is not moral.

It is a choice - and the person capable of adding to the knowledge base must decide if they are compensated with a return value.

That is a start - no time to read through it all right now.

[Pincho Paxton]

word Genius is thrown around a lot, and like autism it has lots of different orders of magnitude. With myself as my best example in my own head I go with...

Genius is the ability to self learn without input something that teaches others. You become the Cause of other people's effects.

That's what I do, and that is my favourite order of magnitude.

[Aniihya]

One word: Passion.

[Consistency]

Our own moral values and internal energies from birth is what drives us. Not the values imposed by society or family.

[Dan Rowden]

From whence comes our "moral" values?

[Consistency]

From whence comes our "moral" values?

Personal values dictate our personal morals. Hence moral values.

In society, societies and/or religious morals dictate our values.

http://robertwalkeronline.com/2008/09/26/how-values-dictate-morality/

Others have experienced what I have experienced, as noted the link above. Its nothing new.

[Diebert van Rhijn]

Our own moral values and internal energies from birth is what drives us. Not the values imposed by society or family.

What are "internal energies from birth"? It looks like one step away from saying "causality drives us". Are we born with any innate moral? Instinct?

[Consistency]

Our own moral values and internal energies from birth is what drives us. Not the values imposed by society or family.

What are "internal energies from birth"? It looks like one step away from saying "causality drives us". Are we born with any innate moral? Instinct?

The closest information I've come across about the internal energies has been Human Design.

No need to waste money since there is a lot of free information on the subject. There is also videos on youtube.
http://humandesignhawaii.com/hdbasics.html
http://www.jovianarchive.com/

Causality can drive us if we decide to listen to the internal energies and stop listening to the mind.

I've experienced problems in my younger years from not listening to my energy which alerts me to danger. I use to live out on the edge of the suburbs, came out of my house and my energy alerted me to lock the door because someone was going to rob it, I decided not to listen and my house got robbed. This energy also has alerted me of nearby police and saved me from speeding tickets many times. These energies are smarter than our own consciousness and the mind.

We are born with innate moral instinct however it seems like the system is built so we become enslaved by our minds and get brainwashed in the process.

What makes a genius is a person who is able to observe and make correct hypotheses by connecting the dots based on the information present without coming to any conclusions on its own, no bias. The mind comes to conclusions and makes up nonsense to try to sound correct.