December 1, 2008
This space is dedicated to the understanding of Inspiration. It will address and solicit feedback on questions that surround this phenomenon with an eye toward identifying its source and determining what elements are essential to its realization. The hypothesis of the discussion is that inspiration occurs without regard to economic circumstances, beliefs, geographic location, ethnicity or cultural conditioning. We rise to inspiration because we are human, not because of our particularity; accordingly, the fields of depth psychology, anthropology, mythology, neurobiology and spirituality will be our starting points. In the blog, we will also post material that seems to be inspiring, and we will try to identify why that is so.
Anthropologists tell us that the universal languages are music, math and myth, so story itself has some capacity to generate inspiration–witness our reaction to the everyday drama of our lives, or perhaps more important, the lives of others. Stories told in film or literature also fill our lives with entertainment, but at another level, they display the past and define possible futures.
Stories also inform the ethos of our institutions, as they express the values that we hold dear. From specific myths we learn that the process of inspiration itself has to do with enhancing meaning, not merely the accomplishment of more tasks. In the Western version of the ”Holy Grail” myth, for example, we see that Parzival neglects to ask the question, “Whom does the Grail Serve?” …according to Jungian psychologist Robert Johnson, this question is the equivalent to “What is the meaning of life?” The Fisher King is suffering from a non-healing wound in the groin, a festering or failure at his very essence. The wound will not be healed by any other means than to enlist the power of the Grail. This tale connects with the ethos of the Western World, the hero or heroine looking for meaning in the adventures of life itself.
Neurobiologists suggest that the human being is the only species able to imagine the future, to create an image of something that doesn’t currently exist. This capability, coupled with our ability to generate empathy with others’ imaginations, forms the neurobiological base for inspiration. We are “moved” by a good movie; we are inspired by someone appealing to our “higher angels,” as we imagine ourselves achieving something more meaningful or going beyond our current self-errected boundaries. We also know that our brains operate largely from our past experience, and that the enlightenment that allows change comes from a “higher” truth than the one we are holding in our own personal arsenal of life episodes. Could these impulses come from the “collective unconsious” as C.G. Jung postulates, or even from the “cultural unconscious” proposed by the late Jungian Joseph Henderson?
Why a Blog on Cross-Cultural Inspiration?
Through our discussion and examples, we can distill the elements that will contribute to a significant portion of the world’s population becoming inspired toward the same goals. We also hope to define what makes it possible for one human being to inspire others in order to describe the development necessary to make such occurences possible.
