When we pursue happiness, it eludes you. However, when you recognise that happiness is the natural state of the soul, all you need is to eliminate all that comes between your happiness and you.
By Anupama Bhattacharya
What makes a genius—high IQ, creativity, perceptivity? Or is it an intangible
essence that connects man to the creator within?
Recently, I asked a
friend if he knew of any Mensa members. He promptly answered that
all wannabe geniuses undertake the Mensa workout. But only those
who qualify, talk about it. Before you wonder what this is all about,
let me clarify. Mensa is an international society comprising those
with an IQ (intelligence quotient) of 130 or above—that is, the top
2 per cent of the world's intelligent people.
And
no, Mensa doesn't help you get a job, perform better, get recognition
or make life easier. In most cases, Mensa, or other such high
IQ societies, provide only a forum for intellectual brainstorming
along with, of course, a massive ego boost. So why so much fuss about
a high IQ?
Flashback to your school days. Those who scored highest were favored
the most, immaterial of their sensitivity, idealism or creativity. At
home, your imaginative stories were discarded in favor of your sibling's
physics projects. Nothing seemed as important as getting high grades
in the hallowed quartet of physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics.
Now go and take an IQ test. Deja vu? A trip down the memory
lane? Not quite!
Though
people with high IQs don't necessarily perform well in school (both
Einstein and Newton appeared less-than-bright as students), it usually
works the other way round—those who score high in science and mathematics
usually score higher than average on IQ tests. The reason? Well,
though the modern IQ tests claim to calculate your 13 main abilities—visual
apprehension, spatial apprehension, arithmetic, logic, general
knowledge, spelling, rote utilization, intuition, short term memory,
geometry, algebra, vocabulary and computational speed—there is
a strong bias towards mathematical comprehension. In fact, many standard
IQ tests take into account only three factors: mathematics, logic
and general knowledge. Not surprisingly, even the scores vary, depending
on the test you have taken. When I took a standard IQ test that measured
only mathematics, logic and general knowledge, I scored 125, whereas
in the second test that measured all the 13 above mentioned abilities,
my IQ score shot up to 145.
So, to what
extent are IQ tests an accurate measure of genius? "Intelligence
tests have a rather one-dimensional approach to the degree of giftedness,"
says Richard Wallace, a US-based researcher on mental potentials. "Most
of them fail to recognize that it is possible to arrive at answers that
are different and as plausible as the ones designated by the test designer."
A
case in point is the prototype of genius, Albert Einstein.
It
is believed that Einstein actually had an IQ of
about 160-much higher than the average (between 85-115, according
to the Stanford-Binet scale), but pretty less than, say,
Thomas Aquinas, Darwin, Rene Descartes, Goethe and John Stuart
Mill (all between 165 and 200). So what made Einstein different?
"Genius,"
explains A.C. Bharadwaj, a former professor of philosophy at Allahabad
University in India, "is a combination of three 'I's: intellect,
imagination and intuition. Every genius is a bit of a mystic
at heart. With a high IQ, you might be a computer whiz. But you
won't be an Einstein." Because, unlike most theoreticians and
intellectuals, Einstein didn't perceive the world as a
fixed pattern of black and white. What he saw, instead, was an
ever-changing kaleidoscope of colors that contained in it the
deepest mysteries of the universe.
"The important thing is not to stop questioning," said Einstein.
"Curiosity has its own reason for existing. One cannot help but
be in awe when he contemplates the mysteries of eternity, of life,
of the marvelous structure of reality."
Or
take Marie Curie. The first person to have received an
unprecedented two Nobel prizes, Marie perceived the world around
her with a childlike sense of wonder. "A scientist in his laboratory,"
said Marie, "is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting
natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales."
Strangely, goody-goody factors such as hard work, practice and
determination often have little to do with genius. "Usually,"
says Steve Allen, a US-based writer for the Skeptic magazine,
"geniuses just happen to hit the bull's eye. Since they
have a different approach to work, they are more likely to come
up with unconventional solutions, but by and large, their work
comes easy to them."
The answer here lies in the politically incorrect theory of inequality.
"Idealists
love to believe that all people are born equally able and that inequality
results only from unjust privilege. But mother nature is no egalitarian,"
explains Linda S. Gottfredson, CO-director of the Delaware-John
Hopkins project for the study of intelligence and society in the
magazine The Scientific American. "People are born
unequal in intellectual potential. Although subsequent experience
shapes this potential, no amount of social engineering can make
people intellectual equals." Even genetic research indicates that
people are born with different hereditary potentials for intelligence.
In fact, a team of scientists, headed by Robert Plomin of the Institute
of Psychiatry in London, recently announced the discovery of the
first gene linked to intelligence. Not to mention the Darwin,
Curie and Huxley families where genius, or
intelligence, seems to pan generations.
15
STEPS TO TAPPING YOUR GENIUS
1.
Vision - Know exactly what you want to achieve.
2. Desire - Have a burning desire to achieve what you want. 3.
Faith - Believe in yourself and what you are doing. 4. Commitment
- Be committed enough to do the needful. 5. Planning - Identify short,
medium and long-term goals. 6. Persistence - Persist, even in the
face of continuous rejection. 7. Learning from Mistakes - Believe
that it is okay to make mistakes. 8. Subject Knowledge - Do a thorough
research on whatever you wish to undertake. 9. Mental Literacy - Understand
how the mind works in memory, creativity, learning and thinking skills to marshal
mental resources. 10. Imagination - Be a visionary. Imagine the final
outcome. 11. Positive Attitude - Meet adversities in a positive frame
of mind. 12. Autosuggestion - Tell yourself that you are going to
get the result that you want. 13. Intuition - Trust your instincts.
14. Mastermind Group - Be with people who aspire for similar goals.
15. Creativity and Flexibility - Keep your mind open to suggestions.
"After
taking into account gender
and physical stature, brain size as determined by magnetic resonance imaging
is somewhat correlated with IQ," explains Linda. "The brain waves
of individuals with higher IQs respond more promptly to sensory
stimuli." No wonder the Einsteins, Leonardo da Vincis, Ramanujans,
Amartya Sens and Stephen Hawkings of the world are often quirky, bordering
on the idiosyncratic and prone to irritation at even the slightest disturbance.
"Genius," says Bharadwaj, "is rarely charming. What has distinguished
it over the ages is a keen perception and impatience with mediocrity.
They are not here to make polite conversation. They are here to make a
difference." In fact, history is witness to the fact that geniuses are
often social misfits.
"It is about a difference in perception," explains Gloria Davis, a California-based
teacher of dyslexics (those who have a difficulty in reading or
using language). "A lot of geniuses are dyslexics who solve
problems through visual imagery and have problem communicating their ideas
in conventional terms."
Like Einstein.
This celebrated dyslexic imagined traveling on a sunbeam and
came to the conclusion that the universe was curved. Or da Vinci, another
dyslexic, who wrote most of his theories in reverse script. In
fact, a list of the better-knowndyslexics reads more
like a who's who among world's greatest geniuses. From John
Lennon and Agatha Christie to Graham Bell, Thomas
Edison, Michael Faraday, Pablo Picasso and WaltDisney, dyslexics have spun images in their heads, played
with them, and have come up with some of the most astounding pieces
of music, literature and scientific discoveries.
Which
is why a cut-and-dried IQ test is rarely the correct barometer
of a person's talent and intelligence. In fact, emotional
quotient (EQ) is increasingly being accepted as an important factor
in intelligence measurement. "The manipulation of information," explains
Linda, "such as discerning similarities and inconsistencies, drawing
inferences and grasping new concepts constitutes intelligence in action."
But the ability to deal with cognitive complexity need not be synonymous
with genius.
"With a high
IQ, you might be great at winning a debate, but not necessarily
at solving problems," says Wallace. "A genius is someone who actually
creates the unusual or the spectacular." Or someone who can see beyond
what is obvious and take humanity a step forward on the evolutionary ladder.
IQ
SCORES
Below
50
Moronic
50-80
Below
Average
81-110
Average
111-120
Above Average
121-135
Brilliant
136-150
Genius
150-200
Supergenius
200+
Universal genius
Interestingly,
some amount of this potential lies dormant in all of us. This is
the Einstein Factor, the latent catalyst for genius
that most of us fail to tap.
Dr Win Wenger, a pioneer of intelligence studies, feels that geniuses
are people who have stumbled upon a way of perception that widens
their channel of conscious attention, bringing into focus their
subtle, unconscious awareness.
He even goes on to suggest that people can learn to tap this potential,
as well as increase their IQ, by practicing a technique called
Image Streaming.
In a nutshell, genius is all about deconditioning. Knowledge, as
they say, is as old as creation and as new as this moment. What we see
is what we have been conditioned to see-be it from a moron's perspective
or an intellectual's. But a genius sneaks out of those vibgyor-tinted
glasses, crawls into time cracks and sees that which is too obvious to
be noticed.
Relativity? Almost! Only, a genius does not merely imagine like
an unsung poet. Or burn his midnight oil like the absent-minded professor.
"A genius is the perfect amalgamation of karma yoga(work),
bhakti yoga (faith or intuition) and gyan yoga
(knowledge or intellect)," says Bharadwaj. "It helps him utilize his divinity
without losing touch with his mortality." A missing link between man and
superman? Perhaps! The
idea is to have the cake and eat it too.
HIGH
IQs
In 1926, psychologist Dr Catherine Morris Cox published a study of some eminent
men and women of the past to estimate what their IQs might have been. The resultant
IQs were based largely on the degree of brightness and intelligence each subject
showed before attaining the age of 17. Taken from a revised and completed version
of this study, here are the projected IQs of some of the best scorers.
"After
taking into account gender
and physical stature, brain size as determined by magnetic resonance imaging
is somewhat correlated with IQ," explains Linda. "The brain waves
of individuals with higher IQs respond more promptly to sensory
stimuli." No wonder the Einsteins, Leonardo da Vincis, Ramanujans,
Amartya Sens and Stephen Hawkings of the world are often quirky, bordering
on the idiosyncratic and prone to irritation at even the slightest disturbance.
