Psychologist Abraham Maslow discovered a childlike quality (he called it a “second naivete”) in people who have met an unusually high degree of their potential. Ashleigh Montagu used the term neotany (from neonate, meaning newborn) to describe geniuses such as Mozart and Einstein. What we frown at as foolish in our friends, or ourselves, we’re likely to smile at as merely eccentric in a world-renowned genius, never stopping to think that the freedom to be foolish might well be one of the keys to the genius’s success or even to something as basic as learning to talk.
Thanks for posting this, fascinating read.
Somehow reminds me of nonconformity and how important it is to do the right thing in a world where almost nobody does. Take chivalry for example - the vast majority of men putting women on a pedestal. Or healthy eating, another pet peeve of mine.
The prevalence of ideal healthy diet score=4 or 5 was 0.1% and 0.3% among US adults aged 20 to 49 and ≥50 years respectively, in 2015-2016. And American teens got a big fat zero.
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161 ... 0000000659
Only 0.2%!!!
“A sane person to an insane society must appear insane.”
― Kurt Vonnegut