inspiration

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noun

1. High spirits: animation, elatedness, elation, euphoria, exaltation, exhilaration, lift, uplift. See happy/unhappy.
2. Liveliness and vivacity of imagination: brilliance, brilliancy, fire, genius. See good/bad.
3. Something that encourages: encouragement, motivation, stimulation. See help/harm/harmless.
4. A sudden exciting thought: brainstorm. Informal brain wave. See thoughts.
5. Divine guidance and motivation imparted directly: afflatus. See religion.
6. The act of breathing in: inhalation. See breath/breathlessness.

Breathing in or inhalation; the process by which air is drawn into the lungs through the mouth and nose, by the action of the diaphragm and external intercostals increasing the volume and decreasing the pressure within the thoracic cavity. Breathing through the nose helps to filter, warm, and humidity the air during inspiration.

A psychic state in which one becomes susceptible to creative spiritual influence or unwittingly lends oneself as an instrument for through-flowing ideas. It is the creative state of the artist, poet, and author, traditionally believed to be amenable to the wisdom of the muses or inspiring gods. In a state of inspiration, the prophets of various religions dictated scriptures or predicted future events. The term inspiration denotes a breathing in of the divine creative spirit, bringing perception of truth.

Numerous thinkers and artists have noted their own experience of inspiration. They describe states of outward passivity in which the mind becomes receptive to information that they cannot ascribe to their own intelligence. The inspiration of the muse in poets, painters, and musicians, when considered universally, resembles the experiences of mediums, channels, and psychics.

The philosopher Ferdinand Schiller wondered where his thoughts came from; they frequently flowed through him "independent of the action of his own mind." Mozart stated, "When all goes well with me, when I am in a carriage, or walking, or when I cannot sleep at night, the thoughts come streaming in upon me most fluently; whence or how is more than I can tell." Beethoven said, "Inspiration is for me that mysterious state in which the entire world seems to form a vast harmony, when every sentiment, every thought re-echoes within me, when all the forces of nature become instruments for me, when my whole body shivers and my hair stands on end."

Lord Beaconsfield, British statesman and novelist, admitted, "I often feel that there is only a step from intense mental concentration to madness. I should hardly be able to describe what I feel at the moment when my sensations are so strangely acute and intense. Every object seems to be animated. I feel that my senses are wild and extravagant. I am no longer sure of my own existence and often look back to see my name written there and thus be assured of my existence."

The two satellites of Mars were discovered in 1877 by Professor A. Hall. One hundred seventy-five years earlier, Jonathan Swift wrote in Gulliver's Travels of the astronomers of Laputa: "They have discovered two small stars, or satellites, which revolve round Mars. The inner one is three diameters distant from the centre of the planet, the outer one five diameters; the first makes its revolution in ten hours, the second in twenty hours and a half." These figures, cited at the time as a proof of Swift's ignorance of astronomy, show a striking agreement with the later findings of Hall. W. M. Thackeray in one of his "Roundabout Papers" (Cornhill Magazine, August 1862): "I have been surprised at the observations made by some of my characters. It seems as if an occult power was moving the pen. The personage does or says something and I ask: 'How did he come to think of that?'&43"

Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) said his writing was done in "periods of hysterical trance." He said he saw and heard things that were not real.

Of the inception of the chapter "The Death of Uncle Tom" in Uncle Tom's Cabin, one biographer of Harriet Beecher Stowe stated, "It seemed to her as though what she wrote was blown through her mind as with the rushing of a mighty wind."

Bogdan Hasdeu, the great Romanian writer, became a convinced Spiritualist after he automatically obtained messages from his deceased daughter. His father had been a distinguished linguist and was planning a standard dictionary of the Romanian language at the time of his death. Bogdan himself was a historian. When half through his History of the Romanian People, he suddenly plunged into the compilation of a vast dictionary, saying he felt that he was forced to do so. It is difficult to explain this case by ordinary psychological processes, since in a séance Bogdan later atteneded the medium (who could not speak Russian) passed into trance and wrote messages from his father in Russian urging him to complete the work.

The popular novelist and playwright Edgar Wallace wrote in the London Daily Express (June 4, 1928): "Are we wildly absurd in supposing that human thought has an indestructible substance, and that men leave behind them, when their bodies are dead, a wealth of mind that finds employment in a new host? I personally do not think we are. I am perfectly satisfied in my mind that I have received an immense amount of help from the so-called dead. I have succeeded far beyond the point my natural talents justified. And so have you—and you. I believe that my mind is furnished with oddments of intellectual equipment that have been acquired I know not how."

Sitting with W. T. Stead and Ada Goodrich-Freer, the medium David Anderson went into trance and gave the name of the hero and some incidents from a story that Goodrich-Freer had written but never published. A similar occurrence is recorded in H. Travers Smith's Voices from the Void (1919).

Hannen Swaffer interviewed a number of distinguished artists and writers on the method by which their work was produced. The majority of their statements, recorded in Swaffer's book Adventures with Inspiration (1929) attribute the imparting of creativity to a supernormal source.

According to ancient Hindu mysticism, there is a psychophysiological mechanism in human beings by which a condition of higher consciousness may be brought about by meditation or yoga practice, and in modern times there is some evidence that this condition—the raising of the kundalini —has occurred spontaneously in inventors and men of genius.

Sources:

Bucke, Richard Maurice. Cosmic Consciousness: A Study in the Evolution of the Human Mind. Innes & Sons, 1901. Reprint, New Hyde Park, N.Y.: University Books, 1961.

Clissold, Augustus. The Prophetic Spirit in its Relation to Wisdom and Madness. London, 1870.

Duchesneau, Louise. The Voice of the Muse. Frankfurt, Germany: P. Lang, 1986.

Gopi Krishna. The Biological Basis of Religion and Genius. New York: Harper & Row, 1972.

Graves, Robert. The White Goddess. London: Faber & Faber, 1948.

James, William. The Varieties of Religious Experience. London: Longmans Green, 1902.

Kast, Verena. Joy, Inspiration, and Hope. College Station: Texas A & M University Press, 1991.

Kennard, Nina H. Lafcadio Hearn, His Life and Work. New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1912.

The use of this word both for 'breathing' and for 'a bright idea' is not accidental. It derives from the notion of the ancient Greeks that mind pervades the universe, and is a subtle vapour — the pneuma. (Pneumatic bliss is, indeed, a state of mind!)

(Published 1987)

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IN BRIEF: A sudden, bright idea.

Genius is 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration. — Thomas Edison (1847-1931), American inventor & industrialist.

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Quotes:

"Here is the secret of inspiration: Tell yourself that thousands and tens of thousands of people, not very intelligent and certainly no more intelligent than the rest of us, have mastered problems as difficult as those that now baffle you." - William Feather

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web." - Pablo Picasso

"I didn't have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let's say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!" - Henry Miller

"Stung by the splendor of a sudden thought." - Robert Browning

"There never was a great soul that did not have some divine inspiration." - Marcus T. Cicero

"The inspiration of the almighty gives man understanding." - Bible

See more famous quotes about Inspiration

The drawing of air into the lungs.

(in″spǐ-ra'shən)
n

The act of drawing air into the lungs.

For a list of words related to inspiration, see:

• Respiratory System - inspiration: inhalation
• Physiology - inspiration: taking of air into lungs
• Intuition and Imagination - inspiration: power of arousing intellect or emotions, esp. to receive or conceive new insights or ideas; such a new insight or idea
• Religious States and Experiences - inspiration: sudden spiritual awakening resulting from divine influence
• Mystical States and Experiences - inspiration: divine influence, sacred revelation, or spiritual awakening

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This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
n. - inspiration, indskydelse

Nederlands (Dutch)
inspiratie, inval

Français (French)
n. - inspiration, idée

Deutsch (German)
n. - Inspiration, Eingebung, Einatmung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - έμπνευση

Italiano (Italian)
ispirazione

Português (Portuguese)
n. - inspiração (f)

Русский (Russian)
вдохновение, инспирирование, побуждение

Español (Spanish)
n. - inspiración, aspiración

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - inspiration(skälla), inandning

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
灵感, 妙计, 好办法, 鼓舞人心的人, 吸入, 吸气

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 靈感, 妙計, 好辦法, 鼓舞人心的人, 吸入, 吸氣

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 영감, 격려가 되는 사람, 숨을 들이마심

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 霊感, インスピレーション, 霊感による着想, 示唆, 息を吸い込むこと, 激励

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) إلهام, إيحاء, إثارة‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮השראה, מקור השראה, שאר-רוח, רעיון מוצלח‬

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