Society is constantly stressing the importance of creative ideas and innovation for the development of humanity, but at the same time, most people shudder at the word genius? It is as if they want nothing to do with the world of geniuses, who are the generators of progress because they are mostly strange and eccentric.
Oscar Wilde, the Irish writer and poet, said: “People are really tolerant of each other. They forgive everything except being a genius.”
To be talented, whether confirmed or not yet discovered, is difficult these days. Sometimes at the beginning of the journey of discovering and accepting one’s talent, it seems better to keep one’s talent hidden from the misunderstanding and disapproval of others. For fear of being singled out, different and strange, unwanted or even rejected, many gifted people prefer the path of denial, self-sabotage, and conforming to mediocrity. They are stuck in the swamp of mediocrity, trying to please those incapable of understanding their inner world. There are many hidden geniuses among us, but they have suppressed their gifts so profoundly that they are no longer even aware of them. For a better future for all of us, it is essential to redefine giftedness and ingeniousness and create a system where the gifted are given the space and support to develop. Only then can we, as a society, humanity, truly embark on a path of progress that we cannot even imagine at the moment.
Almost every gifted child or adult I have met in my work, when asked if they are gifted, said: “Not me. I’m quite normal and average, but I also advocate that we are all the same.” “Of course,” I replied and continued anyway, “but you skipped primary school and are an international chess champion.” “Yeah, but that’s no big deal,” he says. I understand and feel the anguish that does not allow talent to be fully revealed, accepted, and perhaps even become part of our empowerment. Georg Brandes, the Danish scholar, said that the gifted need courage. I add that they also need understanding and support.
Genius is a spirit
In the ancient Roman Empire, the word genius meant the spiritual leadership of each individual, guiding a person towards their true mission. Each person’s genius was respected and even given birthdays. The ancient Greeks had a similar view of the spiritual world. Ancient people recognized and accepted a child’s gifts at birth and helped them develop them. Indeed, the community depended on the early recognition and development of each individual’s giftedness. And the individual depended on it because without recognizing his true nature, he remained confused and without a true meaning in life. The soul came into the world with a purpose, and the genius helps it achieve that purpose as its guide.
Everyone is gifted. Giftedness is not only or merely a high intelligence quotient. Science tells us that the brain is a biocomputer that processes the information it receives through neurons that are interconnected in infinitely complex ways. Neuroscience concludes that the brain of the gifted is more complex, so a person can understand complex patterns, ideas, and situations more quickly because the transmission between neurons is faster and more intense. However, the organ between the ears is only part of giftedness, the biological component. Giftedness combines several dimensions: inherited talents that can go back generations, the potential of our inner spirit, genius, the way we express ourselves, the different areas of intelligence, our character, the inner spark that draws us into new and new explorations and, most importantly, the will from which we draw our perseverance and courage.
But what is the inner world of the gifted?
The gifted are insatiably curious and direct all their passion to where their exploration can end. But the fact is that it never ends. The gifted are relentless in their search for truth; manipulation and lies are poisonous to them. Yet, at the same time, they hunger for novelty and the thrill of searching for truth. The gifted can assemble all the elements of their giftedness, all the available information they perceive instantly, into a complex whole with ease. It is a game for them. They are demanding. They connect strands of data into complex mental or emotional worlds from which novelties, inventions, innovations, and creations are born. They want, they long, for these worlds to be experienced in the same way by those around them. But this rarely happens.
Their stream of thought mostly operates according to a unique system of patterns, entanglements, fusions, flows, and quantum leaps. Gifted people are also highly intuitive, but they are not aware of it. They are characterized by a strong will to express their independent nature.
Due to their asynchronous development in childhood, their deficits most often manifest themselves in the emotional domain, making them highly emotional and causing many difficulties in relationships. Even when they try, it sometimes looks like they do not know the basics of the emotional alphabet. Some also feel or hear an inner call of mission, but most do not know what it is and how to express and realize it.
When one is awakened to one’s true nature, one merges with one’s higher intelligence, recognizes one’s giftedness and mission, and can also naturally connect with the greater concept of existence, the world, and the universe. As Nikola Tesla described it, my brain is just a receiver; in the universe, it is the core from which we derive knowledge, power, and inspiration.
Kazimierz Dabrowski, a Polish psychiatrist, and psychologist who worked with intelligent and artistically gifted children, developed five areas of so-called intensive perception: experiencing and perceiving the world, which means that a person perceives information and stimuli in certain areas more intensely than usual. The life of gifted persons is, therefore, more profound, more vivid, as well as more precise, and accurate. As a result, the experience is more complex and richer, but it can also be too intense and overwhelming.
Because of its asynchronous development, giftedness always has two sides: a pleasant one and a less pleasant one. The good side of intellectual giftedness is infinite curiosity, concentration, focus, search for truth, quick grasp of complex subjects, exploration, formulation of new concepts and themes, and reflections on morality and ethics. The other shadow side may be manifested as an overload of logic, thinking about thinking itself, an inability to connect emotionally, and physical rigidity.
If you are familiar with the Big Bang series, then you can easily recognize the intellectual genius of Sheldon Cooper in this description. Dabrowski talks about the emotional, imaginative, sensory, and psychomotor over-perception of the world that can bring about extraordinary insights and excesses, as well as a deep abyss of despair and confusion. While Dabrowski didn’t include spiritual or existential perception of the world, the later theory of giftedness describes spiritual overexcitability as an intense perception of the world and the universe, characterized by spontaneous meditations, extraordinary intuition, spiritual experiences, perceiving the world as one, feeling all-encompassing vibrating energy, a connection with nature, people, and everything around them. Furthermore, spiritually overexcitability also includes wisdom, compassion, and grace, which, if not properly channeled, can lead to disconnection from real life, irresponsibility, running away from responsibilities, and growing up.
Giftedness is, therefore, not just a kind of button in our brains, which can now be found on our smart mobile devices, but a complex experience of the intensity of perceptions of the surroundings, of the world, an interplay of myriad different dimensions and worlds, a creative flow, but at the same time an oversensitivity, overwhelm, creative blockages, emotional trauma and emotional rigidity, alienation, misunderstanding, loneliness, and energy depletion, so caring for all those who feel different, but at the same time feel something awakening within them and wanting to express themselves, is imperative. Thus inner conflict, depression, anxiety, feelings of unhappiness, failure, total loss, and even psychic breakdown can be signs of the beginning of an inner transformation towards knowing and accepting oneself better, awakening one’s talents, and connecting with a higher intelligence.
Working with the gifted is extremely fulfilling and requires a unique approach. As an expert in gifted therapy for many years, I have been helping in a holistic way all those who wish to embark on their mission and activate their giftedness. To identify and develop your giftedness, it is essential to have a safe, non-judgmental environment where all craziness, creative explosions, and personality expressions are allowed, where you can get to know yourself, your giftedness, your strength, and your weakness in a way that will empower you. Learn to transform your hypersensitivity into new ideas, creations, and inventions, use your intensity to realize your talents, use your inner natural intelligence in your daily life, including in your relationships, and thus make a life of meaning based on authentic values. At the same time, the goal of discovering yourself and your giftedness is that you can finally have the opportunity to explore your inner world, connect new and different multidimensions, remove blockages, feel comfortable in the skin of the gifted, expand and deepen your intelligence and creativity, to connect with other gifted people and thus to experience a broader support system of like-minded people.
In my HG program for gifted we meet individually twice a month for an hour and a half, where we use ancient approaches and modern science to gently but effectively stimulate potential in growth and development. You will not have to change your life, but you will get in touch with your higher intelligence, your genius, who will reveal your life purpose. Talent is also encouraged in the online program Odyssea Ad Astra and Program for gifted women.
Do you, too, feel that there is a more profound truth within you and that there is something more powerful, more intelligent than the monotony of everyday life? Now is the time to start living smarter and step on the path given to you at birth, so you can contribute to your community and live life fully.