When kids do linear algebra or they rise to the level of GM in chess within the first two decades of their lives, such people are obviously geniuses. Their intelligence is undeniable.
But it’s like moral/spiritual geniuses aren’t recognized in the same way, if at all. How come their intuitive expertise isn’t recognized so easily ?
Actually, that’s a good point! I brought it up in another comment, but there are mathematical geniuses, piano geniuses, scientific genius, etc. But everybody know and can agree on what math is, what a piano is and how difficult it is to play well, what science is and the long road to mastery of a sliver of human knowledge that entails.
But not with morality.
Personally, I think you’ve suggested an answer that satisfies me: people have no idea wtf morality or spirituality are. Plato and Aristotle once may have been able to point to someone and say, “So and so is more virtuous than us!” or “The king of a foreign nation is full of vice and worth less than coward who turns to bravery.” But it’s like modern American society cannot conceive of such a concept as moral superiority.
I mean, some people can, and then often go on to be significantly worse than normal people. They are often the definition of immoral. But, as a general rule, saying that you’re morally superior to others barely makes any sense and, even if it did, would demand an impossible type of proof.
If I really think about it, someone who is considered to be an “expert” on morality would be either a philosopher or a religious leader and I doubt either of them would willing to call the other a “genius” since what is considered “morally right” can vary widely between cultures or even between individuals in the same culture as it’s a pretty personal thing.
“Spirituality” is such a nebulous term that it could mean almost literally anything and thus is not really quantifiable even in the broadest terms
Quite frankly if I met someone who claimed to be a “moral/spiritual genius” I would stay well away from them, because they’re either trying to sell you something or trick you into agreeing to something you wouldn’t otherwise agree to