Inspiration

Diana Turner-Forte: Photo by J W Valentine

…whenever our heart space, our mind space, and our body awareness are all simultaneously open and nonresistant….It is experienced as a moment of deep inner connection, and it always pulls you, intensely satisfied, into the naked and undefended now, which can involve both profound joy and profound sadness, often at the same time. —Richard Rohr

I’ve participated in the irredeemable space of wholeness and uninterrupted creativity from time to time and wondered from where the bursts of unbridled expression emerged. Etymologically inspire derives from Latin inspire which means ‘to breathe or blow into.’ From that perspective, the rushes of energy are like prayer, as well as sometimes a feeling of a highly charged electrical current.

As an animating force it is something that cannot be controlled, like nature. If control or certitude enters the process either through ignorance or sheer human willfulness it becomes like static that highjacks the creative process; then inspiration dissipates. I could write volumes on when I’ve interfered with the flow mostly from a lack of desire to be pulled into something unknown, a totally new direction. The latter being at my peril, but the lessons not totally lost in retrospect.

So, I’ve often asked myself, where does inspiration come from? When one considers great art that has come to us through the centuries and become touchstones for future generations; we might be talking about genius, something that is nearly impossible to explain.

When Impressionist visual artists, Degas (1834-1917) created La Petite Danseuse de Quatorze Ans he broke from the conventional presentation of a bronze figure by adding a muslin skirt, and satin hair ribbon. What caused Degas to make such a choice? Was it intuition or some inner vision he had of the finished product?

Edgar Degas’ Bronze sculpture of Fourteen Year Old Ballerina

How do words repeated in poetry and memorialized over time trickle into the stratosphere of new generations to stimulate younger poets? Take the sensual, visually transparent prayer to God of E E. Cummings (1894-1962).

i thank You God for most this amazing / day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees / and a blue true dream of sky; and for / everything / which is natural which is infinite which is yes

Or consider the work of Alvin Ailey (1931-1989) who choreographed, “Revelations” first performed by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater decades ago and still inspiring audiences worldwide 63 years later.

Revelations - Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

What is the sustaining power of these works of art and where does all that beauty, richness, sensuousness, and depth of insight come from to provide solace and reaching into a future experiencing peril, global unrest, and injustice?

If I were to venture a guess I would say it comes from something outside the artist and filters into something inside, the fire kindling in the soul. It is both inside and outside the artist. Regardless of the art form, there exists this eternal connection to something ancient and yet at the same time necessarily present. Breathtaking, exquisite, and alluring. The artist is able to tap into what is needed for transformation to break through interwoven with life experiences— engaging an alchemical process. Creativity draws from Source into the center — all things to caress and hold for spellbinding moments that which is to become meaningful and important to later generations—an offering of a truth.

While I speak from a Dancer/Teaching Artist motif and claim no mastery in the subject of the creative process, I believe anyone can cultivate this skill. It’s a realm of holism and inclusivity and the Divine needs agents who are pure channels through which to work. These are workers who live by the universal maxim of wholeness, beauty and love, who agree to live with spaciousness and openness within themselves allowing divinity to flow outward. They are contributing to society at a deep social and spiritual level.

Whether poets, choreographers, visual artists, dancers, musicians or other creatives, the connection to the unknown Messenger is always available. And those humble souls able to hold steady the alignment of mind, heart, and body are perhaps the countervailing forces against a world on the verge of collapsing and re-birthing simultaneously.