What is Inspiration?

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Will Edwards — No Comments ↓

We we started the Inspiration Newsletter, in 2005 as a way of providing useful information, interesting articles and free inspirational ebooks to our members. At the time, I felt we should create a separate identity for the newsletter, but since then we have more closely aligned the branding of our main site with the newsletter. You may have noticed that big word right there at the top of the page. That is because White Dove Books is fundamentally about inspiration and in this post, I would like to address the question: what is inspiration?

Let’s first look at the root meaning of the word, inspire. It literally means to breathe (spir) in, and the action of being inspired results in accessing creative thoughts and ideas that seem to come from outside the conscious mind. This might be from the subconscious or possibly, as some would suggest, from some external agency such as God. Indeed, one particular usage of the word inspiration specifically relates to the concept of divine revelation.

Often when we solve a problem, it can seem as if the solution has come from somewhere beyond ourselves, so it is quite natural to think of this external source as God. Indeed many people over the years have attributed sudden bursts of insight that have moved them forward in some field as originating from God, though the idea that such thoughts might arise from the unconscious (subconscious) mind is also compelling.

Salvador Dali once famously said, “my moustache is my inspiration” possibly inferring that he believed his inspiration came from within. But many other brilliant individuals have certainly suggested that they believed that inspiration somehow comes from outside. Tchaikovsky said that “inspiration is a guest that does not willingly visit the lazy,” a comment that reminds me of something Thomas Edison once said i.e. that “Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”

The process of receiving inspiration is one that I have commented on in a number of previous posts. Since the answer you require will come from somewhere outside of the conscious mind, whether that is from God or simply from your subconscious, the process involves consciously letting go of the matter and allowing inspiration to arrive in its own time:

1. Formulate your question
2. Get yourself into the right frame of mind
3. Ask yourself the question directly
4. Mentally, completely let the subject go
5. Wait for your answer

For a more complete discussion of this process, see here see here.

It is a wonderful thing when you discover that, no matter how this process works and whether inspiration comes from within or otherwise, the fact remains that the process itself does actually work. When you need inspiration, I commend you to try it.

Sometimes, people might comment that some particular person has been an inspiration to them. What is generally meant by such an expression is that their imagination has been primed with possibilities that they had previously discounted. In situations like this, inspiration has certainly come from outside of the individual. Even Salvador Dali, despite his comments about his moustache, was inspired by other painters including, for example, the Dutch master, Vermeer.

When I think back to the sources of my own inspiration, I can say that I was definitely inspired by Jack Black, Zig Ziglar and Jim Rohn. In the process of writing for the White Dove Books site, my desire is that I might also be able to inspire some people to elevate their understanding of what is possible for them within this life. Surely that is what inspiration is all about.

Personally, I believe that you can be an inspiration or, if you prefer, a source of inspiration to others. There is probably no greater service you can render to humanity than to help someone else to see the myriad possibilities that might presently elude their current level of understanding of what is achievable for them.

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