This telling incident (the disciples have been arguing among themselves about who was the greatest) reveals to us how, when we become obsessed with self-interest, we miss truths of global significance that are right in front of us.
Jesus needs to find a quiet place, hidden from the crowds, to teach his disciples and prepare them for what is going to happen. But they did not understand – because their minds were focussed on competing for importance, the lust for significance and greatness, for power. Jesus knew this and addressed it directly: humble authentic servanthood is the key, he told and showed them.
Interestingly, this episode speaks into the state of our beloved planet, our home; and the motivation of those persons, corporates and nations who would be great, important and wealthy at the expense of future generations, who could inherit a wounded and declining planet.
The truly greatest amongst us are not those obsessed with power, status, wealth and profits, but those who personally and in coalitions of shared vision take action to sustain the planet’s life, well-being and inter-connectedness. These people, rather than the self-absorbed, that don’t see, or choose not to see, the great issue of our time, visible before their eyes, are the greatest amongst us. They don’t seek reward or fame. They fearlessly keep the issue before us, and invite action. Only so will sustainability become a reality for our planet.
It would be a mistake to think all geniuses are to be found in the sciences; or as engineers or inventors. That would straight away exclude all sorts of alternative and motley geniuses and limit our survey. My definition of genius, if you need reminding, is “an extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity”, and (goes without saying), “has captivated me”.
But – and here’s my dilemma for this specimen – this fortnight’s genius offering is a writer whom I can barely understand. Can that really count? This guy wrote 37 plays and 154 poems; invented thousands of his own words; has been translated into 180 languages; and is as oft-quoted as the Bible. Have you guessed who he is? Yes, it’s the Bard of Avon, William Shakespeare. And although I’ve tried, I can only half understand his stuff. Because not only is his intellect on another plain, but he was writing for a people whose English barely resembled ours. Even in his own time (late sixteenth century, early seventeenth) he was writing not for the contemporary sophisticates, but for the rank and file – the ordinary people.
Shakespeare was first forced on me in the fifth form, when we had to study Julius Caesar, and the teacher reckoned that all those clever speeches and couplets and phrasings were intentional, not just flukes, as I suggested. In the sixth form it was Henry IV Part Two. By the seventh, I’d had enough. But in later decades he lured me back. I’ve been to several of his plays, but, knowing how difficult it is for a Kiwi rank-and-file to follow his work, I’ve tried to read a play before viewing, presuming that would give a leg-up to better understanding. And it has helped – for Romeo and Juliet, Midsomer Night’s Dream (which is hilarious in places), King Lear, Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing (these two in Stratford-Upon-Avon itself), and Hamlet and Julius Caesar (again) (both of these at the seasonal Pop-Up Globe theatre in Auckland).
You see, I’ve tried, and his writing really is clever if you can break into it – genius level, perforce [another word he invented]. How could anyone write that stuff, even today, with all our learning and sophistication, let alone four and a half centuries ago?
But, given all the a-foregoing, and in just over five hundred words, how can one describe his genius, let alone explain or analyse it? Fortunately, dozens of other sophisticates have already. Some of the shorter ones are listed at the bottom of this blog – check ‘em out. The uncredited Daily News article says, “More than any other writer, he had the capacity to think himself into the minds of other human beings, and to summarise the great range of our emotions in words that are simple and supremely eloquent.” Harold Bloom, in a best-selling Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human (1998), says, “… supreme literary talent is the necessary precondition for the composition of [Shakespeare’s great works] that have shaped our language, embedded themselves in our individual and collective imaginations, and inspired so much work by other artists.”
Because I had to concentrate, and climb the mountain to even begin to enjoy the view, I’ve been captivated by the genius of William Shakespeare. If you’re tempted, Julius Caesar is as good a place as any to start climbing.
Continuing this brief series, and introducing you to my first considered genius, recalling the working definition of genius as an “extraordinary intellectual power especially as manifested in creative activity” (see Geniuses 1), as perceived by me:
Isaac Newton would make most people’s list, so is probably the least provocative of mine. Newton was born in eastern England’s Lincolnshire in the mid seventeenth century, son to a share cropper. There were no signs of genius early on. In fact, the only event recorded of his early life involved his being bullied at school. The best he might have expected from life was to leave school at twelve and become a share cropper himself. However, a local landowner saw potential in him and arranged and paid for him to complete his schooling (where he blossomed in his final year – as a seventeen-year-old) and so to Cambridge University.
Unfortunately, after a promising start, the Black Plague saw the university closed down and Newton sent home to the countryside. But it was here, during the next two years, that his genius erupted. First, after seeing a spectrum on a wall, produced by sunlight through a jug of water on his bedroom table, he was prompted to investigate the make-up of light, and he proposed that ‘white’ light must be made up of component colours. A falling apple also prompted him to propose the presence of an attractive force between any two bodies in space – a gravitational force. This in turn set him to realise that the moon must be held in place by the same attractive force (but didn’t fall to earth like the apple, because it was moving sideways in a circular orbit).
When Newton finally returned to Cambridge, and word of his ideas got around, he was persuaded (primarily by Edmund Haley, no less, who later used Newton’s theories to predict the return of Haley’s Comet in 1758) to write down and publish his findings, which he did in Latin (!) – the academic language of the time – in two huge volumes titled Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). However, in attempting to prove his theories Newton realised that the Maths of the day was inadequate for his purposes, so he ‘invented’ a whole new branch of Maths (also presented in his Principia) which we know now as Calculus.
This, and his many other stunning additions to scientific and mathematical knowledge (too many to list here, although his invention of the reflecting telescope is especially impressive, but see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Newton) and to British leadership (for example, he was ‘Master of the Royal Mint’ for thirty years)) established his genius beyond contest.
These, and many other details of his astonishing giftedness, struck me with awe (as a teacher of Maths and Physics). But what lingers in my thinking above all his technical genius is the high level of curiosity that drove him. He could never look at something without wondering why or how. Whereas most of us, in observing an apple fall from a tree, might say, “Huh. Look at that. Whaddya know?”, Newton thought, “Huh. I wonder why that apple fell vertically downwards, not sideways, or even upwards?”
To my mind, it was that curiosity and questioning mien that led him to see so much, and “creatively manifest” his insights in his published works and scientific influence, in his own time and down through the centuries; to the point where Newtonian Physics, and the Calculus, are foundational to every student’s senior Maths and Science studies today.
May the genius of Sir Isaac Newton awaken us all to the wondrous world and cosmos we share.
A couple of one-liners to start with. All right, three …
I’ve had amnesia as long as I can remember.
I intend to live forever. So far so good.
They say when a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
Next, a couple of real howlers!
Dan was a single guy living at home with his father and working in the family business. When he found out he was going to inherit a fortune when his sickly father died, he decided he needed a wife with which to share his fortune. One evening at an investment meeting he spotted the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Her natural beauty took his breath away. “I may look like just an ordinary man,” he said to her, “but in just a few years, my father will die, and I’ll inherit 20 million dollars.” Impressed, the woman obtained his business card and three days later, she became his stepmother.
Two Kiwis Hemi and Bob are walking down a street in Bondi. Bob happens to look in one of the shop windows and sees a sign that catches his eye. The sign said ‘Suits $10.00 each, Shirts $4.00 each, Trousers $5.00 per pair’. Bob says to his pal, “Hemi, look! We could buy a whole lot of those, and whin we get beck to InZid, we could make a fortune. “Now whin we go unto the shop, you be quiet, okay? Just lit me do all the talking cause uf they hear our accint, they might not be nice to us. I’ll speak in my bist Aussie accint.” “No worries,” smiled Hemi, “I’ll keep my mouth shut.” They go in and Bob says, “I’ll take fufty suits et $10.00 each, 100 shirts et $4.00 each, and fufty pairs of trousers et $5.00 each. I’ll beck up my truck and…” The owner of the shop interrupts, “You’re from New Zealand, aren’t you?” “Well… yis,” says a surprised Bob. “How the hill dud you know thet?” The owner says, “This is a dry cleaners.”
Finishing with this ancient blessing:
I wish you enough I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish you enough hellos to get you through any good-byes.
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and joyous. I wish you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how grey the day may appear. But I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
stfrancischurchtairuanz 