A learned man can say what others have said all his life, but a genius can say what he has said. Even if he only says one word in his life, it is unprecedented, unless he can't say it. This is the boundary between the two.
What distinguishes genius from ordinary people is not cleverness or diligence, but a sense of mission. Maybe he himself can't tell what this sense of mission is, but it has always existed and often reminds him unexpectedly and tortures him. This is a sense of responsibility, not to others, to mankind, but to one's own life.
Most people belong to family, country and society. Genius belongs to existence and non-existence, maximum and minimum, self and eternity.
For genius, talent is a heavy burden that must be unloaded, that is, fully released. "Genius is diligence", but the diligence of genius is not a reluctant mechanical work, but an unstoppable energy release.
Genius is the closest personality to nature. Since nature itself is colorful and full of contradictions, how can a genius always be consistent with itself? The most creative geniuses in the history of philosophy, such as Plato and Kant, are precisely the most contradictory. Antinomy is the fate of genius.
Genius is often not the smartest person. Just like nature itself, genius must have its own clumsiness.
A talented and energetic person will never feel that he has found a home. He is always trying and exploring. Genius lacks self-knowledge, just like mediocrity, but the essence is the opposite. Mediocre people don't know their own shortcomings, and geniuses don't know their own advantages. While creating his famous paintings, Della Crova was still considering whether he was more suitable as a poet.
I believe that geniuses have a little inferiority complex in their bones, and successful strong people often have a humiliating experience buried in their hearts.
All beings also have the right to live. In this sense, people are equal. As for history, it is another matter. There is a gap between genius and sentient beings. Of course, the greatness of a genius does not need superior enjoyment to be rewarded, and greatness itself is already his reward.
People with high talents have an almost innate aristocratic mentality and look down on ordinary people. His tolerant attitude towards the masses is the product of experience and thinking.
Genius lives in a world of thought and imagination. Although in their view, the world is more real and fundamental, it is really divorced from the daily life world of ordinary people. Therefore, from the secular point of view, genius can never bring any real happiness to human beings (happiness in the secular sense is always equal to welfare), their happiness is just madness, and their pain is only caused by themselves. It is a courtesy that the world can tolerate their existence and leave them a small living space like a strange bird. Genius should not expect better treatment, otherwise it is equivalent to expecting that you are not a genius.
Mediocrity outlives genius. Mediocrity is a craftsman in the spiritual workshop. As long as physical strength allows, it can always be done. Once the creative genius is exhausted, it is completely finished. Without any comfort, he became a waste in his own eyes. He is really a loser.
Creation depends on wisdom, and life depends on common sense. Common sense without wisdom is mediocre. Wisdom without common sense is called clumsiness and mediocrity. People have never set foot in the field of wisdom, so they don't know their mediocrity. Genius is inevitably thrown into the field of common sense, so it is foolish to expose it every time. Since the two can only meet in a mediocre territory, it is not surprising that they are mediocre and arrogant and talented.
Three realms of genius: do as the Romans do and live in seclusion to save the world.
I have always believed that geniuses must be lonely among their contemporaries and often ignored and misunderstood, but in later times, most people actually did not understand them. So, how did they build their reputation behind them?
Perhaps, the super-communication of great minds is one reason, which forms the historical inheritance channel of high-level culture.
But the problem still exists: even if the post-genius understands the former genius, the post-genius is still lonely in his own time. How can his evaluation of the previous genius be recognized by people?
Perhaps there are always a few lucky geniuses, and it is through them that the world accepts them and other unfortunate geniuses they appreciate.
How is genius recognized? Several hypotheses-
First, differentiated recognition: second-class talents recognize first-class talents, third-class talents recognize second-class, and so on. As for ordinary people, genius finally established a reputation among the people. Of course, it's just fame, and its price is more and more misunderstandings.
Secondly, chain recognition: among many geniuses, one day he was recognized for various contingencies, so people also recognized a series of geniuses he admired, and the geniuses admired by everyone among these geniuses were like snowballing.
Third, however, perhaps the most accurate statement is that genius is recognized by being misunderstood. The world recognizes its obvious cleverness, and at the same time thinks about genius with a mediocre mind. In the final analysis, only genius can fully understand genius, and mediocrity is just a booing.
Genius is great because it is misunderstood. There are three explanations for this statement: first, the more unique a genius is, the less common it is among ordinary people, so the less understood and misunderstood it is. Therefore, the degree of misunderstanding is unique and great. Secondly, genius is recognized as great only after it is widely misunderstood. People accept the image of this genius transformed by their own misunderstanding, and then admit its greatness-that is, admit that it is in line with their own tastes. Third, the richness and mystery of genius have left a wide misunderstanding space for generation after generation. The greater the genius, the more mysterious it is, the more people can guess him and misunderstand his interests. Greatness is directly proportional to the degree of misunderstanding.
Perhaps the best fate of a genius is to leave a book. In the continuation of human generations, his thoughts have caused tremors and * * * sounds in individual minds from time to time. This is his eternal life and resurrection. What's worse is the loss of works and the annihilation of thoughts. Worst of all, his works became classics, his name became idols, and his thoughts became dogmas.
You can't put a coffin on a genius Genius is always misunderstood and misinterpreted when it is worshipped, which leads to endless arguments. Perhaps, the fact that you can't decide the coffin itself proves great.
The reliable sign of genius is not success, but boredom after success.
Genius is fragile. A little bacteria, a car accident and a rogue can kill him.
Genius is not necessarily strong. The strength of character determines the fate of the world, and the size of talent determines the fate of heaven. In a sense, the reputation of a genius after his death can be regarded as the glory of heaven.
A genius with bad luck will become a mediocre person, and a mediocre person can't be a genius no matter how lucky he is.
She read Van Gogh's biography with tears in her eyes and thought, "If I was born in that era, I must marry Van Gogh."
When Van Gogh was alive, there must have been a girl who imagined marrying a genius of an earlier era and was moved to tears by this idea. Meanwhile, Van Gogh still couldn't find a girl who would marry him.
A young man said to me, "I am Nietzsche!" "
I replied: Really? Nietzsche was a genius. Every genius is unique and cannot be copied. You repeated Nietzsche, so you are not a genius, so you are not Nietzsche.
Genius is often a little crazy, but madness is not equal to genius. People who pretend to be geniuses always misunderstand this.
Genius and madness, weirdos and liars are all between specious.
For every genius in the world, there are a thousand lunatics pretending to be geniuses. For every strange man, there are 10 thousand liars who pretend to be strange men.
The layman has humble happiness, the genius has noble pain, and the distribution of God is fair. People who are aggrieved by this, although pretending to be geniuses, are worse than laymen.
People who have never found great happiness have no right to ask others to reject ordinary happiness. People who have found great happiness have no intention of asking others to reject ordinary happiness.
The lowest realm is ordinary, followed by extraordinary, and the highest realm is ordinary.
It is rare to have both courage and human touch.
Isn't it great not to avoid mediocrity, and it's also great not to exclude small emotional appeal?
Whether a person with ordinary talent can become a talent depends largely on his specific educational environment. Schools can cultivate or destroy an ordinary talent. Genius is not limited by specific educational environment, because he is essentially cultivating himself. Of course, genius may also be strangled, but it can only be the times or the big social environment that strangles him.
Excerpt from Zhou's thoughts on life.