Genius is best distinguished by the ability to get lost in a problem,
where I use the term "lost" to mean "unaware of self".

Genius will often risk all, abandoning all teachings at the risk of
having to redo them all oneself, dispensing with preconceived notions
as a petty failing that gets in the way of insight, stepping out into
a dark forest without any sign of light or rest or nourishment.

Genius also knows what it has to do or absorb in order to achieve a
goal. If it means learning or developing a new tool, so be it. If it
means mastering a whole suite of skills first before taking the first
new step, so be it.

Genius doesn't take much stock in personally directed comments,
because the delight is in the solution of the problem, and both the
problem nor the solution exist in their own right, neither a source of
pride nor of scorn. The truth is the truth.

Now, every human being who has been called a genius is also a human
being, and there are lots of moments when they lose the traits above
and exhibit something other than genius. But it is also possible for
every person to exhibit genius now and again.

You seem to think that genius is a form of self-elevation. Quite the
contrary. True genius is self-deprecation to the cause of solving a
problem.

PD