Over coming the dysfunctional family system

[Jhanananda]

The dysfunctional family and the contemplative life
Overcoming the dysfunctional family system while leading a self-aware contemplative life.

I recently discovered that my father had made a career out of hijacking my career.  He was a genius, and so am I.  It did not seem to be rational to me to spend as much time, money and effort that my father must have done to derail my career.  So, I began to search for books about geniuses who suppress the genius in their children.

I found the introduction of this book very revealing about my childhood. Genius Denied: How to Stop Wasting Our Brightest Young Minds By Jan Davidson, Bob Davidson, Laura Vanderkam.  However, this book seems to deal more with how inadequate the US educational system is at educating genius children.

I was looking for scholarly articles on how geniuses suppress the genius in their own children.  I will have to keep looking.

[Jhanananda]

This evening I was pondering my dysfunctional family of origin, and recalled Henry Ford, and his dysfunctional relationship with his son, Edsel.  It seemed that Henry Ford had too much attachment to his company and could not allow his son to express his genius with the company.

Edsel Bryant Ford (November 6, 1893 – May 26, 1943) was the only son of Henry Ford and president of Ford Motor Company from 1919 to his death in 1943. His eldest son was Henry Ford II. He died of stomach cancer aged 49.

Edsel worked closely with his father, as sole heir to the business, but was keen to develop cars more exciting than the Model T (‘Tin Lizzie’), in line with his personal tastes. Even as President, he had trouble persuading the older man to allow any departure from this formula.

After becoming the president of Ford, Edsel long advocated the introduction of a more modern automobile to replace the Model T but was repeatedly overruled by his father. Dwindling market share finally made introduction of a new model inevitable: the Model A.

As president, Edsel Ford often disagreed with his father on major decisions and was occasionally humiliated in public by the older man.[9] The relationship between the father and son was always close but always fraught with unhealthy aspects.

[Jhanananda]

I just ran across a new book, Ungifted: Intelligence Redefined Is Out in Paperback! By Scott Barry Kaufman.  It might be worth reading

[Frederick]

Interesting. I think of Alexander the Great's father and his problems. I never thought of this being an issue. If I had a son, I'd want him to be as successful as possible.

[Jhanananda]

Interesting. I think of Alexander the Great's father and his problems. I never thought of this being an issue. If I had a son, I'd want him to be as successful as possible.

I have a son, and I only wish that he be successful at whatever he applies himself to. At the risk of being immodest,  I am proud of the accomplishments of both of my children.

Since the start of this thread I have found out through my family that my father had invented a long history of lies about me.  It appears that he was working on my character assassination from my childhood on.  I spent some time reflecting upon his reasons for such cruelty toward his own son.  It occurred to me that his motivation was he was jealous that I was a genius; whereas, he was not.

I have found that my father was a liar on a number of points.  At one time he claimed that he had a degree in electrical engineering from UCLA.  Later he claimed it was physics from UC Berkely.  After his death I found out he had no degree at all.  And, I am quite certain now he was not a member of MENSA.

It just so happens that he claimed that he was a member of MENSA, the organization of geniuses.  The family history is that his father was not just a genius, but a polymath; which I believe are true.  They both had the same name.  So, it appears that my father had used his father's membership in MENSA as his ticket into a career in radar.  Therefore, I suspect his motivation in assassinating my character with the family was to discredit so if I every exposed him as the liar that he was, then the family would not believe me.

[Frederick]

Interesting. I think of Alexander the Great's father and his problems. I never thought of this being an issue. If I had a son, I'd want him to be as successful as possible.

I have a son, and I only wish that he be successful at whatever he applies himself to. At the risk of being immodest,  I am proud of the accomplishments of both of my children.

Since the start of this thread I have found out through my family that my father had invented a long history of lies about me.  It appears that he was working on my character assassination from my childhood on.  I spent some time reflecting upon his reasons for such cruelty toward his own son.  It occurred to me that his motivation was he was jealous that I was a genius; whereas, he was not.

I have found that my father was a liar on a number of points.  At one time he claimed that he had a degree in electrical engineering from UCLA.  Later he claimed it was physics from UC Berkely.  After his death I found out he had no degree at all.  And, I am quite certain now he was not a member of MENSA.

It just so happens that he claimed that he was a member of MENSA, the organization of geniuses.  The family history is that his father was not just a genius, but a polymath; which I believe are true.  They both had the same name.  So, it appears that my father had used his father's membership in MENSA as his ticket into a career in radar.  Therefore, I suspect his motivation in assassinating my character with the family was to discredit so if I every exposed him as the liar that he was, then the family would not believe me.

Interesting book concept. I have been debating for people on whether intelligence is real, is it measurable, and do the measurements predict anything.

While I'm aware that intelligence means different things to different people, I'm fairly confident of all 3 above.

I would like to learn more on this topic.

[Jhanananda]

Interesting book concept. I have been debating for people on whether intelligence is real, is it measurable, and do the measurements predict anything.

While I'm aware that intelligence means different things to different people, I'm fairly confident of all 3 above.

I would like to learn more on this topic.

I think the measurement of intelligence is real, but the measurement is only as good, or as intelligent, as the person who wrote the test.  To me, intelligence is the natural ability to solve problems.  If you spend some time investigating IQ tests, then you will see it is mostly problem solving.