The Three Causes of Inspiration

The Three Causes of Inspiration:

• Spirit
• The Nature of a Thing
• Heritage

Inspiration, as fickle as some believe it is, can actually be ordered up like something on Amazon. This truth may shock you if you’ve bought into the farce about inspiration being elusive. For a long time now I’ve been trying to bust the inspiration hoax and show just how readily available inspiration truly is. People have been asking how. Give us an example, they say.

I’m assuming there are as many examples of how to get inspired as there are grains of sand on the world’s beaches, but I have ferreted out three of them which I personally admire and intend to use for years to come. Hopefully they will benefit you as well.

Before we get straight into the substance of my favorite three causes of inspiration, I’d like to point out one small caveat: Even with Amazon Prime membership you still end up waiting at least two days for your package to arrive. Being inspired is as easy as ordering something from Amazon, but it still takes a little time to “kick in”. So practice allowing for that as you test these theories.

1. Spirit

This inspiration comes directly to you. It is sometimes called an idea. It can come in many forms: through a dream, from a sudden thought in the shower, or an out and out vision.

Since this kind of inspiration is directly from Spirit, it is the purest and most sought-after form of inspiration. It therefore contains the most magic. Original creative ideas are authentic expressions of Spirit so they often become the cornerstone of creative movements.

But the key to using Spirit as a source for inspiration is simply to pay attention to it. Everybody has one—built-in, but few people lend their own spirit much credence. If you acknowledge your spirit and show the least bit of reverence for it, if you accept (at least to a small degree) your own shamanic powers, your spirit will reward you with inner knowing and intuition that you may not have noticed otherwise. So be kind and attentive to your spirit and you’ll experience more inspiration.

2. The Nature of a Thing

This inspiration is prevalent and often mistakenly regarded as the only source of inspiration. People will say that some thing inspired them.

Sometimes it is the texture of the thing, or the color, or even the smell. Sometimes it is the sound of a song or a wild animal or an industrial noise that inspires us. The noise they were inspired to use on the TV show LOST for the computer that had to be reset every 108 minutes was the beep a cash register makes when you scan an item.

This is far from the only source of inspiration, but it is one of the funnest sources to indulge in. Using your senses, you dwell upon the nature of a given item and if it appeals to you, there is often a degree of inspiration that comes along with it.

OPA is the acronym I’ve given Other People’s Artwork. OPA can be a powerful source of inspiration. You can be inspired by someone else’s creative endeavor and boldly act on that inspiration without copying it. Lord knows we should never condone plagiarism. But if you say to yourself, “I’d like to create something like that, only better.” then you are doing more than creating… you are becoming a positive cog in the wheel of evolution—you are advancing our civilization. And you are creating something brand new. So whatever you do, never shy away from being inspired by other art and other artists. Do your own thing based on the inspiration you feel from the nature of their art.

3. Heritage

This inspiration comes from your own personal heritage. But I do not mean your race or nationality, although those can also inspire. What I mean is the heritage that you have cultivated since you were born. Your own personal heritage that was formed by your preferences alone. These are all the things that have influenced you or warmed your heart in your lifetime.

I was raised in the mountains of Northern California and I was therefore exposed to all the lore of the 49’ers, the gold prospectors that traveled from back east in search of the Motherlode. So the old west was a big influence on me.

Natural surroundings gave me a great appreciation for the beauty of nature. After witnessing the clarity and purity of high-mountain streams, I fell in love with everything clear and transparent: water, bubbles, glass, crystals, etc. These are personal sources of enjoyment, adventure, and good feelings that I had growing up and they are a treasure trove of high-quality inspiration.

Heritage inspires through cultural significance. But again, I am not referring to the culture of the masses (although there is plenty of influence from those sources as well). I am referring to the culture of you, your own personal culture. In my family, whenever we went to the river for a swim or to go fishing or to pan for gold, we always roasted hot dogs on a stick. I remember the smell of the wood burning in the campfire and the anticipation it formed as we got closer to the camaraderie of sharing with and nourishing each other. That is an example of personal culture formed within my own lifetime.

The Hippie movement was alive and well in my teens and many of the their aspirations helped to form my own personal culture of sustainability and eco-friendly practices.

Heritage is a product, place, feeling, memory, etc., that evokes a nostalgic sense of tradition or history within your psyche. I grew up watching Indiana Jones movies and fell deeply in love with the adventure of that pseudo-archaeology. Treasure became a staple in my psyche because we searched for gold in the rivers of California and followed in the footsteps of those early gold miners.

You have a heritage that is uniquely your own. Through memory you can trace it. And it’s guaranteed, as you do, you will be inspired. God once asked me to make a list of everything I love (once I woke up from the dream I was having) and She told me to make sure it was only the stuff I love, not like. This is the best exercise to trace your heritage, because as you go back in your memory to find the things you love, you feel the feelings that all those things evoke. Those things and feelings are a part of who you are. Embrace your heritage and it will reward you with inspiration in spades.