What is the genesis of inspiration? Where do inspiring ideas come from? Do they come to us as a result of our petitions for them? Do they manifest from our hard work and propensity for greatness, or do they have an origin that exceed our passions for prominence and wealth? Ideas and experiences that inspire, emanate from a transcendent place and supernatural intelligence. They elevate us to mundane and spiritual heights we are unable to reach ourselves. Some things in life are only available by way of inspiration; it is what opens our eyes and enhances our understanding. Inspiration is the vehicle that leads us to enlightenment, revelation, and the fulfillment of purpose.
We don’t give birth to inspiring ideas, we can’t control how they manifest themselves, but we can attract them to us because they’re attracted to each other. We are original ideas inspired by God and therefore magnets for inspirational ideas and experiences. We are walking, talking, living, inspired divine thought. As we are each an original concept of God, we are also the idea of our parents as they have raised us according to certain ideas. Our culture feeds us ideas of who and what we are, what we can and can’t do and how we fit into society. Religion gives us ideas of our spiritual and physical value, the identity and personality of God, and definitions morality and ethics. Although we may think of ourselves as one, we are actually the result of a myriad of ideas.
Inspiration leads us to places of discovery, unknown and unseen. It comes to elevate us, and to challenge what we have consider to be impossible. Since mankind is in a perpetual state of development, or becoming, we are dependent on change as an intrinsic aspect of our existence. Nothing stays the same, throughout life multiple transformations occur at every moment, in our bodies, our minds, and in our world. These changes help us in the process of becoming and the discovery of ourselves.
How do we identify inspiration, what are its properties, what is the criteria? Surprisingly there is no right or wrong, no good or bad, no limitations or restrictions when it comes to sources and methods of inspiration. Anything can be inspiring; from losing your job, to a song on the radio, even the formation of clouds in the sky. The inspiration is not defined by the inspired idea or experience itself but what it means to you. What you get from it, what change will occur because of the encounter, and what action you were influenced to take.
Poverty can be crippling for one and inspirational for another. We have countless examples of people that have grown up in poverty that were greatly inspired by it and other that were completely overtaken by it. To examine inspiring ideas and experiences closely, we need to understand what they are. We understand anything can be inspiring but what distinguishes extraordinary from ordinary? What unique quality makes something inspiring as opposed to bad, or very good, fulfilling, or beneficial?
All forms of inspiration share one characteristic, change. They promote new and better ways of thinking and living. They’re of a spiritual nature, and prophetic because they’re focused on the future. Because of this quality they may seem ridiculous and implausible. Supernatural phenomenon has a tendency to be rejected by those that are change adversed. When we put complete trust and faith in what is in front of us accepting what was possible yesterday as the truth for today and tomorrow, we will fail to see the bigger picture. Inspiration comes to awaken us to the reality of unrevealed potential and the role the supernatural plays in shaping us and our lives. Inspiration requires us to question what is possible and reassess the boundaries of the limitations we place on ourselves and everything in our world.
By identifying the conditions for attracting inspirational experiences we reveal the requisite to encountering them more often. Conversations with people that hold different points of view than your own, reading books, exposure to a diverse group of topics and perspectives will increase the flow of ideas because ideas inform ideas.
This is why working on teams, think tanks, and brainstorming sessions are so productive because they create environments for inspiration to occur. However, there is a limitation on which inspiring ideas are attracted to us. Only those that we have the ability to help become actualized are available to us. The purpose of an inspiring idea is to be actualized, to be experienced, to express itself; if you are unable to be instrumental in that process the idea will not be attracted to you.
The idea itself is attracted to corresponding ideas, people and experiences, that contribute to the idea being actualized. Your journey in life has attracted this idea to you in order to not necessarily be implemented by you but to inspire you to take action in some sense, and for the idea to reach its next destination on its journey to actualization. In connecting with you, the idea is in the process of becoming actualized and you play a necessary role in that process.
It takes more than one inspired idea and one person for the inspired idea to be actualized. One idea attracts another and another and another in order to be actualized. The result of an inspired idea is a collection of multiple homogeneous ideas for the purpose of actualization. Multiple ideas go into the planning of one event, building one home, and living one life. Although it appears to be one it is actually the conglomerate of various inspired ideas.
Like a Beethoven song is of course one, with one name and one unique sound, belonging to one genre and attributed to one composer it is made up of a myriad of instruments, people, all working together to create a one of a kind harmony. For inspired ideas to become actualized it will take the contribution of multiple forms of inspiration working together each in its own way to create one unique harmonic experience.
None of this happens on its own, the forms of inspiration are arranged by God in order to keep order and balance in the universe. Because today is what determines tomorrow, it takes a supreme intellect to arrange the pieces of the puzzle to ensure a specific outcome not just for today for all eternity.
Because the invention of the stagecoach didn’t come before the wheel, nor the computer before the telegraph, we see that inspiration is a result of a system of divine order and balance. They’re present at a specific time in history to carry humanity to the next era of innovation and discovery, and revelation. Experiences of inspiration are not random occurrences of epiphany; these experiences are as intentional and calculated as a Chefs secret recipe.
We will never see the completion of an inspirational idea, because they are always developing. The idea of transportation is still developing, as well as the idea of the internet, religion, science, and nature, and humanity. No inspirational idea is ever completed, it continues to develop as it attaches itself to other ideas, it is a living organism.
Thousands of years ago, when people pondered on how to get from point A to point B more efficiently, the idea of transportation was inspired. That idea matured from a canoe in 8,000 BC, to a wheeled cart, ships, chariots, hot air balloons, to the automobiles, planes, and space shuttles of today. The idea of transportation which inspired the canoe in 8000 BC continues to influence the transportation industry of today to create more efficient modes of transportation for the future. The inspiration will outlast the greatest minds of the world because it is not confined to the innovator, nor does it belong to the genius, the ideas are no more yours than the air you’re breathing now.
They are not your ideas because they don’t serve you exclusively. Nothing is really truly “ours.” Nothing is under our complete control and serves us entirely. Inspirational ideas are free flowing belonging to no one but affecting all. They don’t cease to be inspiring after they are implemented by one person, group, or company. They continue to live beyond us. To say that there are no new ideas under the sun is to say that change is no longer occurring. New ideas are inspiring ideas, transformative, the building blocks of the future.
Inspiring ideas are what inform cultures, societies, countries, people groups, stereotypes, and religious beliefs of every kind. Do we not live according to these ideas? Ideas about ourselves what we are, what we are not, what we can be and what we will never be. Ideas about God and ideas about reality, ideas about ideas.
We are original ideas inspired by God and therefore magnets for inspirational ideas and experiences. We are walking, talking, living, inspired divine thought. Although, inspiration can come to us in a number of ways, they all share one characteristic. Inspiring ideas and experiences are change oriented, transformative, revelatory, and prophetic because they're future-focused.
To attract inspirational ideas and experiences create environments where they can develop. Read, engage in diverse conversations, meditate, take a walk, practice being in the moment, pray, chant, whatever you can do to create a space that is rich with ideas. Intentionally connect to the spiritual as often as possible; it's your home, it's where you’re from reacquaint yourself with it regularly and forms of inspirational will be encountered more often.
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