What they found when they stole & dissected Einstein’s brain
Short answer — nothing.
A guy called Thomas Harvey stole Einstein’s brain when he died — Harvey did the autopsy and took the brain thinking he might find some answers.
They cut it up, dissected it, studied it… and found nothing.
Our culture is obsessed with deconstructing ‘high performers’ and geniuses. It’s a smart place to look, but you can get stuck.
I believe you can learn something from everyone, but everything from no one.
And as a result I believe in the Blue Unicorn Principle — that there is no consensus, no one way to do anything, even if the so-called high achievers do it that way.
Because if you were to perfectly retrace Einstein’s steps you would just manage to become a version of Einstein who was 100 years too late.
People once fought to buy Stephen King’s pen.
The pen does not write, it releases ink. The hand does not write, it moves the pen. What moves the hand? The brain. But what moves the brain?
The Tim Ferriss Show is a podcast that focuses on deconstructing high performers. It is what baptised me into this more entrepreneurial, creative mode. It was a huge influence, it set me on the path. But I rely on it less now.
Deconstructing is valuable. But if all the world did was deconstruct, who would be left to construct?
If all we acquire is knowledge, where will creativity come from?
If you dissect Einstein’s brain, you don’t see what he thought. In fact there is no Einstein without his rebellious nature, his ability to ignore what the masses were doing.
Imagination is more important than knowledge — Albert Einstein
The brain is not the mind. And taking this further, with that contribution which comes from the great Eckhart Tolle, the mind is not enough.
Real thinking, he says, is a whole-body activity.
