The Genius curse

“Throughout the centuries there were men who took first steps down new roads armed with nothing but their own vision. Their goals differed, but they all had this in common: that the step was first, the road new, the vision unborrowed, and the response they received--hatred. The great creators--the thinkers, the artists, the scientists, the inventors--stood alone against the men of their time. Every great new thought was opposed. Every great new invention was denounced. The first motor was considered foolish. The first airplane was considered impossible. The power loom was considered vicious. Anesthesia was considered sinful. But the men of unborrowed vision went ahead. They fought, they suffered and they paid. But they won.”(Ayn Rand)

A genius is born ahead of his lifetime. It is hard or sometimes impossible for contemporaries to understand and relate with him. And incomprehensible has always been a threat to mankind: we are comfortable and secure with conventional consistent and certain. Those who try to cross certainty and predictability lines with conviction become a threat to the established, bringing forth a long and tedious conflict of beliefs and survival.

Galileo Galilei was condemned and punished for proposing the heliocentric view of galaxy: a view contradicting established beliefs of geocentric earth being the centre of universe. It challenged Church and, established astronomers and philosophers. Man has always placed himself highest and this theory questioned his superiority that sun is not moving for us, contrarily we are moving around the sun. Galileo faced a number of trials during his lifetime and was placed under house arrest Pope refused to bury him near his ancestors for vehement suspect of heresy. He was buried in a small room next to novices (Wikipedia)

Vincent Van Gogh was dismissed for “undermining the dignity of priesthood” in his early years. His paintings were rejected for displays because they did not fit in contemporary French impressionist style. Van Gogh could not even sell one painting of his during his lifetime and barely managed to feed himself three days in a week. He committed suicide at the age of 37.

Shakespeare was never revered in his lifetime (Wikipedia). Michelangelo lived in recluse and Newton could not gather to publish his calculus works in early years for the fear of criticism. Aristotle was accused of blasphemy and Einstein was detained from school.

Extraordinary intelligence fosters unparallel understanding, curiosity and conviction to create and nurture life around. But “a vision or a dream is very personal”(Osho) and unique. It shapes the bearer in its own form carving him out slowly from collective rock, making him distinct and separate from the background. And, seeing him distant, the separate background condemns him for his rigidity and aloneness. Vision is a curse for its bearer. It will not let him sleep or settle for less and it will not let him mingle with the crowd: a vision makes visionary insoluble contrasting alone and vulnerable. Almost every thinker, artist, scientist and inventor is condemned and denounced during his lifetime. Seclusion is the price they have to pay for the wealth they embrace inside.