The Genius Myth
Michael Meade on following your soul's authentic inborn purpose
In his 2016 book The Genius Myth, Michael Meade revives the old idea that each of us is born with a unique calling and purpose to live out in our lifetime. Following that call is the fulfillment of our dharma and brings greater depth and meaning to our life.
Soria Moria by Theodor Kittelsen
Answering the Call
“In times of change, just as in periods of personal crisis, there can be intensification and an acceleration of calling. Whether it comes as a daunting challenge or a crushing blunder, a big dream or a cutting loss, each major life event has within it an opportunity to awaken to the call of the deeper self and the resident genius of the soul.
What calls us calls for the giving of the inherent gifts and natural talents we brought to life to begin with. What calls to us calls to the dream set within our soul before we were born. Because each soul is unique, calling comes differently to each person. There is no pattern into which we must fit, because it is the unique pattern at the core of each soul that is the aim of the calling. Because what calls to us is timeless, the calling can come at any time. At each turn in the road our life’s work awaits us; thus, our calling keeps calling no matter our age, position, or condition in life.
In answering the call we must depart from the common maps and follow where spirit would have us go; for the aim of spirit in each life involves something uncommon and exceptional. Answering the call opens pathways of genius and imagination that can lead to finding one’s “dharma” or natural way of being in life and serving in the world. We are each called to become more fully ourselves and our transformation liberates our spirit, but it also serves something beyond ourselves. In transforming each of us, genius also transforms the world.”
Vision of the Holy Grail (1890) by William Morris
The Original Resident Spirit of the Soul
“Genius points to something deeply ingrained, markedly original, and ultimately transcendent in human nature. Although widely accepted in traditional cultures, the idea that genius is an original spirit residing in each soul causes problems in modern societies based upon objectivity, rationality, and scientific methods. Modern people tend to talk about things that are useful to them without realizing that the most useful thing in the world is to know who you are at the core of your life and what you are intended to serve in this world. The call to awakening that has been the inherited opportunity of each soul born becomes harder and harder to hear because of all the distractions and misinformation and blatant superficiality of life.”
“As the source of uniqueness and spark of individual life, genius is an indelible, if often overlooked, element of the human soul. Whether it is called a guardian angel or an inner muse, a divine twin or the genius within us, this original resident spirit of the soul gives each person inner purpose and a unique way of perceiving life. The genius of a person refers to a distinct and distinguishing complex of inner gifts, innate talents and native potentials. It is also a unique style or way of being that characterizes each person from within. Genius is the inner spark and spirit that animates each soul, making each person born unique and never to be repeated again. Genius also makes us purposeful and meaningful from within.”
The Inspiration of Saint Matthew by Caravaggio
The Hallmark of Genius
“The myth of the modern world is that this world has no meaning, that it has no center and that we, who find ourselves in the midst of a random universe, are simply accidental beings, both empty of a personal center and lacking in any essential purpose in life. The genius myth offers the sense that each soul enters this world gifted in certain ways and is distinctly shaped from within. In the same way that each infant arrives with a unique set of fingerprints as well as precise brain printing, each soul bears an inner imprint and unique psychic pattern.
Human nature includes the hallmark of genius and a stamp of uniqueness provided by great nature. Nature produces life on a massive scale, yet each person born remains singular, never to be repeated. Just as there is no such thing as an average rainfall or an average tree, there is no such thing as an average person. We each stand on the common ground of life with our own way of being present and our own once in a lifetime chance at becoming the person we are intended to be.
Genius stamps each soul as rare and valuable in some way that can both satisfy the individual and serve the world. When seen as an archetypal presence in the soul, human genius marks each person—regardless of age, gender orientation, ethnicity, or social status—as being essentially unique and inherently valuable. More than raw talent or potential ability, genius gives a person their unique way of being in and contributing to the world.”
— From The Genius Myth by Michael Meade