an underrated and under-understood joy of life
Aesthetics, beauty and coherence.
An ABC of genius, if you’re looking for an overall theory of masterful works. The work of geniuses lie silently behind a combination of intricate conception and expert execution. We see their output – and we are wowed.
Different things hit differently for different people. Here’s a non-complete list of things I can’t appreciate the difference between good and genius:
- matcha (it’s all grass)
- paintings (i appreciate the effort that goes into it but it doesn’t stir my heart)
- cars (an axia and a ferrari are just cars to me)
I’m not dissing you, matcha/painting/car connoisseurs! I love your passion and I love hearing about it – but I might never truly get it.
that chef’s kiss feeling
Here are some things I think I’m a connoisseur of and a huge nerd about so that anyone offended by that last part can make fun of me too:
- beautiful, passing, intelligent football
- impactful rhetoric and storytelling – shortform or longform in the written form, theatre or videos
- facilitators and conversationalists who know exactly what they’re doing
There’s a reason why my second list sounds much better. It’s not bias. It’s because these are the things that I can see and feel genius in, whereas for the first list, I’ve never had my heart fill with joy at the sound of an engine.
One thing social media algorithms are great at[1] is how they bring you deeper into the things you show love for – and slowly, you develop something they call taste.
Contrary to popular belief, I don’t think taste is subjective. There is room at the top for different preferences on the greatest, but there is widespread consensus for what is bad. Pretending there isn’t, and that everything is good is simply denying genius.
I can never be Pep, but I can try to understand him
For some things, we are content with simply enjoying the outputs that genius has generated.
But for others, we want to understand a little bit about the person and the process. What lies behind the movie? How do you get to that level? What makes this thing so much better than a sub-par version of it and how can we describe it in words?
I will never manage a Champions League team, and probably will never manage even an amateur football team for that matter. But I love videos that give insight into the footballing philosophy, the man management, the training and the mind of Pep Guardiola, the greatest football manager of all time.
Because there is joy in uncovering genius…even if you are a total noob.
That’s why much of Literature taught in school was literary analysis, not writing literature. How do you know what’s Great, what’s just good and what’s terrible? Shakespeare is an all-time legend studied in every single literature syllabus for real, tangible reasons that you can articulate and discover through his work – it wasn’t just[2] that he had wonderful PR.
And if you have learnt just enough to see the greatness, or begin to see the great mind at work?
It’s like a glimpse of the divine. It’s wonderous. It’s joy.
the Greatest and His creation
I’m learning to add one more thing to my connoisseur list: appreciating nature.
From the tiniest of cells to solar systems, the creepie crawlies and fuzzy wuzzies in between, the skies that shift shades and majestic mountains, our own complex, beautiful human selves and societies…I’m trying to open my eyes and stay curious about nature.
Because there is Genius behind it – for me, there is no other better way to get a glimpse of God in this earth[3]. The Creator of taste, of genius and of all other creation.
That’s eureka. Not amazement at your own intelligence, but the joy of finally seeing what you have been trying to and could not before.
[1] so great. until they either give you taste in terrible, evil, oppressive things…or manipulate you to like what they’d much rather you like, which is making them endless money.
[2] if your definition of geniuses in the field are just those with great PR or the privilege of being widely accepted, you’re not a true connoisseur in my book.
[3] I’m thinking that’s one of the reasons why it’s said that to see God is the greatest gift in the hereafter for a Muslim – greater than all of the gardens of paradise and all you could wish for.