A Thought Of Genius

"She often exhausted me in that ‘After party slump’ way of interesting overstimulation. She was like a kindergarten Kierkegaard-- Plato and playdough, rolled into one.  She was always bouncing from task to project, delighted in fireflies and sparkly shiny things. Terrified of wasps but careless with snakes. She was oblivious regarding the expected mores and habits of a woman her age, though she did try--I saw her paint her nails with the meticulous, tongue-out precision of a child, then immediately smudge them on the cat. She spoke fast and laughed with her head back in unashamed display. 

Then, suddenly, she would pause, perfectly still. Some faint siren from a distant deeper universe would captivate her and she would drink deeply of it. "Do you believe in entelechy?" she would say at last with a thoughtful voice. "Do you think that is a mandate from God? Is the purpose OF life to determine our purpose IN life or is that just a construct of ambitious people?" I say nothing as a moment of general relativity would pass--a few seconds for me, but miles of deep contemplation for her, as if she walked down a well and back out in the same time in which I took my next two steps. I had learned to measure my drinking in of her as her life flowed and crashed against mine.

"Our math is wrong" she would sigh. "It is limited in dimension. It is just the representation of a thing. And we act as if it is the thing, is fundamental, accurate enough to base our understanding of God and the universe in. We are fools trying to eat a painting of an apple." and the weariness of it would weigh her shoulders down. I would nod in generous encouragement at her statement, wondering if she was more mad than genius. She was a mobius strip made of mirror and you never knew if she was climbing to a moment of excellence or was sliding back, weeping and weak, to the bottom of the glass.  Her thoughts and life reflected on itself in infinite loops that went miles but nowhere, but the speed at which it moved often generated a warm energy that we could harness for our own uses.

Every experience was weighted in time and meaning, and instinct was more profane to her than any language of a sailor. Actions taken without consideration were an abomination, and she often tilted at the windmills of those who worked solely from brutish desire.

Once a man said "She handled crisis better than she handles her daily life" and he was spot on. 'Woman, thy name is Dichotomy' I chastised her lightly: the patterns she saw and the disorder she lived in, the silliness of a child and the thoughts of a sage, the taste of the heroic but the life of the mundane. A loving wife and a horrible housekeeper. Broken but unbreakable.  Saint and sinner.  Flashes of brilliance in a mediocre sky. She eyed the tornado calmly as a worthy adversary, but broke down if she couldn't find a shoe. The sight of a crushed butterfly dimmed the sun in her bizarre little world, but she had no fear of death--to her it was a shrugging off of an old shirt.

She was all potential energy and frustrated action until she walked, which she did with such quickness of stride that even her teenage son had trouble keeping up with her. She was always trying to fit into the world in some way, through some work or job or habit, but I wondered if maybe she belonged to that vast inner dimension that sang to her--the only place that would make her still and calm and be.

I felt sorry for her.  In the end she was just a book—ragged and stained and crumpled and holding a story within her that she never was.

Has This Really Not Happened Yet?

Read a fb post regarding asynchronous Outlier kids (which is rather redundant, tbh).

Has there been any research comparing apples to apples--Outlier to Outlier?  A hummingbird and a parrot are both birds but the parrot would be terribly asynchronous compared to a hummingbird.  It is ridiculous to try to fit a parrot into a hummingbird mold.

Or, consider, if you will, comparing abdominal pain in a female to that of a male.  Yes, both human.  Same digestive system.  Then things get weird.  "Ma'am, your testosterone levels seem to have asynchronous development compared to Bob here.  And WHY do you have an upside down pear with deely boppers hanging from the top of it in your abdomen?".

Anyone with pull in research departments, get on this.  The most obvious way to know if something is broken is to compare it to the same item, not 'kinda like but not really" items.  Perhaps Outliers aren't broken.  Perhaps they are not asynchronous.  Perhaps they are exactly on time and developing exactly as they should be.

When we find Outliers who are not developing the same as other Outliers, then we will, hopefully, get enough data to identify Outliers who are at risk for various mental or emotional problems or are 2E or on the spectrum, etc.

No More Practice Bleeding Part 2

This is another problem with practice bleeding--it is just an imagination.  It is our worst fears.  We never imagine "My chest hurt and I thought it was a heart attack, but then I belched and felt better.  It was just gas."
Or

"We got into a car accident, but no one was hurt and the insurance company was fabulous"

Or

"Someone broke in and tripped over the lamp cord and conked themselves out.  When they came to, Max the Beagle barked and they were so scared that they peed themselves and ran away."

Now, sometimes bad things do happen.  Sometimes it really is a heart attack.  Sometimes it really is cancer.  Sometimes it really is a car accident with injuries.

A very wise man once said (paraphrasing) "The reason why it looks so scary when we picture the future is because we never picture God's grace in it.  He gives us grace for what we need today.  We don't need grace for what has not happened to us!"

We never imagine God's grace in the bad:
"I had a heart attack in the store and a guy gave me an aspirin right then and saved my life" (true story)

Or

"My mom was given 6 weeks to live, but a doctor happened by and thought she was a good candidate for a new treatment and she lived 12 more years" (true story)

Or

"There was a horrible car accident.  The truck flipped 8 times.  The whole truck was crushed.  But 'Bob' managed to crawl out with just a cut on his hand"  (true story)

Or

"We experienced two deaths back to back in our family, both moms.  It could have torn us apart as one death is tragic, but two deaths are mind boggling.  Instead, our family drew closer together and to God.  When the worst of life happens, sometimes that is where the best happens too.  Sometimes the sweetest fruit is born from the most vile manure" (true story).

Christians have available to them an additional tool in their arsenal against, well, everything.  That is the Lord in their lives.  As real and tangible a force as gravity, the Lord moves the spirit and the mind.  When the emotions are too strong for the logical mind, the Spirit filled spirit can come to the aid of the mind and support it.

If you are not a Christian, we would ask you to reconsider because you really are missing out on the best that life has to offer.  You can't imagine the world that opens up to you.  It is everything you wanted, honestly. 

Now, don't confuse "religion" with "faith".  Religion is all the man made stuff.  Faith is the actual entering into a whole nuther dimension of you and of life.  If you have questions, ask, we are happy to help.

No More Practice Bleeding

The military, firefighting, emergency management, police, and other front line organizations have "exercises".  These are "what if" imaginary scenarios of some sort of trauma or incident where the front liners will have to spring into action.  It could be a tornado, a terrorist attack, a train derailment, a battlefield.

In these scenarios, the folk are told what is happening and they are to act out what they would do.  For example, in the case of a mass casualty incident (maybe a roof collapse), the "players" would do their jobs, such as establishing a safe area, tending to wounded, contacting engineers, perform search and rescue, and buddy aid for their injured co-players.

They might be given an "inject" (the next step in the imaginary story of what happens) that a partial wall fell on 3 of their fellow players, injuring them.  Then everyone has to adjust and figure out what they need to do.  For example, they need to make sure it is safe to get those folk out.  They need to triage, stop bleeding, stabilize limbs, etc.

Here is what they are NEVER told during an inject:  "Inject number 23:  A partial wall has collapsed where Alpha Team was looking for survivors.  All three Alpha team members are hurt.  Everyone needs to just sit where they are and imagine the pain.  Let the shock and horror race through you.  Picture your limb crushed beneath cinderblock.  Taste the blood from where you got your lip busted.  Imagine your life fading from you in agony.  Imagine being stripped naked in the hospital as needle after needle after needle is placed everywhere.  Imagine how scared and terrified you are.  Picture the look on the face of your loved ones when they come in and you are barely recognizable.  Imagine that you have only 5 seconds left on earth.  How does that feel?"

Freaking.  No. 

That would be, truly, one of the worst ideas possible short of actually blowing up a building to practice with.  The players NEVER are told to just be inept and suffer.  These exercises are meant to train the brain to succeed, to do WELL automatically.  In these exercises, even a bad situation like this has an answer, has a series of steps to save the lives of Alpha Team, not just give up and cry.

But this is exactly what those with anxiety and panic disorder and OCD do.  Somewhere, deep inside, they always picture the worst.  They never picture success or strength or problem solving.  This is why your anxiety is bad.  It is merely practice bleeding.  It does not make you stronger.  In fact, when we think anxiety helps us "be ready" or "prevent bad things", it actually just builds an emotional tidal wave that will be released if, God forbid, something bad ever did happen.

If soldiers or police or firefighters or em's were told to focus on their emotions during incidents, they would be paralysed, unable to move or thing.  You can ACT (mind/spirit) or you can REACT (emotions), but you can't do both.  You can't freak out and problem solve at the same time.

So no more practice bleeding.  No more picturing your worst nightmares.  No more magical thinking of "If I just am afraid of this, it won't happen".  If a horrible scenario  pops into your head, you either need to boot it or "exercise" it.  Picture yourself victorious.  Picture yourself strong and capable.  Work. The. Problem.

You are an Outlier.  You can do this.

Breaking Down The Break Down--Anxiety In The Thinking Mind

We feel that we need to address anxiety in the Outlier mind as it is the most prevalent issue we have seen in Outliers.  This will be the first in a series of articles giving you tools to help overcome (not just manage, but overcome) anxiety.

Let's start with why Outliers have anxiety (to include OCD and panic disorder as well as generalized anxiety disorder).

On one hand anxiety in an Outlier seems reasonable:  the mind can almost make imaginary worlds crystallize for others to touch is a powerful mind that can understand the dangers and fears of life. 

However, it is the "heart" (or rather the emotional part of the brain) not the mind, that we are dealing with.  The young child who is cognizant enough to understand the ravages of war when his playmates are trying to learn how to tie their shoes has the brain to understand war, but not the emotional maturity to deal with what he knows.  The genius who understands that touching a lightpost does not prevent car accidents does not have the emotional wherewithal to follow his logic, not his fear.

At some point a person latches onto a fear--maybe they ran into a big dog that scared them.  Because the brain, especially the primal brain, wants to generalize, the fear grew from that dog to all big dogs to all dogs.  The logical part of the brain knows it was one dog and one time.  The primal part wants to avoid those bad feelings and therefore decides that all dogs are evil.  We have to learn not to let our primal brain be in charge of our lives.

The emotional center of the brain is primal and strong.  But is controllable and the Outlier can use his or her powerful mind to control the primal part of their brain.  We can control the emotions, not subduing them but directing them appropriately, using our minds.

Meet Our Team

Hey, I thought this would be a good time to introduce our team and share their interests and Outlier abilities.

JPL--INFJ, master craftsman, Outlier.  Current focus on coppersmithing, blacksmithing.  Plays with antigrav ideas in spare time.  Our tech guy.

SRS--ENFJ, apprentice craftsman, Outlier.  Current focus on building computers and novel writing.  Our other tech guy.

AC--INTP, wordsmith, archer, profoundly Outlier.  Current focus on faith, philosophy, reason.  Plays xbox in spare time.  Our scribe.

The Col--INFJ, wordsmith, art, exceptionally Outlier.  Current focus on Intelligence Analysis and novel writing.  Our societal commentator.

Our project is not just the four of us, but also includes others who contribute in various ways to our project.  We seek out others-- Outliers and the neurotypical and those who are challenged--as each person, no matter what their abilities, truly has something to offer for the good of all.

Brains On Fire: fMRI Reveals Much About Outlier Brain Activity

An incredibly interesting article regarding fMRI imaging of Outlier brains.  It also explains the difficulties that can arise due to the massive amounts of hypersensitivity (neurological, not necessarily emotional) of the brain.  A must read.

Brains On Fire

Our Wibbly Wobbly Timey Wimey Argument

We had an incident over the holidays.  I was taking our daughter to an appointment and called home when we were fixing to leave.  My sweetie told me that he had finished a run for my chickens and he and my father and son had moved them.

Then he mentioned the blood.  Lots of blood.

Now, this is where things get interesting.  Not only was I mom/wife/daughter to someone who might be injured, but I am also the house medic and my background was emergency management.  I needed details.  Now.  But the more I asked, the longer he seemed to take, laughing and pausing.  I was furious and desperate.  Was my son bleeding?  Did the rooster catch him in the face or in the eye?  Was my father injured?  Was it a puncture wound that would require close watch for infection and perhaps a tetanus shot?  How much blood?  Were stitches required?  Was he needing instruction or information on how to properly clean the wound?

Finally, after what seemed like several minutes of foolishness, I demanded that he stop playing around and just tell me who got hurt right now.  He got frustrated and said that he was trying and I was not letting him speak.  I got angry in return and said he had plenty of time to speak and was messing with me.

After a quick "No one is hurt, the rooster just nicked his comb on the fence and is fine." we hung up.  I was still angry and upset at my husband's dawdling, feeling sure he was just being a jerk.  It was "obvious" that he was just covering his patoot claiming that I was not letting him speak, and I was angry at him for trying to put this on me.  I drove home in a very dark mood.

Something wasn't right, though.  My husband is never cruel or taunting.  He is never cavalier with injury or my feelings.  He can be a toad at times to play, but not to this extent.  I analysed the events and still found the same, disturbing, conclusion that he was deliberately being obtuse, but I also knew it was a false conclusion.

I prayed.  The Holy Spirit showed me that we were both right in our perceptions:  he really was taking a long time in my eyes, and I really was not letting him speak.

I think fast.  I think really fast.  I finish other people's sandwiches sentences, and in fact sometimes finish the entire conversation for the other person. I often zone out because I know what people are going to say, or they are taking entirely too long to say it. (Do not even get me started in how long it takes for someone to press "play" on the remote.)

I rarely make decisions fast if I have the luxury of time to ponder (as an INTP, I want to mull and consider every possible facet and only utilize a perfect decision), But I do think quickly and can make decisions quickly when the situation demands it.  When someone is injured, I think even faster--much more so than even my very intelligent husband.

At the thought that someone could need medical help, my brain kicked into hyperdrive and stretched out microseconds to minutes and minutes to hours.  Truly my perception was correct--he SEEMED to be taking a long time to speak.  Couple that with my "mama bear" protective instinct, and he did not stand a chance.

But his perception was correct too.  Still in normal time, he was not getting a word in edgewise with my impatient questioning.

It was an eye opening experience for both of us.  Sometimes I have wondered if being a genius actually has any true difference with others besides making me seem off beat and odd, with the occasional "great idea" thrown in.  This incident, however, showed that there is a great deal of difference in pace of thought.

Interestingly, the Lord also showed my husband the same thing as he wondered why a normal conversation skidded off the track so quickly.  Thankfully, he is a good-natured man and was more bemused at the revelation than wounded in ego.  He is a very intelligent man and an Outlier in talent and ability, but I edge him out on IQ.

If you are a genius, your mind works differently.  It might not work as quickly depending on how your mental engine runs, but it definitely works differently and those differences are not imagination.  They are palpable.  They are obvious at times.   This means that you and I have to be wise and aware--remember, our intelligence does not make us better people any more than being able to run fast makes a runner a better person than someone who can sing but can't run.

If you find yourself bewildered by interaction with even the bright humans around you, understand that they might be completely accurate in their assessment.....and you might be as well.  Be patient, be thoughtful, be slow to become angry, and work to understand others and your interaction with them.  That is our responsibility as we have the ability to do so.

What Is It Like To Be An Outler (Genius)?

First of all, a review of how we here at The Capable Genius define like terms.  This is not particularly scientific but rather gleaned from our observations and, frankly, our opinions.

Talent--an exceptional ability (for example, the ability to run fast, to play the piano excellently, write poetry with technical skill and beauty, etc).  One does not have to be a genius to be talented.  They SHOW genius, but it is within the band of their talent.

Bright--extra intellectual ability (straight A's, good student, may be in gifted programs due to teacher recommendation but IQ tests would show "bright" not "gifted")

Genius--exceptional intellectual ability.  They may or may not be good students, but their ability to think is profound.  Their entire nervous system is more attune to stimuli than the norm.  This contributes to "overexcitabilities".  It also accounts for the ability to synthesize information and create new from it.

Outliers--aka genius, "gifted".  We find this term the most accurate description of high IQ people as it a)reflects a position on a bell curve, is not loaded sentiment of  inherent worth or favor (as the term "gifted" tends to be) b)encompasses the entirety of the nervous system experiences and activity instead of merely focusing on intellect (which "genius" tends to do).  We do, though, use "genius" and "Outlier" interchangeably on The Capable Genius.


So what is it like to be an Outlier?  How does the experience differ from the norm?  It depends on the Outlier.  Each experience is incredibly different depending on the parts of the brain that are more active.  This is part of the struggle of being an Outlier--not only are you different from the norm, but you are also different from other Outliers.  However, like athletes of different sports, Outliers can find some common ground:

-Intensity.  This is probably the hallmark of the genius.  Whatever sense or experience stimulates the brain, stimulates it to a greater degree in the Outlier.  This can cause problems with overexcitabilities (essentially the incredibly intense excitation of the neurons) in which the genius seems to either overreact, shun, or crave more whatever stimulus has excited the brain.

-Atypical sensations, emotions, understandings.  Imagine being the only person who can see in a world filled with the blind.  On one hand, it is incredibly beautiful to see sunsets and machines.  On the other hand, trying to explain what you see is nigh unto impossible. It can be isolating, but also provides the food that our brains need to make new discoveries and connections.

-A rich, valid inner world.  The world inside the head of a genius is just as vast as the world outside.  Imagine being able to go anywhere in the universe with a thought.  What would you see, experience, explore?  Now imagine being able to have a fully functional “universe” between your ears.  Libraries and laboratories and songs and poems and inventions all dancing around the inside of your head.  This is most likely where the “absent-minded professor” meme comes from.  The truth is that that professor is not absent minded, he is absent bodied—he is living quite well in his inner universe, but the problems might arise in his outer universe with the people and situations who require his attention.

I would like to offer this:  while it might be tempting to call the outer universe the “real world”, it is no more or less real than the inner world of the genius mind.  The songs that we sing in the outer world started in an inner world.  The paintings, medicine, cars, gardens, books, all started in the rich inner world of a mind.  The difference between the inner universe and the outer universe is pretty much one of location.

*This brings up an extremely important note that plays into existential depression and other experiences of the genius:  great angst can arise in the genius when sliding between the inner and outer universe.  What seems perfectly reasonable in terms of “what should” happen (for example, if the genius has a strict moral code that sees what people should do to be happy or to help others), is often not observed in the outer world.  A genius child knows that people should be nice to animals.  In his inner universe, that is an accepted fact, like gravity.  However, in the outer universe, many people abuse animals on purpose, and it is much like suddenly having gravity reverse or being thrust from one country to another where the mores and traditions and experiences have all changed.  

As one might imagine, this can cause incredible frustration, turmoil, and anxiety.  To know what people can do to reduce suffering, to know how the world should be, and to see people choosing intentionally not to live how the world should be, can be extraordinarily draining.  We will cover this more when we address existential depression, but we wanted to bring this to your attention now as a further explanation of how the conflict between two real worlds can cause troubles.

Now, the inner universe has fewer constraints than the outer universe does.  Gravity, time, uninvented words, new images and colors, all can be played with and explored.  However, the imagination, the second part of genius, can go awry into maladaptive thoughts, feelings, and experiences.  Anxiety, typical depression, mischief, superiority complexes, all can be fully developed in an inner universe that is just as rich and real as the outer one.  

Think about the movie the Matrix.  While the body was reclined in a chair, the mind was so thoroughly immersed in the inner world of the computer, that if the person “died” in the Matrix, the body, which was far removed from any danger, died as well.  The mind was powerful enough to create a new reality for the person.

When this involves creations of books, art, science, etc, then this is a wonderful bonus not just to the genius, but to those who will reap the benefit of the creations of his inner world.  

However, when the emotions are uncontrolled, like an unmanned fire hose, they will pull the genius into whatever sort of madness the emotional state (which stirs the imagination, feeding off of its "what if") is indulging in.  This is when neuroses begin to show—again the inner universe of the genius often spills out into the outer universe.  Obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, mood dysregulation, chicanery, etc will fill up the inner, and the outer, world of the genius.

-Fluidity, complexity, and speed of thought.  Because an Outlier brain goes so fast, it can seem a little random or unhinged to those listening.  The Outlier might tend to finish other people's sandwiches sentences because the conversation is being played more quickly in the mind of the Outlier.  Situations often have layers or depths that the Outlier sees which the neurotypical does not--things begin to take on symbolic or multiple meanings and/or the Outlier can see further down the road.  For example, the Outlier might be able to perceive that action "a" which leads to result "b" will eventually lead to consequence "m".

-Asynchrony.  The young Outlier probably developed oddly, for example, having the ability to follow and contribute to a conversation about physics, but throwing a tantrum when the crust was not cut off the bread.  While asychrony eventually evens out for the most part, it can be a very...interesting, and often bewildering, experience to raise a Capable Genius.

-Polymath Abilities. The Outlier almost always has more than one extremely high capability, for example, the ability to dance and be an engineer.  Think of DaVinci, who was a scientist as well as an artist and inventor.  If there is only one high ability, that might be considered talent more than genius. 

-Difficulty relating.  This depends on how far the Outlier is from the apex of the bell curve.  There is a sweet spot, an "Optimal Intelligence" in which the brain is just more adept enough to allow the Outlier to shine among people while also being able to relate to the neurotypical and be relatable to them.  Once you are past this, though, even speech patterns can seem odd to the neurotypical.  We often can get an inkling (though it is not perfect) of the intellectual ability of someone by the way they move and speak or the facial expressions they use.

-Existential Angst.  It can be overwhelming for an Outlier to know they can do much but have no idea what to do.  Add in emotional overexcitabilities which urge the Outlier to "go fix the world!", the fact that one might have the ability to be an excellent doctor and an excellent lawyer, but not both at the same time ("Which one of my natural abilities do I ignore?  Is that the right decision?  What if I was really meant to be a doctor but I chose lawyer?"), and the fact that very few people understand what it is like to be you and therefore cannot adequately give counsel, and there often occurs bouts of existential angst or depression (not to be confused with "regular" depression....this is more of a demoralization as opposed to "I have no idea why I am depressed").

-Metacognition.  "Thinking about Thinking".  A semi-constant systems check of how we are thinking, what we are thinking about, if our thinking is sound, what might distract us from our thinking (which can be ironic as the mere thinking about distractions can be a huge distraction).  Metacognition is one of the most useful skill of an Outlier.


These are just a few traits to consider, there are many more.  Notice we did not include "early reading" (as that is not actually proven to mean anything at all), nor voracious reader (lots of people like to read lots of books), and other sort of "identifiers".  Those are more.....effects than causes.  Early reading can happen because a child is an Outlier, or can occur in a bright child with an attentive parent, or may be due a talent for language vs having a high IQ.  We know of one Capable Genius who learned how to turn off her mobile at 10 weeks, but did not read until she was 8.

We also would like to point out that none of these by themselves are "differentials".  A person may have trouble relating because they are an Outlier OR because they are just a narcissist.  A person might be experiencing existential angst because they just turned 45 (existential angst in Outliers often starts much earlier...sometimes even in 4 year olds).  If you suspect you or someone else is an Outlier, a full evaluation (not just an IQ test) given by a psychologist who specializes in "gifted" people is a must.  Let us emphasize:  it must be a FULL evaluation, not just an IQ test and it must be with a specialist, not just any psychologist, just like if you had a torn ACL, you want to go to a sports medicine doc, not just a family practitioner.  Yes, both can run the same tests, but the sports med guy knows a lot more than the fam prac.

This should give you a glimpse into the mind of the Outlier.  Feel free to suggest points we might have missed, this is hardly an exhaustive list.