“Everybody
is a genius. But, if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it’ll
spend its whole life believing that it is stupid.”
The quotation above is one
of the quotations attributed to Albert Einstein, himself a genius. How often do
we refer to some people as geniuses while we don’t see ourselves as one? Who is
a genius? A genius is someone who we see as extremely talented/brilliant; a
person of extraordinary intellect/intelligence and talent; an extremely
creative person. It is said that a genius has an exceptionally high
intelligence quotient, typically above 140.
We usually think a genius
knows everything and is almost always right. It is obvious that Albert Einstein
exhibited some of the traits of a genius, but if some facts about him (which
are presented below) are critically considered, he should not be considered a
genius. The main thrust of this piece is that we can all be geniuses, if only
we concentrate on our strengths and ignore our weaknesses and distractions.
Those we call geniuses are those who developed their areas of strength.
The following individuals
are some of the persons who have been able to stand themselves out in their
various endeavours and whom I consider geniuses: Lionel Messi, Serena Williams,
Steffi Graf, Helen Keller, Mary Kay Ash, Christiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal,
Roger Federrer, Tiger Woods, Jay Jay Okocha, Kanu Nwakwo, Mesut Ozil (this is
not because I support Arsenal FC), Richard Branson, Steven Spielberg, Joseph
Prince, T. D. Jakes, Michael Jackson, Gbenga Adeboye, Michael Jordan, David
Oyedepo, Larry King Jr., Don Moen, Mahatma Ghandi, John Maxwell, etc.
I want you to consider the
following facts about Albert Einstein and see if they are fitting for not just
a genius but Time Magazine Person of Century.
1. Einstein was a very late starter. He began to talk at four and had to try out
entire sentences in his head or muttered them under his breath until he got
them right before speaking aloud. He did this until he became fluent at 9.
2. He failed his university entrance exam. He
passed the math and science aspects of the exam but failed in history,
languages and geography. He had to go to a trade school before taking the exam
again the following year.
3. He had a poor memory and often forgot
birthdays of relatives and his home address. He did not know his phone number.
There is a story that when he was working in Princeton University, one day he
forgot his home address on his way home. The driver of the cab did not
recognise him. Einstein asked the driver if he knows Einstein's home. The
driver said "Who does not know Einstein's address? Everyone in Princeton
knows. Do you want to meet him? Einstein replied "I am Einstein. I forgot
my home address, can you take me there? The driver took him to his home and did
not collect his fare from him. It is also said that it was not uncommon to see
Einstein wandering around the Princeton area in the afternoon because he could
not remember where he lived.
4. Though he was a genius in physics, he was
bad at spelling and he never learned how to drive a car. He was often seen
riding a bicycle or walking.
5. When he was offered the presidency of
Israel, he declined the offer and stated in his official letter of refusal he
lacked the "natural aptitude and the experience to deal properly with
people," and that he was getting old.
6. He was estranged from his wife; had a
difficult relationship with his first son and allegedly had an illegitimate
daughter. He was also a serious smoker.
So what is your conclusion
after reading the foregoing facts? Einstein was a late starter but the general
assumption is that geniuses can be recognised from childhood. He failed his
university entrance examination. Do geniuses ever fail in their studies?
Einstein had a poor memory and even forgot his home address! A genius who
forgets things easily seems unheard of. He was also not good at spelling. What kind
of genius is that? I thought geniuses had photographic memories!
So what was Einstein’s
secret? From his quote above, I can conclude that he knew very well to
concentrate on his area of strength. He knew his limitations and that was why
he rejected the offer to become the president of Israel. How many of us can
turn down such an offer of a lifetime? That Einstein had marital and family
challenges, and that he was a chain smoker show to us that geniuses are also
humans who have their own frailties.
Let me state here before you
start getting me wrong that I strongly believe that Einstein was a genius. In
fact, I believe he was one of the brightest minds to have ever lived and that
he deserves to be called a genius. Yes, he deserves to be called a genius.
The point I am driving at is
that a genius is not someone who is perfect but someone who knows how to
exploit his strengths (and understands his limitations). I believe all of us
can reach the level of a genius, if only we can concentrate on our strongest
areas.
Thousands of geniuses live
and die undiscovered - either by themselves or by others. - Mark Twain
You have obviously never read his biography. His bad memory was the source of his creativity. Extract.
ReplyDelete"If you are one of those people who can’t hold a lot in mind at once, you lose focus and start day dreaming in lectures and have to get to some place quiet to focus so that you can use your working memory to it’s maximum, well, welcome to the clan of the creative. Having a smaller working memory means you can more easily generalise you working memory into new more creative combinations.
Because your working memory, which grows from the focusing abilities of the prefrontal cortex, doesn’t lock everything up so tightly, you can more easily get input from other parts of your brain. These other areas which include the sensory cortex, not only are more in tune with that is going on around you in the environment, but are also the source of dreams, not to mention creative ideas. You may have to work harder sometimes, or even much of the time the understand what is going on, but once you get something chunked, you can take that chunk and turn it outside in, and inside out, putting it through creative paces"
To the article writer,
ReplyDeleteSorry to say,
this is a very badly written article.
Just so that you know,
* he gave the entrance exam of the Swiss university so that he could skip the last year of high school at the mere age of 15,
which child does that if not a genius already
* the fact that he was a ate bloomer and had speech related difficulties and that he used to murmur sentence was because f a condition known as Asperger’s Syndrome
* He had an estranged relationship with his elder son, how on earth has this any relationship with not being a genius
You have established many pointers as to why he was not a genius.
Hoowvera simple paragraph contradicting all the pointers, making this argument very unbalanced.
In fact al the pointers mentioned above show us that he was a genius.
A genius is nt one that goes by what the world wants him t be, but thinks out of the box.
When the mundane things in the world do not interest you anymore, you venture out into the abstract.