Genius, said Arthur Schopenhauer, the great philosopher, is the ‘completest’ objectivity; a decided predominance of knowledge over will. It holds up to us the magic glass of all that is essential in the clearest light. So much so, what is accidental, or foreign, is automatically left out.
Genius, added Schopenhauer, is not merely individual character and feature. It’s some universal quality, a permanent reality. It unveils the individual as a symbol: a means. The expression of genius is significant: of a faculty that is considerably developed. This is not all. As another great philosopher, G W Friedrich Hegel, expounded, a genius merely places another stone on the pile, as others have done: somehow his has the good fortune to come last, and when he places his stone the arch stands supported, self-supported.
The Gothic Swordsman
Think of a simile, in cricket: Brian Lara. Who else? The elfin genius with the Merlin wrists, Lara was, in essence, the human barometer of West Indies cricket—the indicator of the calypso graph. When in full flow, he’s just magic, and you’d get the feeling that Caribbean batting was in safe hands. When he failed, you’d also know what to expect, a Calypso slide.
The Windies batting totally revolved around Lara, yes — cricket’s pint-sized monarch. He was, as a result, the most precious gemstone of his country’s cricket, one that was totally self-supportive—a Gothic swordsman with the classy touch.
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