January 1, 2026: Becoming a Genius Again, for the First Time

Everyone is born a genius, but the process of living de-geniuses them. Richard Buckminster Fuller

Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius—and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction. E.F. Schumacher

The true genius shudders at incompleteness— imperfection—and usually prefers silence to saying the something which is not everything that should be said.  Edgar Allen Poe

My premise is that the category of genius is not the same as a pedigree or thorough-bred category. It is that all of us have had some degree of being ingenious—some more than others, but this is about at least the moments more than the life of a genius.

In a recent discussion with a philosopher (I consider a good one, albeit a bit quick to create categories and gavel down), we broached the notion of a so-called evil genius which she said can happen since morality is not relevant. I noted that the latest definitional iteration to support that category was to emphasis the cognitive component and de-emphasize the moral one. However, 500 or so years ago, the definition of genius had a primarily moral connection.

For me, it is obvious that to separate morality (which includes emotion) from cognition is a fine separation for studying specific areas of the nervous system. However easier that may make for learning, failing to put the system back together is more about memory than it is to understand system interactions. Whether any of us felt or thought about the interaction, it should be obvious that thinking can create emotions and emotions can trigger thinking.

Obviously, I do not buy the notion of an evil genius, as one can tell from my opening quotes (as always, those quotes are picked to support my supposition)—one cannot be both a genius and evil.

As in the study of separate parts of the human nervous system, or to study categories (including between categories) or degrees within a category, or to study perception or facts (perception is a subjective fact; a tree is an objective fact) is to fail comprehending how the system interacts. Separating is fine for studying parts; failing to put it back together is not.

The point is to keep the filing straight.  That’s one characteristic of a genius, though some non-geniuses can figure out separations between categories vs degrees, perceptions vs facts, or objective vs subjective realities. Keeping all of that in mind and plugging it back into the system is about entertaining many variables as well as the whole and seeing the picture in new ways. Pretty ingenious.

Failure to keep the filing straight is how minds get hacked. It is, as Fuller noted in the first quote, how we get de-genius-ed. And that’s how we can become dumber.

Admittedly, recognizing one’s own dumbness is a way even semi-smart folk (like me) can de-dumb themselves. So being dumb is not the final resting spot.

However, as our society not only emphasizes merit, it also defines, instills, and promotes it.  But for the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the authoritarian fox would be in charge of the henhouse. Hence oversight is needed as in consideration by all of us (citizens can vote). The role of an authoritative is guidance. To be an authoritarian requires being right, not getting it right, ergo duplicity and deviousness come into play since none of us are always right.

Nonetheless, all of us are subject to the “zombie effect.” Brain-worms come in many different forms.  Besides the obvious biological ones (e.g., rabies), we all have thresholds, that’s how brainwashing works. Neural plasticity means we can get rewired, including if the neural wiring was hacked.  If we can’t do it ourselves, others can help. A change of environment can help.  So can new social connections. And wonder can work to update the mental maps.

Doctors and lawyers and many other professions have a practice. So do musicians, artists, writers, athletes, etc.  That’s actually what sapiens have—stewardship of anything requires practice. What comes naturally, is enhanced if we practice it. And a skill can be acquired even if it was not innate—and that skill becomes better if we practice it. And yep, that even includes what we tend to take for granted and become bad habits—think breathing, standing, walking, communicating and so on.

Ideas to practice changing habits and enhancing natural abilities (there are lots of these practices—find one that works as I’m no guru):

Pick a short section of any film. Pick your own uplifting music and then watch the scene. Then pick a dire musical sound and re-watch the scene. Notice how perception and emotions changed. Music selection has a major input in our interpretation (perception) and emotions.

Koans, paradoxes, and an ambiguous figure designed to temporarily pause mental habits

#1) In early times in Japan, bamboo-and-paper lanterns were used with candles inside. A blind man, visiting a friend one night, was offered a lantern to carry home with him.

“I do not need a lantern,” he said. “Darkness or light is all the same to me.”

“I know you do not need a lantern to find your way,” his friend replied, “but if you don’t have one, someone else may run into you. So you must take it.”

The blind man started off with the lantern and before he had walked very far someone ran squarely into him.

“Look out where you are going!” he exclaimed to the stranger. “Can’t you see this lantern?”

“Your candle has burned out, brother,” replied the stranger.

#2) Tanzan and Ekido were once traveling together down a muddy road. A heavy rain was still falling.

Coming around a bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.

“Come on, girl” said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

Ekido did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple.

Then he no longer could restrain himself. “We monks don’t go near females,” he told Tanzan, “especially not young and lovely ones. It is dangerous. Why did you do that?”

“I left the girl there,” said Tanzan. “Are you still carrying her?”

Paradoxes

The early bird gets the worm; the second mouse gets the cheese.

Two heads are better than one; too many cooks spoil the broth.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder; when the cat’s away, the mice will play.

An ambiguous figure as a simple example of the power of imprinting.

What do you see?

It’s the head of a cow (and partial body). Once you see it, good luck unseeing it.

There are many Gestalt figure/grounds that teach the brain and mind to shift perspective (e.g. is it a vase or the profile of two faces looking at one another?).  One cannot see both images at once (the brain does not allow it).  But it’s not necessary to see both images at once. Learning to shift is what is necessary

Below: An old woman or a young one? One cannot see both at the same time, but once they can see each, it can get annoying to keep shifting.  An example of why we just go with what we know?

The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who can’t read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.  Alvin Toffler

Opening and closing spirals constitute the heartbeat of the universe.  Walter Russell