Yet more typical revelations

I was watching a National Geographic special on Leonardo DaVinci the other night. Of the whole two hour program, two elements really left an impression on me and stand out while the rest of the details fade. First is a statement about his progressive way of thinking. A scholar once said that Leonardo DaVinci awoke from a deep slumber only to find that the rest of the world was still sleeping. That has to be the most supreme compliment I think I've ever heard. Second, he didn't start writing his now historically famous journals until he was thirty years old. DaVinci was a late bloomer. I take solace in that.

Primarily, I am deeply intrigued by the analogy of awakening while the remainder of humanity still sleeps. Beyond any IQ test, more than any formalized, standardized, mechanized, subsidized, purified, granulated and bleached out method of evaluation, I have to wonder: could this be the one true definition of genius? Is this what genius truly means?

In theater terminology, a gel is a thin colored sheet of plastic slipped over a light to give the scene a slightly different glow... to subtly alter the appearance and mood of a scene. A gobo is an opaque cutout used to change the shape of a light, such as to dapple it or cast cookie-cutter shapes. I can't help but make the analogy that people walk around percieving the world through their own series of gobos and gels, each altering each person's perspective just a little. Religion, philosophy, morals, denial, preconceptions... each are another filter through which reality is refracted. I always visualized that those whom we call geniuses, those who have attained some level of illumination and enlightenment, are people who simply thought to remove those gobos and gels, allowing the world to be revealed as it truly is.