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IQ and Genius: Bedfellows But Not The Same

Sep 07, 2017
by Caroline Miller
Jenna Birch, Professor Lloyd Reynolds, the difference between genius and I.Q., Thomas Edison
4 Comments

When I was a senior in college, I took a class in art history from a beloved professor, Lloyd Reynolds. On the day our final exams were returned, the professor called out my name and discovering I had skipped class, he read my essay to those present.   After he’d finished, he concluded that I had a genius for understanding art.

 When the report of what he’d said reached me, I don’t know which affected me more: that I’d been complimented by a respected teacher or that I’d been caught skipping class.

 Later the professor found me and while returning my exam, he repeated his earlier remark.  I must have stared at him, dumbfounded, because he leaned into my ear to ask,  “You understand the difference between having a genius and being a genius don’t you?”  As a matter of fact, I didn’t but being too embarrassed to ask, I nodded and turned on my heels, hoping my cloud of confusion would help me disappear. 

 To this day, I have no idea what the difference is between having a genius and being one — except to say, and without false humility, genius and I are not acquainted.   I know what a genius is, of course  At the college I attended, they were as plentiful as blades of grass on the campus lawn.  I’ve broken bread with geniuses and scratched my head over their philosophies.  The experience has taught me that I don’t not think as they do and that I dwell in the land of the common man.  

Nonetheless the question put to me by Professor Reynolds has haunted me since I first heard it.  So far, I’ve come no further in my understanding of the distinction than to guess that having a genius has more to do with intuition than with being smart.   It means arriving at solutions through insight rather than achieving it through reason. For the moment, at least, that is my guess.

 In “The Difference Between Being Really Smart…  And Being A Genius,” (Click) Jenna Birch suggests I might be on the right track.  She confirms a distinction exists, at least, between being a genius and having a high I.Q.  Genius, scientists suspect, may be the gift of genes rather than the product of an enriched environment, for example.  But the main thrust of the distinction is that the former is capable of game changing life views.

Thomas Edison said genius was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.   But maybe it only seemed that way.  Maybe inspiration plays a larger role than initially imagined.   First comes the  insight; then comes the hard, “working backwards” to establish an idea’s validity.  

Of course, I’m guessing.  No one knows what genius is. Studies along these lines haven’t proceeded far.  Still, should science manage to define genius in my lifetime, I’ll still be left with my conundrum: the finer distinction between having a genius and being one.

(Orignally published 5/6/15)

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein, Courtesy of i-clarra-m.blogspot.com

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4 Comments
  1. Christine Webb May 6, 2015 at 8:54 am Reply
    I think what your most astute and favored professor meant was that while you were so brilliantly able to express your insight and revelation in this particular area of interest and in a manner that undoubtedly took his breath away leaving him in awe of your understanding, he realized at the same time you weren't quite so fond of math.
    • Caroline Miller May 6, 2015 at 9:45 am Reply
      Ha, ha. On the math part your got that right.
  2. Judy Farrell May 6, 2015 at 11:07 am Reply
    Ah, Lloyd Reynolds....I was fortunate to be employed as nurse for the students on campus, it was a life changing experience. My suggestion would be that indeed, he was truly complimenting you as he expressed his feeling re your essay to the class. When he whispered into your ear, the rascal that he was, perhaps he was questioning your poor judgment for missing his class.
    • Caroline Miller May 6, 2015 at 1:56 pm Reply
      Yes, it was poor judgment on my part. I loved his class, but my thesis was due. Sharing this memory was a way of bringing this dear man to life again. Glad to know of the Reed connection we share, Judy.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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