There are the so-called child prodigies, those children with amazing abilities. For example, we've heard of little kids with musical talent much better than that of an average adult. Some children are able to memorize long classic poetry before they could even master their ABC.
Recently, while conducting an audition with little children for a role in an upcoming film project, I met a five-year-old girl who could recite famous lines from any Oscar winning movie in the last ten years. Sometime prior, I saw on TV a three-year old boy who could name the capital city of any country in the world, within seconds. Anyone would wonder where these extraordinary abilities came from.
We are always quick to label extraordinary talents as genius. However, experts say that sheer virtuosity is not the same as true genius. A person may not be considered a genius simply on the basis of superb performance.
True genius is something else. A child prodigy may develop into a genius, but only with proper nurturing and favorable environment. Studies indicate that prodigious ability in childhood does not seem to guarantee an adult genius.
The ability of child prodigies tends to be largely technical. They may perform certain things superbly, but they generally lack the life experience to enable them to think up great ideas. Technical abilities are not the essential mark of a genius, although many geniuses also develop great technical skills.
Formal education does not necessarily make a genius, either. There are people without formal education who can do mind-boggling mental mathematical calculations; although, just the same, such remarkable mental ability alone does not make them sure geniuses. The educational system, for the most part, can only help a person stock on information and acquire a few concrete skills.
Being a genius is much more than simply being able to absorb academic instruction, no matter how thoroughly. Many graduates of reputable schools and universities end up washing dishes at restaurants. Not that washing dishes is not an honorable job, but neither does it require a special ability to do.
Albert Einstein performed so poorly in mathematics while in grade school. He was reportedly below average overall and lacked interest to attend classes. The young Einstein was so troublesome that his teachers threatened to expel him.
Notwithstanding, Einstein was later to discover the revolutionary Law of Relativity. Upon examination of his life, years after his death, Albert Einstein was found to have had an IQ (intelligence quotient) of around 140. Such rating was considered very superior.
Incidentally, an IQ like Einstein's is not rare at all. There are millions in the world today whose IQ is 140 and don't even know it. Many of these intellectually "very superior" people are doing ordinary jobs and are plagued with ordinary concerns like everyone else.
IQ, it is found, seems to have little to do with genius. Researchers have observed that many of the known geniuses only rate between 110 and 135. And many of them lead lives not very different from yours and mine.
We know that Amadeus Mozart and Johann Sebastian Bach, the great musical legends, were both products of musical families. Charles Darwin, who developed the theory of evolution to explain the origin of man, is said to have come from a scientifically-inclined ancestry. But heredity, like IQ, is not considered to be very crucial to genius.
Many, if not most, of our celebrated geniuses were of very ordinary lineage. The parents of William Shakespeare were plain small-town folks. Leonardo da Vinci, the eminent painter and inventor, was an illegitimate son of a struggling lawyer and an ordinary farm girl who both had no background in arts or science.
Of the primary traits that characterize genius, creativity is said to stand out as the most significant. Geniuses have a broad, holistic view of things that enables them to think up various other possibilities than the customary. Today we would still be thinking that the earth is flat if Galileo Galilei did not challenge the view held by the world of his time.
Another important genius trait is perseverance. The incandescent bulb that light up our modern homes is there because Thomas Edison would not give up the idea even after failing more than a thousand times on it. All of Edison's other inventions bear the same mark of unyielding dedication.
Dogged perseverance usually comes with focus. Intensely directed attention brings forth a deep psychological unity, the ability to concentrate personal energies - conscious and subconscious - towards a single purpose. The present task is all that matters; it is enjoyed rather than endured.
Genius, studies reveal, is an inherent natural human trait, something we are all born with. Most of us, however, abandon our gift as we grow. Most of us won't question the established systems and concepts of the world. Our passive acceptance of the conventions places us in a "box" and stifles our creativity.
And yet, we occasionally find remnants of the forgotten genius within us. It is that rare moment of great illumination, of overwhelming determination which we experience every once in a while. It is that time when we feel that everything about us is in perfect order, and that we are in tune with all the forces of life… when we truly become one with what we do.