As we grow older and wiser,
we
learn to recognize our strengths and
weaknesses, and accept them. We
work to align our lives with the gifts we
were born with, and cultivate them.
This is a process of finding our
place within the world.
As we recognize and
organize our strengths,
we discover and expose ourselves as to who we
truly are. Our discovered place in the
world becomes the opportunity for the
expression of our genius: our special set of
gift(s) that we can
contribute. It lies within all of us.
Some may say that
they have little to contribute.
However, if we contribute small things
greatly, true to our purpose, we will
exceed those people who do great things
poorly. For the small thing done
greatly can be picked up, and magnified by
another, and so by another.
True
prophets and leaders
want us to work towards
an honest
recognition and admission of who we are,
to see the beauty and strength in each of
us, as well
as for each of us to see and admit the beauty
of others. With this honest perception of
the self, the exercise of genius takes one to a higher
spiritual plane.
By its nature, genius
pushes against the boundaries
of culture, religion,
society, environment. Boundaries
serve a purpose and should be honored for
what they are: a context that tests.
A nation or people or
society is only as strong
as its
individuals are empowered to rise to the
level of their individual genius. When prophets
and leaders encourage us to follow them, they
are
asking us to hear their message and
empower our lives.
As social animals, our
tendency is to institutionalize
the
message and to build belief systems and
rituals. However, we need to be
alert to when our spirituality, and
genius, is limited by these constraints
and that context. It may be that
what is built up after the prophet and
leader is
contrary to his or her message.
Genius recognizes
that we must honestly recognize
and meet
with humility, even confront, those
conditions in which we are placed.
We set aside
distracting influences and things of our
youth since they are not
true to who we are.
Should we
succumb to weakness, that which we are
not, we need to recognize the test for
what it is: either a miscalculation
of our power, or an inappropriate response
to our environment. If we go astray,
act contrary to our purpose (we are not
perfect) we must learn the lesson
provided.
We hold steady, we join
hands with those walking with us
on our
spiritual paths, learning that the genius
of others will also guide us. Others
will be there to lift us up. With
them, our full genius takes us to the
place where we can overcome digressions
and transgressions. There is a super
genius at work, that of we as people.
Don't restrict yourself to
the standards!
Consider them standards and build on
them. Practice the basics, then don't be afraid to move away
from the normal and think outside of the
box, or the textbook!" (Colin.C.Saxton)
Read widely and deeply.
In addition to being a statesman, diplomat, author of the
Declaration of Independence and President of the United States, Thomas
Jefferson was a notable agriculturalist, horticulturist, architect,
etymologist, mathematician, cryptographer, surveyor, author, lawyer,
inventor, paleontologist, and founder of the University of Virginia.
As a 16-year-old college student, he studied 15 hours a day. His
insatiable curiosity and disciplined study of a broad range of
academic and practical disciplines were the basis for his exceptional
accomplishments. President John F. Kennedy welcomed 49 Nobel Prize
winners to the White House in 1962, saying, "I think this is the most
extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever
been gathered at the White House, with the possible exception of when
Thomas Jefferson dined alone." (Gavin Ehringer)
