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A Complete Genius
by Alan Cohen
While meandering through a
bookstore, I discovered a wealth of books for dummies and idiots. You have
probably seen the many volumes directed at stupid people, such as Computers
for Dummies and Complete
Idiot's Guide to Dating. I even saw Complete
Idiot's Guide to Near-Death Experiences! There are
hundreds of titles in each of these very popular series, and the number is
growing rapidly.
I was struck by how readily we
identify ourselves as dummies and idiots. Obviously we think we are stupid, and
these books will help. I wonder what would happen if I published a similar
series for geniuses, such as Golf for Sages or The Complete Genius’s
Guide to Home Repair. I have a hunch they wouldn’t sell very well at all.
Not because we are not geniuses. Because we have been trained to regard
ourselves as stupid.
When I was little, I sat on my
front porch one morning and sang several rousing verses of "Take Me Out to
the Ballgame." A few days later I overheard my mother casually tell
someone, "Alan has a foghorn voice." That idea made an impression on
me, and I did not sing for many years. After all (at that age), your mother
knows everything, and if she said I couldn’t sing, I couldn’t sing.
Perhaps you had a similar
experience. Perhaps early in life you adopted a thought about yourself that
defined you as small, ugly, incapable, or unlovable. Most of us did. And perhaps
you went on to live as if that identity was true. And perhaps, like many, you
collected a pool of tears in your heart and went through life hurting because
you wished you could be more.
You are more. The genius
you were born as, still lives, and can be reactivated at any moment. Genius is
your reality and the dark programming is your adopted personality. When Abraham
(through Esther Hicks) was challenged, "You can’t teach an old dog new
tricks," Abraham answered, "You have no idea what an old dog you
are!" Who you were before you learned self-defeating tricks, is still very
much available and eager to come forth and shine.
There is a story in the annals
of education about an elementary school teacher who arrived on the first day of
school and perused her class roster. Next to each child’s name was the number
of a very high I.Q. "126, 135, 140," Miss Everett read aloud, eyebrows
raised. "Thank goodness I finally got a bright class!"
Miss Everett went on to
stimulate the loftiest abilities in her wiz-kids. She gave them challenging
projects, took them on field trips, and offered them leeway to explore their
work in creative ways. At the end of the semester all the students earned A’s
and B’s. The day after report cards came out, the principal called her into
his office and asked, "Miss Everett, what did you do with these kids?"
"What do you mean?"
she asked innocently.
"You took some of the
lowest-functioning students in the school and turned them into geniuses!"
"I don’t understand what
you’re talking about," the teacher replied. "These kids were bright
when I got them. Here, just look at their I.Q.’s in my roll book."
The principal scanned her roster
and replied, astonished, "Miss Everett, these are their locker
numbers!"
The people around us tend to
become who we think they are, so let us focus on the highest in everyone we
meet.
Renowned success teacher Dale Carnegie, author of the most popular
self-help book of all time, How
to Win Friends & Influence People, began
his career in an unexpected way. One night while teaching an adult school
English course, he ran out of lecture material before the class time was up. So
he invited several students to each stand before the class and talk about him -
or herself - an exercise utterly unheard of at that time. The results were
extraordinary! The speakers came to life in a way he had not seen when they were
studying English, and the class responded energetically. Mr. Carnegie had
happened upon the transformational power of authentic self-expression, which
ultimately revolutionized (perhaps even created) the genre of personal
development. Later he wrote, "Give them a reputation to live up to!"
The words "genius" and
"genuine" are almost identical, and they proceed from the same Latin
root word. The key to genius is genuineness. The more you are who you are, the
more your genius comes forth. On the other hand, the more you sell out and try
to be what you think you should be or live up to others’ expectations, the
more you stifle your brilliance. Most great scientists, inventors, musicians,
and artists, are somewhat eccentric. They have the guts to be all of what they
are, even if the package doesn’t fit the social mold. They just let all of
their talents rip, and in so doing they change the world for the better.
Here’s to your genuine genius.
I’ll look for your book in the store.
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