No great genius has ever existed without some touch of madness. – [Aristotle]

To further highlight how baseless the many claims in The Secret are I will look a little more closely at one in particular. The following was given attention to in The Deception and there indeed are innumerable references throughout the book. But since it was paraded on the cover, is particularly revealing about the blatant falsehood that is being professed.

This centuries-old Secret has been understood by some of the most prominent people in history: Plato, Galileo, Beethoven, Edison, Carnegie, Einstein—along with other inventors, theologians, scientists, and great thinkers.

In her book Byrne also claims that Socrates (Plato’s mentor) had also known The Secret.    Though it is apparent that despite possessing this supposed knowledge, was put to death for his views.

Or was he in fact persecuted because he indeed did not practice The Secret as he should have?

But then again if we follow this logic, we also have to conclude that Christ for example could not have followed it either hence his unfortunate fate.

It is also apparent that Galileo received much rebuke in his lifetime for standing by his views. This included spending his last years in house arrest under the orders of the Catholic Inquisition. It therefore is apparent that The Secret does not guarantee a comfortable livelihood as is the predominant emphasis, but also poverty, ridicule, rebuke and even death.

Beethoven’s fortunes were not that rosy either.  He for instance went deaf early in his life—an unthinkably cruel fate for one whose talent was based on sound. He also was known to have suffered from debilitating Dementia. Based on his life story it is clear that his was not a particularly happy one. Once again, if he indeed had known The Secret, he certainly did not use it to great effect in his personal life.

And if this logic is to be continued the same can then also be said of the life of other musical geniuses such as Mozart as well. Though what is important in this context is that they created great music despite their at times negative mindsets. Elvis for instance did not stop writing what many consider to be great music simply because he abused alcohol and valiums. This negative behaviour notably also not preventing him from continuing to earn enormous sums of money either.

With regard to Edison, it is well known that he had a learning disability which had him disallowed from school. Though what is apparent based on the life stories of some of the most prominent geniuses, is that most had some or other learning ‘disability’ or apparent “mental deficiency”. Retrospectively it appearing to have been the particular secret to their genius and eventual success, and not that they had acquired some magical formula.

However based on Edison’s life story as well as other entrepreneurial successes such as Andrew Carnegie, one must conclude that – besides their particular genius – that their success formula was based on good old fashioned hard work as well as an unwavering belief in what they had set out to achieve.

Edison’s success perhaps having been more a factor of genius than other successful entrepreneurs, though a factor he had in common with a few other business successes is that he was dyslexic—Richard Branson and Tony Factor being particular cases in point. Dyslexia in this case being the reason they had not furthered their formal studies and were forced to pursue commercial interests early in life. They also were forced to develop creative mental strategies to compensate for the inability to lean in the conventional way. This though is not a precondition for business success as the condition often is incredibly debilitating and could very well be the direct reason for the business failure of others. Donald Trump being the contradicting case in point of how a great education can also relate to a fabulously successful business career. Indeed this is so in the majority of generally unreported success stories as their success therefore is not as remarkable as when considerable obstacles needed to have been overcome.

Einstein also received much ridicule for his views for a great part of his life, his greatness only being acknowledged at a much later stage. In fact his preparedness not to retract his views despite the predominant ridicule — that he resigned himself to be a maverick scientist in the eyes of the mainstream scientific community — appears to have been the secret to his eventual success.

What is apparent about Einstein’s life is that he had been very forthcoming about his views about the nature of reality. It therefore is highly likely that he would have been forthcoming if he indeed knew of any secret that had aided his incontestable rise to the apex of his profession.

Though The Secret unashamedly claims he practiced this supposed mystic formula that had allowed him to perceive his great scientific discoveries. And of course by implication, he could not conceivably have done had he not consciously or unconsciously done so.

The last very important aspect to consider regarding Einstein is that – while some claim he was dyslexic – his genius may very well have been linked to him being a carrier of the Schizophrenia gene. He nevertheless was not schizophrenic. We know that he was a likely carrier because one of his sons had the full blown disease and that this had to be genetically passed down.

To help shed some light on the issue of mental disease and genius, a combined Harvard University and University of Toronto study links genius and madness to a condition they describe as Low Latent Inhibition (or LLI). LLI being an indicator of the level of environmental stimuli the brain filters out. Those with LLI filtering out far less information, in other words it allows in far more information into the psyche than an ordinary individual would. This can be likened to the opposite of Emperor’s New Clothes Syndrome, except that those with LLI are naturally predisposed not to limit the filtering of information.

This high volume of environmental information however literally has the potential to drive one insane. It is the thesis of the above study that a significant level of intelligence to cope with this bombardment of sensory information is the distinguishing factor between whether one will potentially become a genius or whether this sensory overload will drive one mentally insane.  

What it comes down to is, as much as we may aspire to become an Einstein, a Michelangelo, or a Mozart, that it takes a rare confluence of genetics, circumstance, character, endurance, stubbornness, realism, madness, non-conformity, arrogance, obsession, eccentricity, humility, aptitude, daring, restraint, and fate, that one indeed would realise such greatness. And furthermore, that those who may have only the mental genius for this without much of the others, are most likely to be found in insane asylums, or begging for their daily morsels on street corners, or drowning the despair over society’s rejection of their grand visions in a bottle.

The sober realisation this requires is this: that the far greater majority of us, are not called upon to significantly leap humanity forward.

But rather: for the far more important task of being the custodians of the enormous collective gains we have already made.

This is an all important responsibility, and without which we most certainly would not be likely to endure the harsh realities of life with, at al, and should therefore not in the slightest be diminished as being a very noble virtue. 

Again, since the claims about these great people remotely knowing a mystic secret of any sort that had supposedly been responsible for their phenomenal achievements, clearly is ludicrous, one is obliged to question the bona fides of those who fabricated them. The conclusion one inevitably must make is that they are deliberate and convenient falsehoods giving credence to a wholly preposterous worldview so blatant, it ought to insult any reasoning person’s intelligence. Yet in the final analysis, the absence of intelligence, and even a lack of education, was not the common denominator of those who fell for its lies.

© Newton Fortuin – 2007

From The Scourge of Our Time: The Demise of Critical Thinking in the Age of “The Secret”