Penguin Author Elizabeth Gilbert discusses the double-edged sword of genius at TED Conference
From Wired.com:
"LONG BEACH, California -- Author Elizabeth Gilbert, famous for her bestseller Eat, Pray, Love, suggested Thursday that we kill geniuses by demanding super-human powers from them.
The problem, she says, lies in how we attribute the qualities of geniusness.
Instead of seeing the individual as a genius, we should view the brilliance as a gift from an unknowable outside source -- some might call it a muse, others a fairy or god force -- that visits us on occasion to participate in an act of creation, and then leaves to help someone else. Gilbert was referring primarily to those in the arts, but her talk applied to anyone who creates something sublime, whether it's a painting in the Sistine Chapel or a quantum equation."
Read the whole story here
Click to read more about Eat, Pray, Love (or watch the book trailer here).
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