Note 6: Inspiration: it's what keeps us going ...... that and washing the dishes

The word inspiration has loosely come to mean what it is that gets one started on a creative endeavor – the spark that gets one up and out of the easy chair and into the studio, laboratory, study or shop. This idea of inspiration is technically incorrect.

Another misconception is the idea of dramatic inspiration that sends the creative person into a state of whirlwind and frenzy. This is a romantic notion that has even, indeed, been perpetuated as truth by some philosophers, psychoanalysts and even some creative people themselves. We can see that this is really not the truth because if studied closely these people are all working and brooding over their subject matter most all of the time. Their minds are open to searching for answers even at times when they are not actively aware of it. Their minds become open, fertile and receptive to generate new ideas, or solutions. So the lightening bolt of inspiration that comes from “out there” that is delivered all at one time and interpreted automatically is really a fallacy because it comes from within.

There have been creators that perpetuated this myth. For instance William Blake said that one of his poems came to him completely in a dream. However, dreams come from within – not from “without”, or “out there”. It is common knowledge to those who have studied dreams that the mind continues to work while one is asleep and that dreams are a result of this state of thinking. There have even been studies that show we can train our minds to think lucidly while asleep. Blake didn’t “receive” the poem from “out there” in a dream – he thought it up from within. Another example is Samuel Coleridge who insisted he received the inspiration for his poem “Kubla Khan” because he was in a drugged state. I assert that any ability he had to conceive the poem came from his mind’s ability to work in spite of his drugged state, not because of it. Also, it was his ability to think in spite of the drugs that allowed him to recall the poem and interpret it so that it made sense and had a desirable style. Thus, his “inspiration” came from within – not without.

Perhaps both of these poets worked from their subconscious somewhat, but the subconscious is still from within and there are better and safer ways to get to one’s subconscious than drugs and alcohol. Personally I find that I am often inclined to produce creative thinking when I am washing dishes. Yes, it that mundane and mindless task repeated over and over that allows me the time and freedom to open my mind to creative thought. I don't set out to do it and I often don't realize I am doing it until it is over. I don't believe it is the soap bubbles that generate these ideas or some genie of the sink - it comes from within. Sometimes it happens while I am driving and that can be scarey when you think about it. How many times have I left things at work because I was thinking about a creative problem while gathering up my articles to take home? I don't want to count them. Perhaps this is where the term "absent minded professor" derives.

These inspirational myths are more than wrong; they are dangerous. Many students and others seeking inspiration and increased creative ability have turned to drugs and alcohol in their process. For example we can take the case of Jackson Pollock, the artist and infamous alcoholic. His best work was done while he was in a period of sobriety. He did create some art while he was intoxicated, but if any of it can be considered successful it is in spite of the fact that he was drunk – not because of it. Jackson Pollock, also known as Jack the Dripper, achieved world wide acclaim and became America’s first internationally known artist. Yet, it was when he started drinking again that his career and personal life crashed and so did he in a fatal car wreck.

Inspiration is so much more than a beginning spark, or automatic interpretation. It is what drives one to create and to continue at it until the creation is felt as finished, or the problem is solved, or understood. It is indeed a dramatic experience from within, but it is not the dramatic lightening bolt sent from out there in the atmosphere that feeds the whole idea into the mind at once. Inspiration means that the idea which is conceived, or the problem, ways heavily enough upon one’s mind to propel the creator to keep working. It is a drive to action that sustains action. In cases where the inspiration is strong it can result in a frenzy of work. This frenzy can sometimes mimic manic disorder in appearance, but it is always totally rational in actuality. Inspiration can result in a sense of relief when processed to the point of a completed thought – also known as the “Aha!” moment. The “Aha!” moment does not always come during the process of the work. It may come while one is at work, or it may come at the end or completion of the piece - or it may come months or years later - - or not at all .

I suppose there are many times that creators may never feel that sense of “Aha!”. I suggest that in a case such as this the creator might still come to acceptance in terms of a project’s completeness. The creator’s peers may even applaud the finished work, but the creator may never feel completely finished without the “Aha!” moment. I can attest to this experience with a painting of my own. My professors, my peers and the public all liked it a great deal. I was pleased with it, but I lacked a feeling of completeness about the piece. It was about five years later when I was in an artistic and analyzing frame of mind that I studied the piece once again. I came to realize that all the artistic elements that I had produced rather subjectively (even some that I had not previously recognized) fell right into place during artistic analysis. Then I understood why it was so successful - Aha! Sometimes we become too close to our own creations and we need to achieve some distance from them before we can be completely objective about the situation. Once again, my friends, it all boils down to hard work. I wish you inspiration with your endeavors.


Note:
When I refer to “the creator” I mean the creative person who is working on a project. This is of course not to be confused with The Great Creator, God, Jehovah, Yaway, The Alpha and Omega, The Great I Am, The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth – the one for whom I tremble in awe and devotion and reverence. One of the things that intrigues me about creativity is this creative link we share with Him (Her?) that can be thought of as one of the attributes we share “in his likeness”.