HEROIC THEORY OF GENIUS

1. The HEROIC THEORY OF GENIUS considers genius as a hero with spiritual greatness, magical gift, courage and fearlessness of mind, demonic power and absolute, nothing and no one conditioned, free will.
The genius-hero embodies the boldness and fearlessness of Prometheus, the Faustian spirit of rebellion, struggle and domination over inert matter, the thirst for activity, the indomitable passion for self-affirmation and self-overcoming, bold breakthroughs into new worlds and dimensions.
The genius of the hero appears as a liberator, reformer and destroyer. He freely destroys immutable rules, stereotypes, standards, destroys the old, bravely opposes outdated traditions and norms. However, the hero of a genius does not destroy for the sake of destruction, he does what he must do, but what prevents him from simply sweeping away.
The semantic originating center, which determines the essence of this theory, is such a universal category, the ultimate basis and the first essence as freedom.
“Creativity,” wrote N. Berdyaev, “is the highest manifestation of freedom. Creativity is inseparable from freedom. Only free creates. Out of necessity, only evolution is born; creativity is born out of freedom ... Freedom is positive creative power, unsubstantiated and not conditioned, flowing from a bottomless source. Freedom is the power to create from nothing, the power of the spirit to create not from the natural world, but from itself. ” “In genius,” he wrote, “the whole nature of the human spirit, its thirst for another being, trembles. In genius lies immensity. The nature of genius is revolutionary and if talent is obedience, then genius is audacity. ”
The foundations of this understanding of genius were laid in the pre-romantic literary movement in Germany (70s 18th century) “Storm and Dash” (“Sturm und Drang”), whose rebellious and heroic orientation gave grounds to call the period of their work as “Geniezeit” - "The era of geniuses." Leading representatives of this movement I.G. Herder, I. V. Goethe, F. Schiller in their work sought to depict bright, strong passions, outstanding characters and heroic deeds, thereby
affirming the freedom of creative expression, the spirit of rebellious rebellion and the cult of "original genius" (IG Herder) or "violent and original genius" as self-sufficient, extraordinary, strong and bold creative individuality. Understanding of genius as an absolutely free creator, found further development in romanticism, which revealed and deepened the contents of the creator’s inner world, drawing attention to the "night" sides of the human soul, and the elements of the human ego, and also discovered new methods and mechanisms of self-expression and liberation dozhnikov the world.
Based on the basic tenets of the “Storm and onslaught” movement, as well as on the understanding of genius as a transcendental subject (I. Kant) and an absolute “I.” I.G. Fichte), the outstanding representatives of the Jena School of Romanticism, brothers Augustus and Friedrich Schlegel, Ludwig Tik and Novalis proclaimed the principle of unlimited freedom to be the ideological basis of the artist’s life and work. "Romantic poetry, writes Augustus Schlegel," expresses a secret to chaos. Romantics emphasized the powerful irrational nature of genius, the unconscious nature of his creative self-realization and the crucial importance of inspiration and intuitive revelations in his work.
The creative genius appears in Romanticism as the Artist-demiurge, the center of the universe who realizes himself mainly in artistic creation and creates the world by the power of his imagination.
Romantics affirmed the dignity of the human person, the absolute intrinsic value of its spiritual and creative life, emphasized its universality, the inexpressible wealth of the inner content and the sacredness of the depths of the human spirit, as well as the indomitable desire for self-affirmation of its original, original and original individuality.
This understanding of genius found expression in the images of romantic heroes who appear as an artist striving for boundless creative freedom, a lonely hero, a romantic rebel individualist (G. Byron), a gifted person who, overcoming all inert and obsolete and rejecting the condemnation of others, proudly follows his by (E. Delacroix) “Suffering,” writes E. Delacroix in his diary, forced him to call for help all his strength, all the myriad treasures of energy inherent in his soul. It was this instinct of resistance to any injustice that was first awakened by his dormant genius and was the source of his greatness and courage. ”
At the same time, the way of self-expression, the very existence of genius is creativity, which is a way of gaining absolute inner freedom and a method of overcoming dependence on the world of everyday life. Creativity, in the opinion of Novalis, is presented as an endless process of the game, which is valued in itself as a process of transcending oneself, self-transcendence. In addition, the irony plays an indispensable role in the process of human elevation. A person endowed with an ironic world perception, wrote F. Schlegel, appears as a highly free artist, arbitrarily creating both himself and the world around him. Irony creates a mood that “looks at all things from a height, endlessly rising above everything conditioned, including both its own art, and virtue, and genius.”
Romantic understanding of the genius was further developed in the "cult of the hero" by Thomas Carlyle, whose worldview was formed under the influence of Goethe , Fichte, Schelling, the Schlegel brothers and Novalis.
All the riches of the world, T.Carleyl considered, consist precisely in the original, great people whom he called heroes. At the same time, he saw in great people something wonderful and supernatural, and he understood the hero himself as the possessor of extraordinary talent and sent to the world by providence. "His life ... is a part of the life of the eternal heart of nature itself ...", his soul is open to the divine meaning of life and true reality, and he "is just to proclaim, as he can, this reality."
T. Carlyle believed that world history is history, the biography of great people, heroes, who in different eras appear as: hero - God (One), hero - prophet (Mohammed), hero - poet (Dante - Shakespeare), hero - preacher (Luther, Knox), hero-writer (Johnson, Rousseau, Burns), hero-chief (Cromwell, Napoleon). All things in the world are the embodiment of their thoughts and aspirations. At the same time, the last form of heroism, writes T. Carlyle, the hero in the form of the leader, is “in truth the greatest of the greats. He practically, in practice, embodies all the various forms of heroism: a shepherd, a teacher, in general, all kinds of earthly and spiritual virtues that only we can imagine in a person ... ". He writes about Cromwell: “So a strong and decisive person turned against himself all people adhering to lifeless formulas and empty logical calculations. He had the audacity to turn to the immediate fact, to reality itself and to ask: will it support it or not? ” “Honoring Heroes,” T. Carlyle concludes his work, “a great subject, the most serious and the most extensive, which I only know and which I designate with these words ...”.
Genius as a profound expression and unfolding of the idea of ​​freedom with particular force was asserted in all directions of existentialism. Following N. Berdyaev, J.P. Sartre and R. May considered that a person’s ability to create himself and the world is a consequence of his freedom, which is primarily manifested in the freedom of consciousness and the possibility of conscious choice. The greatness of man in the abandonment of slave inheritance, in the capacity for permanent rebellion against the absurd and imperfect world, against the meaninglessness of human existence. Genius is manifested in the courage to be yourself and create, to assume responsibility and implement meaningful choices. At the same time, freedom is realized only in a specific action and there is no other genius other than the one who expresses himself in works of art.
K. Jaspers, on the example of the pathographic analysis of the creativity of Strindberg, Van Gogh, Swedenborg and Hölderlin, offered his own, close to Romanticism and Nietzsche's concept, an understanding of genius as a sublime and lonely, proud creator, affirming in his self. If we take out all the pathological syndromes that are not related to the essence of these geniuses, we can distinguish the following definitions of K. Jaspers: “Strindberg’s own ideological substance is skepticism and game testing of everything ...”. Writing Van Gogh’s letters, which K. Jaspers considered to be a vivid expression his worldview, existence, highly ethical thought, “the expression of unconditional truthfulness, deep irrational faith, infinite love, noble humanity, is the expression of unshakable amor fati”.
Albert Camus argued that: "true creativity is always revolutionary in its own way ... Revolt in art continues and ends in true creativity ... All creativity by its very existence denies the world of the master and slave." Each rebel seeks to impose his own law on the world through style, although only a few geniuses succeed. At the same time, A. Camus adds: “A genius is a rebellion that has found its own measure. That is why, no matter what they say today, genius is incompatible with denial and complete hopelessness. ” At the same time, the genius “takes as his allies the beauty of the world or man, speaking against the forces of death and oblivion. That is why his rebellion becomes creative. ”
G. Marcel believed that a genius, constantly eludes himself, transcends himself, goes over limits in all possible ways. The freedom of the philosopher and the great artist is rooted in being, that is, outside of it, in a zone that is transcendental to every possible possession.
The demonic theory of genius represents genius as a rebel, a destroyer, a subverter of concepts, values, fundamentals and principles. Absolutization of the ideas of unconditioned freedom, self-contained activity, struggle and strength led to the transformation of the hero-genius into a rebel genius and a great destroyer. He has a self-sufficient passion for a fundamentally new, daring aspiration towards the unknown, a desire for permanent novelty.
“The romantic hero is also“ fatal ”because with the growth of his power and genius the power of evil grows in him, - wrote A. Camus. In this case, any force, any excessiveness is covered by the formula "It cannot be otherwise." “One of the characteristic features of Genius, says E. Gello, is extreme in everything. He is by nature violent and basically intolerable. ” M. Nordau "He does not speak and write, but acts, that is, he controls other people and the forces of nature ... He wants and does what he wants." N.V. Goncharenko wrote that in geniuses people were always attracted by “the courage of ideas and the fearlessness of the deeds of great minds, the overthrow of dogmas and seemingly unshakable traditions, public taboos and indisputable authorities”.
Awareness of the exclusivity of one’s “I” and experiencing it as a supreme value turns the hero into a proud and arrogant demon, possessing infinite insolence, absolute, hypertrophied subjectivity and unrestricted freedom. For him there are no boundaries and limits, he despises, destroys and easily breaks the rules, fearlessly plunges into the abyss of irrationality and freedom, from which he draws universal life energy.
The genius-destroyer courageously denies his own selfish, atomic, petty - me. L.N. Tolstoy wrote: "A person who renounces his personality is powerful because the personality hid God in him." The human “I” is ontological and fundamentally indestructible; a person renouncing him with inexorable inevitability inevitably meets him, but already new, transformed, qualitatively higher. The courage of self-negation, creative overcoming of one’s limitations is the risk of abandoning one’s actual, in order to find oneself higher, but one’s essential, unique, and even stronger, original and unique.
Kierkegaard, who dared to destroy Hegel’s “totalitarian” philosophical system, just as courageously refuses his ordinary human happiness. Considering that the most important battles should be given on the fields of the inner life, he chose for himself an “inner rebellion,” a renunciation of personal happiness. Before refusing his bride, he wrote: “To marry means to absolutize a woman who happened to meet, but since it is impossible, the fate of the Absolute who chooses is the despair of loneliness ... When choosing the Absolute, I choose despair, choosing despair, I choose the Absolute, because the Absolute is myself; I myself believe the beginning of the Absolute, i.e. I myself express the Absolute: in other words, choosing the Absolute, I choose myself. "
L. Shestov wrote: "Kierkegaard thought to live, but did not live to think."
Nietzsche used methodical negation, assiduously destroying everything that fell into the field of his reflection. "To build a new temple, the temple must be destroyed - that is the law." The essence of genius in the theory of F. Nietzsche is manifested in the absolute, unconditional freedom of the superman. Nietzsche overcomes everything petty and contemptible, destroys the life instincts of the average person, destroys the norms of morality, overestimates values ​​and at the limit of his purifying denial, calls for a change in the ultimate prerequisites that set the conditions for the existence of the values ​​themselves and determine the movement of the mind.
In conclusion, Nietzsche overcomes his own I, refusing here all that is ordinary and earthly. N. Berdyaev wrote about the work of Nietzsche “Thus spoke Zarathustra”: “The hatred of Zarathustra towards the last man who invented happiness is the sacred hatred of the humiliating lie of humanism. Zarathustra preaches creativity, not happiness, he calls to the ascent to the mountains, and not to the bliss on the plain. Humanism is a plain, humanism does not tolerate mountains. Nietzsche sensed, like no one else, and throughout the whole of history, the creative vocation of a man whom neither anthropology, patristic, nor humanistic anthropology was aware of. ”

L. Povel and J. Bergier argued that creative accomplishments were often accompanied by bright, strong demonic experiences. So Edison , Tesla, Armstrong, trying to penetrate into the deep laws of disobeying realities, reacted angrily, passionately, obeying demonic feelings. In their opinion, these feelings are the basis of new creative experiences that give access to "global consciousness" and open the way to achieving empowerment and the birth of a new person. So, in his time, I. V. Goethe also argued that "demonic ... manifests itself only in an absolutely positive active force," that is, in creativity, and "it is more typical of musicians."

And in the very science of creative genius also distinguishes the desire to go beyond the given and situational. E. Shure wrote about Pythagoras that his genius was freedom. “The act of the will, combined with the action of the mind, is only a mathematical point, but from this point the spiritual universe proceeds.” “All methodological prescriptions,” P. Feuerband wrote, “have their limits, and the only rule that is preserved is the rule“ everything is permissible ”.