How to Become a Genius

Albert Einstein — Theoretical physicist (1879-1955)

When we observe life on Earth, it doesn’t take long to see the contrast between human beings and the rest of the natural world. Insects still live the way they did a thousand years ago. Animals, birds, aquatic life, and plants all follow the same patterns, live the same way, driven by nature's programmed instincts that haven’t changed for millennia. Their lives are predictable and fixed.

But human life is something else altogether. The range is so wide that, within the same species, we sometimes see people who live like animals, ruled by fear, compulsions, and unconscious instincts, sometimes living in a way that makes animals seem more sensible than a person, while others have risen to great heights of intelligence, clarity, and genius, to the extent that they have influenced and revolutionized the very way human beings live their lives.

Why is it that one person becomes a complete fool while another becomes a genius, a world-changer? We’re all born as the same species, with the same basic tools, brain, body, and biology, yet the outcomes are wildly different. The answer, as we often hear, lies in the mind. More specifically, in how the mind has evolved, or how we let our minds evolve.

Until a little less than a century ago, most of us believed that the mind was nothing more than a product of our past, our childhood, our genetics, and the environment we were brought up in. But today, this idea doesn’t fully hold up. Modern science, especially neuroscience and psychology, shows us something different: the human mind is plastic and fully flexible. It can be transformed and refined, radically and deeply, even well into adulthood, if we strive with active self-awareness and purpose.

Refining the mind is a process. It is an upward movement, from a gross, reactive, unconscious state of being to a more subtle, refined, and conscious one. The gross mind is not evil; it is simply primitive. It is a mind that operates through habit, instinct, compulsion, and a lack of self-awareness.

Unfortunately, many people prefer to remain here. It is easier. It feels safer. But it is also the reason why stupidity and unconscious behavior are far more common than intelligence. In truth, the gross mind is not a mistake; it is a starting point. It served its purpose when survival was our only concern. But something within us human beings asks for more. We don’t want to just survive. There is a force in us that longs to explore, to know, to experience, to grow, to expand, to touch something deeper. This longing comes from an inherent, existential force that urges human beings to evolve from a gross state of mind to a more refined one. Yet most people have either been repressed by society or not reminded of this force. And so, the gross mind continues, finding expression through greed and lust, which over time distort into perversions.

The true purpose of life is to be touched by this existential force within.

The force that calls us to evolve from a gross level of living to a more subtle and refined way of being.

A gross mind should not be judged or criticized. It should be met with openness, like manure in a garden: unpleasant, perhaps, but rich with the potential for growth. Just like you can’t grow a tree without soil, you can’t cultivate a refined mind without first passing through the gross state.

The evolution and refinement of the human mind cannot unfold through condemnation, suppression or the destruction of primitive tendencies. It can happen only through understanding, patience, and self-awareness.

The journey from a gross to a refined mind unfolds in stages. In the beginning, the gross mind is drawn to monotonous or mechanical work; it likes repetition and stability in life. It seeks safety and comfort. As the mind matures and refines further, it gets attracted to more dynamic forms of activities, mainly those that are physical in nature, like sports, dance, martial arts, or even sexual activities. This is not random; it’s the mind trying to express itself more fully. Then, as refinement continues, the mind develops and becomes more entrepreneurial in spirit; it develops a sense of organized action. It learns to balance different roles, has sharp memory, and attention. From there, as the mind refines further, as intelligence crystalizes, it develops taste in the world of great art, music, literature, and poetry. The sensitivity of life increases, and the imagination expands.

Further along, the refined mind starts developing a taste for abstract and deep knowledge like mathematics, philosophy, and higher sciences. It starts becoming intuitive, grasping patterns and connections that most people are not capable of. This is where genius can arise, not through magic, but through a long process of mental refinement and awareness. This is also when the person becomes capable of becoming a polymath.

And finally, the highest point of refinement is when the mind becomes meditative, not in the sense of sitting silently in a disciplinary way, but in the sense that it naturally becomes still, fully conscious, and open. It is not trapped by any thoughts or limitations anymore. The mind is no longer the separate entity it once imagined itself to be. It becomes limitless. It becomes a mirror to existence, a fluid intelligence. This is what the eastern sciences have called enlightenment.

Many find the process of mental refinement arduous, lengthy, and almost impossible, but that’s no reason not to strive for it. We cannot go against the existential force of nature, no matter what. Whenever we resist it, go against it or fail to move in harmony with it, we are bound to go through life with incompetence and mental suffering, if not today, then tomorrow.

Every time you engage in a higher form of activity, your mind refines. A higher activity has nothing to do with status or money; it has everything to do with the depth of attention it demands. The deeper the attention, the higher the form of the activity. And the higher the activity, the deeper the inner silence you experience afterwards.

It is through this silence that the mind is refined. It is in this silence, the mind begins to shed its attachments to limitations.

Attachment to the contents of the mind, like our thoughts, ideas, opinions, and beliefs, hinders mental refinement. Silence, on the other hand, expands the mind and further refines it.

True evolution lies in discipline, striving, and active self-awareness, not in accumulating more attachments, but in shedding one’s limitations.

If you consider yourself impatient with this process, if it feels too long for a single lifetime, this is where the science of meditation becomes all-important, since the true purpose of meditation has always been the refinement of the mind through this expansive silence. Not the dull, passive silence many stressed-out people mistake for peace, but a living, conscious stillness that transforms you. It is about going into that deep silence willingly and regularly. It’s not about escaping problems or calming yourself temporarily. It’s about refining the mind through direct observation and awareness. Meditation, at its core, is attention without effort. It shows you the structure of your mind and begins to loosen it.

If initially higher activity suits you more than direct meditation, that works too, since a refined mind naturally finds meditation easier.

A mind that is refined and fluid is intelligent by nature and becomes capable of solving any kind of problem it encounters in life, both in the outer world and the inner world.

Some may have accessed this silence momentarily through shortcut methods like psychedelics or other substances. These experiences can create a window into a higher experience, which brings glimpses of higher competence and creativity. But only a rare few, perhaps one in a million, possess the level of self-awareness needed to use such experiences as genuine support in the journey of higher mental refinement. For most, it remains just a fleeting high, not a path to lasting growth. Unfortunately, it becomes an escape, not a growth.

People must be reminded again and again that they carry within them this existential force, the drive to refine the mind, to go beyond the gross. If this force is repressed or forgotten, it doesn’t disappear. It simply finds perverted outlets to excessive greed, lust, addiction, and mental degeneration. A society where most people live with gross minds over time becomes noisy, confused, corrupt and destructive.

Refining the mind is an evolution of life. It requires self-awareness that nature has gifted us, because nature now calls on us to take responsibility for our own evolution; evolution is no longer automatic.

A refined mind sees more, feels more, and lives more fully. Not more things, but more life, more depth, and more truth.

Develop your mind