by Charly Mann
"Genius," like the words "phenomenal," "fantastic," and "fabulous," is overused today to hyperbolize a person's abilities. The fact that someone is very talented or innovative does not make them a genius or even exceptional. A true genius is someone who is not only very smart, but also has the imagination, focus, and creativity to regularly discover or create something outstanding in their field.
One common trait of genius is a combination of high intelligence and a low level of latent inhibition. Latent inhibition is our ability to shut out most of the stimuli we encounter that we are not interested in. For example, you visit a new neighbor, and walk into their living room, which is full of antique furniture. On the walls there are more than a dozen original pieces of art, there is a song playing on the stereo you have not heard, and your neighbor is wearing a tight green polka dot dress, blue loafers, a ruby ring and strong perfume. You may notice the room is filled with unusual things, but you are focused on sharing information with your new neighbor, and learning some basic facts about her. You do not absorb much about the room or how she is dressed.
Someone with LLI (Low Latent Inhibition) will notice more, hear more, and smell more, without any conscious effort. People with LLI can focus their mind automatically on anything that interests them. For example, if they were interested in music, while they were making small talk to the neighbor, they could store the lyrics of the song being played in the background, and dismantle the song's arrangement. They are constantly assimilating new information which they consider useful to them.
LLI gives people who are smart great memories. They can usually recall in great detail things that they observed many years ago that interested them. It also gives them a remarkable ability to make quick connections between seemingly unrelated information. Creativity is second nature to such a person, because of their high degree of comprehension on subjects that interest them.
One clue that someone has LLI is that they are innately organized and they often quickly lose interest in talking about anything that they do not care about. They can also easily see through people who are lying or being deceptive.
High intelligence, combined with LLI, creativity, and passion for a subject is the impetus for the final component leading to genius, which is hard work. Every great genius did their most important work when they were working the hardest. Mozart and Einstein worked the hardest when they were young. Beethoven and Van Gogh became obsessive about their art as they grew older. Some, like Bob Dylan and Jane Austen, had long periods of hard work and great output, followed by years of rest, and then a resumption of focus on their work.
Finally, I think someone has to be eccentric to be a genius. I believe a non-eccentric genius is a contradiction in terms. Everyone on my list of great geniuses was an eccentric, including Orson Wells, Emily Dickinson, Edgar Allan Poe, George Gershwin, Tolstoy, Bobby Fischer, Socrates, Sir Isaac Newton, Nikola Tesla, Thomas Jefferson, and Oscar Wilde.
I personally only know one person who exhibits all the qualities of genius. Her name is Emily Kaitz, and she is a songwriter extraordinaire. She has written more than forty tunes of exceptional quality ranging from the sublime and romantic to the hilarious. Though currently better known for her whimsical and sarcastic songs like, The Scrabble Song, The Shallow End of the Gene Pool, and I Will Stay With You, it is her brilliantly sophisticated and romantic songs like, Worn Out Getting Wise, When I'm With You, Don't You Want a Love That's Real, In Love and Out Of This World, and I Don't Know Where I'm Going, that are destined to become standards in the Great American Songbook.
At the present, Ms Kaitz's talents are better known in the songwriting community than among general public, but as more people make recordings of her exceptional compositions her fame will spread. Most of her recent songs and albums are available on Rhapsody, iTunes and .
You can hear a few samples of her work here, but I recommended buying several of her albums to experience the delight and genius of Emily's extraordinary music.
by Charly Mann
There is no question that there is no way to "win" the war on drugs. I think anyone who gambles, does any drug except for therapeutic purposes, smokes, or drinks more than the equivalent of a glass a wine a day is an idiot. While most of these items are legal, and socially acceptable, drugs continue to be illegal, resulting in a high percentage of our law enforcement dedicated to trying to curtail something that a large percentage of Americans want and can get without much difficulty. Our jails are filled with people convicted of drug crimes, and we spend $50 billion each year trying to stop it. At the same time drug dealers and drug lords throughout the world are getting rich.
Less than a hundred years ago, opium, morphine, heroin, cocaine, and marijuana were either legal or could be obtained easily with a prescription. Coca-Cola and many similar drinks contained cocaine, and hundreds of medicines, including the very popular Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup contained drugs like morphine, opium, and heroin. Yes, people got hooked on these things, but it was not in the millions. It was just a few hundred thousand.
40% of the increase of the prison population since 1983 are drug offenders
I say let's legalize drugs, and tax and regulate them the same way we do tobacco and alcohol. It is estimated that this could easily bring in an additional $30 billion dollars in tax revenues a year, and save the $50 billion we spend fighting the war on drugs. When drugs are legal and are as easily available as alcohol and tobacco, there will be no economic incentive for "criminals" to try to profit from the drug trade. As a result, violence and crime will be significantly reduced.
by Charly Mann
Geniuses have exceptionally creative minds and can think better and faster than most people. They are also usually fairly eccentric and often psychotic. Not only does a genius have a very high IQ, they are uniquely original in their thinking. A genius can, unlike a normal person, process several ideas simultaneously in their brain.
One of great geniuses of all time was Ludwig Beethoven (1770-1827). He was the most innovative and imaginative composer of all time. Even more amazing, he created most of his greatest work after he became totally deaf at age 32, including his Ninth Symphony and the Moonlight Sonata.
Beethoven had no doubt about his genius even though he had very little formal education. By the time he was a teenager he was virtuoso pianist and excelled at improvisation. He was also extremely rude and introverted. Beethoven’s deafness was probably the of severe beatings by his alcoholic father. He also suffered from chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain, alcoholism, respiratory disease, and depression. Yet despite this he was able to compose music that was beautiful, full of joy, powerful and innovative. Even though he was deaf he could imagine highly original and complex music in his head, which he would translate to musical notation. That so much of his music still touches us emotionally today is the real magic of his genius.
by Charly Mann
Aristotle said, "The greatest thing by far is to be a master of metaphor. It is the one thing that cannot be learned from others; it is also a sign of genius, since a good metaphor implies an eye for resemblance." A metaphor is a figure of speech that uses one thing to mean another, and makes a comparison between the two. Carl Sandberg’s poem FOG is a beautiful example of the use of metaphors.
The fog comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.
Great metaphors like Shakespeare’s “All the world’s a stage”, compares two unrelated things that make sense when brought together in a phrase. Metaphors are not meant to be taken literally, but they should be substantively descriptive. Bob Dylan’s line, “the harmonicas play the skeleton keys in the rain”, from his song Visions of Johanna, paints a hauting image of someone playing a harmonica.
Unlike a simile, comparisons are made in a metaphor without the use of the words “like” or “as”. So the expression “The pen is mightier than the sword”, is a metaphor, while “ he is sly as a fox”, and, “the wind howls like a hammer” or similes.
Using metaphors will make your writing and speaking much more lively and interesting. Readers and listeners usually understand a subject better when a metaphor is applied, because the phrase can communicate a great deal of meaning, and forces them to think more about what they are hearing or reading.
I hope my article has gotten to the bottom of the advantage of using metaphors. I have tried to shower this piece with some good examples. Now I hope it bears fruit with you, and is not too difficult to swallow. If you practice for a while, writing metaphors will be a breeze, and your writing and speaking will really shine.
A few of our favorite metaphors:
Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. Without innovation, it is a corpse.
Winston Churchill
Laughter is the shortest distance between two people.
Victor Borge
Modern English is the Wal-Mart of languages: convenient, huge, hard to avoid, superficially friendly, and devouring all rivals in its eagerness to expand.
Mark Abley
by Charly Mann
The United States is in a deep recession, and is the economic engine for most of the economies in the world. I have a plan which I think can jumpstart our economy. It simply requires the abolishment of all sales taxes until the recession ends (meaning an increase in our GDP for two quarters in a row). Consumer spending accounts for 70% of the GDP in America, and is the catalyst for many of the economies around the world. This would amount to an average of 8% in savings on all purchases for every American. Since our per capita consumer spending is about $50,000, this would be like a $4,000 yearly rebate for every person in the United States. This would be a huge boost to every part of our economy.
The Federal Government should reimburse cities and states for the loss of sales tax revenue. Much of this cost would be offset by higher taxes from business, based on the extra revenue generated by this program. State governments would additionally benefit because their unemployment rates would drop as businesses hire more people to meet the increased demand of the American consumer.
by Charly Mann
In the last ten years the number of children and adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder has gone up 4,000% according to the National Institute of Health. The number of adults with bipolar disorder has doubled during this period.
The cause of these increases is unclear to psychologists and psychiatrists, but I have a good idea what the problem is. If you were born before 1950, your chance of developing some form of depression in your lifetime were only 1/10 of those who were born after that time, and just 1/30 as likely as people born in the last thirty years. The big change during this time is that we have made huge advancements in technology that allow our brains be to far more passive. Our brains were designed to derive pleasure and satisfaction from active pursuits. For most of our existence as a species, we had to be continually resourceful just to survive. Now we “veg out" watching television, playing video games, and surfing the Internet. Today, there is little that requires a combination of physical exertion and problem solving. Just a hundred years ago, more than 80% of the United States’ labor force worked on farms, or did skilled labor that required significant physical effort, such as furniture making, mining, and construction. Today, the vast majority of Americans have white collar and service jobs, and the number working on farms has declined from 38% to 2.6% of the population.
People who are physically active and spend time creating something that is visible and tangible suffer from depression much less, and score significantly higher in critical thinking tests than people who do not. Just as significantly, mentally and physically active people exhibit far more self-confidence.
Our brains need mental stimulation and active pursuits that require skill and creativity. There are many activities that can ensure sustained mental health, including painting, gardening and writing, which can be combined with regular strenuous exercise to allow our brains to function as they were meant to. Make your mind healthy by putting it to work.
From the age of seven I have been enchanted with the idea of living happily ever after, and have made it a life quest to find that answer. I have spoken to hundreds of people – usually older and wiser than me, and read countless books and articles on the subject. In my website Uplifting Visions I share what I consider the best insights I have learned about achieving happiness in life.
The great breakthrough in one's life comes when you realize that you can learn anything you need to learn to accomplish any goal you set for yourself. This means there are no limits on what you can be.
In questions of science, the authority of a thousand is not worth the humble reasoning of a single individual.
We're not meant to fit in. We're meant to stand out.
If you love life, life will love you back.
Life isn't about finding yourself; it's about creating yourself.
Making a living is not the same as making a life.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think of you.
I don't need a friend who changes when I change and who nods when I nod, my shadow does that much better.
If you were all alone in the universe with no one to talk to, no one with which to share the beauty of the stars, to laugh with, to touch, what would be your purpose in life? It is other life, it is love, which gives your life meaning. This is harmony. We must discover the joy of each other, the joy of challenge, the joy of growth.
Judge yourself by your actions and not your intentions.
Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments.
Call it Nature, Fate, or Fortune; all are names of God.
Remember to work hard. Look to the future with enthusiasm and hope. Accept responsibility, not only asking for your own rights, but also accepting responsibility for yourself, for other people, for nature and for future generations.
Goals are a means to an end, not the ultimate purpose of our lives. They are simply a tool to concentrate our focus and move us in a direction. The only reason we really pursue goals is to cause ourselves to expand and grow. Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term; it�s who you become, as you overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve your goals, that can give you the deepest and most long-lasting sense of fulfillment.
Your imagination is your preview of life's coming attractions.
Ethical existence is the highest manifestation of spirituality.
My desire for knowledge is intermittent; but my desire to commune with the spirit of the universe, to be intoxicated with the fumes, call it, of that divine nectar, to bear my head through atmospheres and over heights unknown to my feet, is perennial and constant.
One-half of life is luck; the other half is discipline - and that's the important half, for without discipline you wouldn't know what to do with luck.
It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.
Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.
By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.
There are two ways to slide easily through life: to believe everything or to doubt everything; both ways save us from thinking.
Adults are obsolete children.
You will never be the person you can be if pressure, tension, and discipline are taken out of your life.
Love never dies a natural death. It dies because we don't know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing.
True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future.
Love doesn't make the world go 'round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile.
If you're never scared or embarrassed or hurt, it means you never take chances.
Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.
The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.
We can't measure out goodness by what we don't do, by what we deny ourselves, or by what we resist, and who we exclude; but we should measure our goodness by what we embrace, what we create, and who we include.
Evil (ignorance) is like a shadow. It has no real substance of its own. It is simply a lack of light. You cannot cause a shadow to disappear by trying to fight it, stamp on it, by railing against it, or any other form of emotional or physical resistance. In order to cause a shadow to disappear, you must shine light on it.
The difference between adults and children is that adults don't ask questions.
No life ever grows great until it is focused, dedicated, disciplined.
You must live for another if you wish to live for yourself.
Why is there something rather than nothing? We do not know. We will never know. Why? To what purpose? We do not know whether there is a purpose. But if it is true that nothing is born of nothing, the very existence of something - the world, the universe - would seem to imply that there has always been something: that being is eternal, uncreated, perhaps creator, and this is what some people call God.
What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us.
The shortest way to do many things is to do one thing at a time.
Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for.
A life, if well lived, is long enough.
The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.
Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and only you can determine how it will be spent.
The first step in the acquisition of wisdom is silence, the second listening, the third memory, the fourth practice, the fifth teaching others.
The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.
If you have integrity, nothing else matters. If you don't have integrity, nothing else matters.
Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
It's not enough to have lived. We should be determined to live for something. May I suggest that it be creating joy for others, sharing what we have for the betterment of humankind, bringing hope to the lost and love to the lonely.
When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no "I'll start tomorrow." Tomorrow is disease.
Science may have found a cure for most evils; but it has found no remedy for the worst of them all -- the apathy of human beings.
Experience taught me a few things. One is to listen to your gut, no matter how good something sounds on paper. The second is that you're generally better off sticking with what you know. And the third is that sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make.
The greatest weakness of most humans is their hesitancy to tell others how much they love them while they're still alive.
Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.
Overcome your fears and you can reach your potential.
Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.
Six essential qualities that are the key to success: Sincerity, personal integrity, humility, courtesy, wisdom, charity.
Only Ideas have long and lasting consequences, and ideas come mainly from books not television, movies, or video games.
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations: it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint.
You have succeeded in life when all you really want is only what you really need.
It's not how much money you make that's important - it's how much money you keep and how long you keep it.
Peace cannot be kept by force. It can only be achieved by understanding.
Where all think alike, no one thinks very much.
The only way to change your life is to change your mind.
No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new doorway to the human spirit.
To say that a man is your Friend, means commonly no more than this, that he is not your enemy. Most contemplate only what would be the accidental and trifling advantages of Friendship, as that the Friend can assist in time of need by his substance, or his influence, or his counsel. Even the utmost goodwill and harmony and practical kindness are not sufficient for Friendship, for Friends do not live in harmony merely, as some say, but in melody.
If you are going through hell, keep going.
I have six great friends that taught me all I knew; their names are What and Why and When and How and Where and Who.
Very few people really care about freedom, about liberty, about the truth, very few. Very few people have guts, the kind of guts on which a real democracy has to depend. Without people with that sort of guts a free society dies or cannot be born.
If you cannot accept fear of failure, you will never be successful.
The good life is inspired by love and guided by knowledge.
Reduce the complexity of life by eliminating the needless wants of life, and the labors of life reduce themselves.
Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.
A certain degree of physical harmony and comfort is necessary, but above a certain level it becomes a hindrance instead of a help.
Nothing is as weak as a relationship that has not been tested under fire.
Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people they don't like.
Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.
There are two things to aim at in life: first, to get what you want, and after that to enjoy it. Only the wisest of mankind achieve the second.
Money can contribute significantly to happiness if spent wisely.
Money often costs too much.
Passion is the genesis of genius.
Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding.
Love your enemies; do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who treat you spitefully. When a man hits you on the cheek, offer him the other cheek too; when a man takes your coat, let him have your shirt as well. Give to everyone who asks you; when a man takes what is yours, do not demand it back. Treat others as you would like them to treat you. If you love only those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. Again, if you do good only to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do as much. And if you lend only where you expect to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to each other to be repaid in full. But you must love your enemies and do good; and lend without expecting any return; and you will have a rich reward: you will be sons of the Most High, because he himself is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be compassionate as your Father is compassionate.
We learn wisdom from failure much more than from success. We often discover what will do, by finding out what will not do; and probably he who never made a mistake never made a discovery.
Our prayers should be for blessings in general, for God knows best what is good for us.
If a problem cannot be solved, then you need to find the best way to manage it.
The greatest wealth is health.
Modesty forbids what the law does not.
Wisdom is the supreme part of happiness.
You may think that you are the product of events that are largely beyond your control, but you do control the moment. The present is the time you take control of what your future will be.
Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it.
An idealist believes the short run doesn't count. A cynic believes the long run doesn't matter. A realist believes that what is done or left undone in the short run determines the long run.
Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
Self-pity is our worst enemy.
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that prevents us from living freely.
Any so-called material thing that you want is merely a symbol: you want it not for itself, but because it will content your spirit for the moment.
An object in possession seldom retains the same charm that it had in pursuit.
Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed.
An intellectual is a person who is always seeking knowledge and has the ability to change his mind when he learns new information.
Materialism is the only form of distraction from true bliss.
To be able to fill leisure intelligently is the last product of civilization, and at present very few people have reached this level.