Imagine the conditions for the first amino acids to form;
The tidal pool,..
with just the right elements and chemicals present,
just the right elements and chemicals not present,
and just the right temperature and mixing.
If lightning strikes it directly everything is lost.
If lightning strikes too far away nothing happens.
But, if lightning strikes at just the right distance,
its influence will work magic.
Each amino acid has a unique recipe 
and a proper distance for the lightning to strike,
for the bonds to be secure.

Imagine, now, an individual pondering a grand concept.
The mind is their tidal pool; 
elements are ideas and chemicals are experiences;
Just the right ones must be present, 
and just the right ones must be absent.
The academic community is the lightning.
(Or any standardized institutions.)
To be immersed within it is to lose everything.
Too far away from it and nothing happens.
A person must be in just the right environment,
with just the right thoughts bouncing around their mind,
for the image to coalesce clearly enough. 

The conditions are always completely different 
for each great leap.