This Thing Called Genius

I sometimes think that I may go forth

And walk hard and earnestly, and live a more

Substantial life

And get a glorious experience;

Be much abroad in heat and cold,

Day and night; live more, expend more atmospheres,

Be weary often, etc. etc.

But then, swiftly the thought comes to me,

Go not so far out of your way for a truer life;

Keep strictly onward in that path alone

Which your genius points out.

Do the things which lie nearest you,

But which are difficult to do.

Live a purer, more thoughtful

And laborious life,

More true to your friends and neighbors,

More noble and magnanimous

And that will be better than a wild walk.

To live in relations of truth and sincerity with men is

To dwell In a frontier territory.

-- Henry David Thoreau, from his Journal

Word origins is an interest of mine, developed from six years of Latin, I guess, and it came to me that our use of the word ‘genius’ also shows our lack of support for the idea that every person has some inherent ability. 

"…the path which your genius points out."  Thoreau used the word ‘genius’ in a different way than we commonly do. 

Henry thought of genius as it was defined in the original Latin:  of the genes: (genero, ingenium), a natural or inborn ability, our character, it  is our basic nature.  Today we have added a modifier to  the base word, genius, and call it ‘extraordinary ability’, or unusual character or inventiveness.  History has reduced the availability of genius to a lucky few—the Leonardo di Vincis of our times. 

Sitting in the doctor's office yesterday, an article in "National Geographic" caught my eye:  "Crash Test Genius" described the Lexus crash test dummy that can display 119 points of information.  Wow! Lexus CT might do OK in today's classrooms!  If you can parrot back the information given and expected of you on a standardized test, you pass muster.   The better the parroting, the better the 'genius' rating.  But we are not crash test dummies, and as Einstein said, why bother memorizing information that you can look up anywhere.

 True genius is found within each one of us: like Phillip, the clubfooted hero of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage.   Trained in the English church schools of the 19th century, yet sensing that what he was learning had no relevance for his inborn ability or character, Philip breaks from the rigid world of a semi-rural English parish life and gradually finds his "genius".    The Razor's Edge by Maugham investigates a similar intellectual trip.  

   The way is open; it leads to truth and sincerity, or so says Henry Thoreau. It is not for the few, this genius, but for everyone.