A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste.
How do you go about telling someone that they have a beautiful mind? Its fairly commonplace nowadays to be able to compliment someone on looking good (especially where that definition of good co-incides with certain magazines). Its even possible to to let someone know that they posses a nice personality or admirable qualities such as kindness or generosity. However to find someones intellect their most distinctive feature seems odd.
I think perhaps it is easier when the products of an intellect are available for scrutiny, when someone writes, paints or does something else that puts a little bit of themselves on display for other people to judge. Since this is a relatively brave thing to do and as all these things require an element of craft as well as as a talent and aptitude they aren't always the best reflection of the soul that produced them.
In the case of most people you have to dig a little bit deeper to discover whats underneath the version of themselves that they want to display to the world and its not uncommon to discover that their isn't a great deal else to be found. This only makes the people where there is a deal more special.
What is it then that makes a mind beautiful? There are most probably as many answers to that
as their are people on the planet, but in the case of the one that has inspired this particular little essay its purely a way of thinking, and of looking at the world that is combined with a genuinely extraordinary intellect as well as a genuine, uncomplicated, uncynical passion for those things that they love and that they find fascinating and (I think most importantly of all) an almost unlimited potential.
This isn't an intellect in the way of a mathematical or a scientific genius in that it isn't an ability to solve a certain type of puzzle or think about the world in a way that hasn't been done before, although these have a quality all of their own. In this particular case it can be said to be more of a mind that can apply and adapt itself to the situations that it finds itself on a more connected and thoughtful level than most people seem able to reach.
This does have its disadvantages, as it makes for a more sensitive soul and can potentially leave them open to disappointment and upset when other don't live up to hopes and expectations - and having the imagination to explore and analyse outcomes can lead to some worrying thoughts, and by extension, situations.
On balance however (and by way of a conclusion for those of you that've got this far) the positives massively outweigh the negatives by an almost incalculable amount, and I would hope that deep down those people lucky enough to be in posses ion of this sort of mind realise this, and are grateful for it.
So whilst I've just taken 500 words to say what i probably should have been able to say in 50 its been a help to get these thoughts in to some sort of order by writing them down, and I no-one objects to my inflicting my rambling on them.
I think perhaps it is easier when the products of an intellect are available for scrutiny, when someone writes, paints or does something else that puts a little bit of themselves on display for other people to judge. Since this is a relatively brave thing to do and as all these things require an element of craft as well as as a talent and aptitude they aren't always the best reflection of the soul that produced them.
In the case of most people you have to dig a little bit deeper to discover whats underneath the version of themselves that they want to display to the world and its not uncommon to discover that their isn't a great deal else to be found. This only makes the people where there is a deal more special.
What is it then that makes a mind beautiful? There are most probably as many answers to that
as their are people on the planet, but in the case of the one that has inspired this particular little essay its purely a way of thinking, and of looking at the world that is combined with a genuinely extraordinary intellect as well as a genuine, uncomplicated, uncynical passion for those things that they love and that they find fascinating and (I think most importantly of all) an almost unlimited potential.
This isn't an intellect in the way of a mathematical or a scientific genius in that it isn't an ability to solve a certain type of puzzle or think about the world in a way that hasn't been done before, although these have a quality all of their own. In this particular case it can be said to be more of a mind that can apply and adapt itself to the situations that it finds itself on a more connected and thoughtful level than most people seem able to reach.
This does have its disadvantages, as it makes for a more sensitive soul and can potentially leave them open to disappointment and upset when other don't live up to hopes and expectations - and having the imagination to explore and analyse outcomes can lead to some worrying thoughts, and by extension, situations.
On balance however (and by way of a conclusion for those of you that've got this far) the positives massively outweigh the negatives by an almost incalculable amount, and I would hope that deep down those people lucky enough to be in posses ion of this sort of mind realise this, and are grateful for it.
So whilst I've just taken 500 words to say what i probably should have been able to say in 50 its been a help to get these thoughts in to some sort of order by writing them down, and I no-one objects to my inflicting my rambling on them.
posted by Dave Catley at 2:48 PM
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