Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.

[Albert Einstein]

I’m not trying to call anyone out on mediocrity of the mind here. I’ve just been thinking about how easy it is to pursue mediocrity if we don’t ask what’s possible. If we don’t open the door to other possibilities.

I came upon that Einstein quote when I was looking for articles about the connection between mental illness and genius. I was looking for such information after my partner pointed me to this article in the Independent: “You don’t have to be bipolar to be a genius — but it helps.” The article is about a big study that showed people with top grades in school were four times more likely to develop bipolar disorder than people with average grades. They note that the link was strongest among people who studied literature or music.

The article includes this quote:

Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence…

[Edgar Allan Poe]

All this got me thinking about the things we dismiss or reject because they don’t fit inside our perception of how things work. Maybe we dismiss someone as “living on another planet” because their ideas seem to have no grounding whatsoever in the reality we know. Or maybe we dismiss someone as being “over-the-top” because their views seem so extreme in contrast with those we normally encounter. We dismiss, we reject, but do we stop to think: what if it’s possible? What if they see something I don’t see?

Most revolutionaries are probably pretty bad at getting in quality family time. Some of the most admirable entrepreneurs took an idea that sounded ridiculous to most of their peers, and they worked “unreasonably” hard to make it happen. “Crazy people” see things we don’t see. And maybe the Things We Don’t See are immensely valuable and eye-opening, rather than delusional.

Generally, different makes people uncomfortable. If you’re striving for a challenging goal, people will probably feel uncomfortable about it. Maybe they’ll try to play it down in case of failure — trying to protect you. Or maybe they’ll dismiss it, waiting for you to wind yourself back down into the realm of acceptable goals — “get a real job” and all that.

Yesterday I was sitting on my motorbike at a big intersection, waiting for the light to turn green. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a woman wearing a jumble of bright colors and mysterious bags, standing on the grass. When I looked over, she broke into a goofy smile and motioned urgently at something to her left. Seeing nothing of particular interest, despite her frenzied gestures, I dismissed her as crazy. The light turned green, and I drove ahead; but I felt slightly unsettled. What did she want me to see? What would she have told me if I had gone to speak with her?

Who knows, but it’s just a thought.

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