What is inspiration and why do we need it? Inspiration – the Duden defines it as “creative idea, thought, sudden realization, illuminating idea that leads someone further, especially in a mental activity, enlightenment, inspiration”. Wikipedia explains it as follows: “Inspiration comes from the Latin: inspiratio “inspiration”, breathing in spiritus “life, soul, spirit”. In general language, it is understood to mean, for example, an unexpected idea or a starting point for artistic creativity.
In terms of the history of the term, it is based on the idea that, on the one hand, the works of artists and, on the other hand, religious traditions are inspirations from the divine (not necessarily understood in personal terms) – an idea that can be found both in Near Eastern religions and in the pre-Socratic philosophers, and which then unfolds a broad history of influence”.
The ancient Greeks, most notably Hesiod and Democritus, felt inspired by the divine and understood themselves as recipients of divine inspiration. Democritus, for example, formulated, “Whatever a poet describes with enthusiasm and with divine breath or spirit , that is certainly beautiful.”
Cicero used the Latin term afflatus in both poetic and religious senses for “inspiration” or “divine inspiration,” as “wafting in, breathing in of something” by a divine wind. The Roman lawyer, politician, poet, and philosopher describes inspiration as an unexpected breeze that overtakes the poet-a powerful force to whose essence the poet is helplessly and unconsciously exposed. Cicero thus got to the heart of the matter.
But what does inspiration mean for us?
Without inspiration our life would be much poorer. Even when mankind was at its beginning, it was inspired by its environment, nature or even other people: it created tools, created works of art and invented stories.
How do you find inspiration?
Inspiration is the infusion of spirit and soul. Inspired life is lived life, independent, self-determined and completely liberated from everything. Inspired life is also doing what we really feel like doing, what we really want to do, and most importantly, what we are meant to do. In short, inspiration means taking the freedom to live life consciously.
People like to be inspired or inspire themselves. Often you just need to sit there and stare into the air – as some contemporaries like to pejoratively call it – that can be fantastically inspiring. Sitting on a bench enjoying the sun, thinking about nothing and then that one thought, that one image or whatever comes along that inspires us, whisks us away and sends us on a journey whose destination we don’t yet know.
Inspiration as an elixir of life
Inspiration is an elixir of life. Unfortunately, many people know little about inspiration. But what do we need inspiration for anyway? Can’t we do without it? Being creative is enough, isn’t it?
The soul needs inspiration
Doing something good for the soul, that’s how the ancient Romans or Greeks saw inspiration. Inspiration is food for the soul and that in turn is important to feed our emotions. Without it we would not survive, we would become highly depressed.
People need inspiration to find solutions, to come to new ideas, to go new ways. If they can’t have one thing then they inspire themselves to something else. A small, banal example: In some regions people have too little sun. And we know that sunlight is very good for us, it is even necessary for life. So man invented artificial sunlight to help people produce serotonin, the hormone of happiness, which we lose on dark days.
There are so many ways in which people can be inspired and the most diverse triggers for it. Inspiration has a lot to do with ideas, whereby “having ideas” is not identical with “being inspired”. Inspiration does not last, inspiration happens. When you are inspired, you can’t conserve this inspiration, you can’t put it in a drawer and get it out again when needed. Inspiration always happens in the NOW. Inspiration motivates, it makes people more productive, more alive.
Important for any kind of inspiration is the implementation. The stronger an inspiration is, the more one will want to implement it – and also be able to.
So let’s not let our dreams be crushed.
Let’s give our inspirations free rein and live the life we were meant to live. It often starts with a small inspiration, a small dream, which then suddenly becomes something big and wonderful. Let it happen.