INSPIRATION
While inspiration can come to anyone at any time, you can create a conducive climate within you so that you get self inspired. For self-inspiration, both your heart and mind need to be relaxed, so that you are in leisure mode.
Isaac Newton was relaxing in the garden when he saw an apple fall. He had the leisure to ask himself why the apple fell straight on the ground and did not go upward. He found the answer and gave to us the law of gravity.
Sometimes small incidents can result in the creation of a major work of art or literature. Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the roman empire is an acclaimed work in the English language. In his autobiography he writes that when he was in Rome he sat using amidst the ruins of the old city. Barefooted friars were singing vespers or evening prayers. This is when he got the idea of writing about the decline and fall of the city. The realization of this idea took many years but his persistence and hard work resulted in a classic of literature and not only of history.
Galileo was sitting in a church when he saw a chandelier gently moving from side to side. He noted that the to and fro movement of the chandelier that was independent of the bon mass or the amplitude of the swing would prove useful (as pendulum) for keeping time like the metronome that aids students of music.
Many of us live under the tyranny of the next thing to do on our list. Sometimes the state of leisure is enforced on us as during the convalescence period after an illness. A temporary immobilization from routine activity suddenly creates the time for self-evaluation
For a writer or teacher a sabbatical provides the leisure for him to think through a subject.
Leisure by itself is not enough. It has to be accompanied by mindfulness and attentiveness. Sometimes inquisitiveness is an aid to inspiration. The second aid to inspiration is concern for others. Many of the medical inventions have come from a desire to cure a disease.
Inspiration has to be followed through to yield any result. Thomas Alva Edison said: “Genius is 1 per cent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration”. For want of application and follow up, many an inspired thought is lost. Or quality of life shapes our inspiration. An uncluttered mind is likely to be receptive to even small whispers from within.
Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration. I remember a time when I was depressed after a course of chemotherapy and was sitting in the garden when a mynah gave a ful throated cry of joy. She repeated the cry again, twice and I could not hep but experience her joy as my spirits lifted.
Music is soothing, it also inspires. What comes out of us depends on what goes into us. It is worth asking from time to time. “What is my intellectual and spiritual input this day?” Who are the people I think of apart from myself? Who are the people I can help? Inspiration comes from reaching out.
For our rushed lives the prayer of the American poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, is so relevant, Drop thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease. Take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess. The beauty of thy peace.
http://spirituality.indiatimes.com
While inspiration can come to anyone at any time, you can create a conducive climate within you so that you get self inspired. For self-inspiration, both your heart and mind need to be relaxed, so that you are in leisure mode.
Isaac Newton was relaxing in the garden when he saw an apple fall. He had the leisure to ask himself why the apple fell straight on the ground and did not go upward. He found the answer and gave to us the law of gravity.
Sometimes small incidents can result in the creation of a major work of art or literature. Edward Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the roman empire is an acclaimed work in the English language. In his autobiography he writes that when he was in Rome he sat using amidst the ruins of the old city. Barefooted friars were singing vespers or evening prayers. This is when he got the idea of writing about the decline and fall of the city. The realization of this idea took many years but his persistence and hard work resulted in a classic of literature and not only of history.
Galileo was sitting in a church when he saw a chandelier gently moving from side to side. He noted that the to and fro movement of the chandelier that was independent of the bon mass or the amplitude of the swing would prove useful (as pendulum) for keeping time like the metronome that aids students of music.
Many of us live under the tyranny of the next thing to do on our list. Sometimes the state of leisure is enforced on us as during the convalescence period after an illness. A temporary immobilization from routine activity suddenly creates the time for self-evaluation
For a writer or teacher a sabbatical provides the leisure for him to think through a subject.
Leisure by itself is not enough. It has to be accompanied by mindfulness and attentiveness. Sometimes inquisitiveness is an aid to inspiration. The second aid to inspiration is concern for others. Many of the medical inventions have come from a desire to cure a disease.
Inspiration has to be followed through to yield any result. Thomas Alva Edison said: “Genius is 1 per cent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration”. For want of application and follow up, many an inspired thought is lost. Or quality of life shapes our inspiration. An uncluttered mind is likely to be receptive to even small whispers from within.
Nature is a wonderful source of inspiration. I remember a time when I was depressed after a course of chemotherapy and was sitting in the garden when a mynah gave a ful throated cry of joy. She repeated the cry again, twice and I could not hep but experience her joy as my spirits lifted.
Music is soothing, it also inspires. What comes out of us depends on what goes into us. It is worth asking from time to time. “What is my intellectual and spiritual input this day?” Who are the people I think of apart from myself? Who are the people I can help? Inspiration comes from reaching out.
For our rushed lives the prayer of the American poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, is so relevant, Drop thy still dews of quietness, Till all our strivings cease. Take from our souls the strain and stress, and let our ordered lives confess. The beauty of thy peace.
http://spirituality.indiatimes.com
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