INSPIRATION: Bolts, Bulbs and Bottom Lines
The first music cassette I ever owned was the Shuggie Otis album Inspiration Information. Almost 20 years later, certain songs still make it into my Sunday morning mix – but the title remains my favorite of all time.
At first glance the concepts Inspiration and Information appear to be opposites: one is made from factual bricks and mortar – the other, flashes and fairy dust. However, having tackled the arduous task of exploring inspiration and its role in game-planning our future – it’s clear that these two dots are connected and perhaps even inextricably linked.
Our collective approach to this theme shows that connecting dots of information seems to be at the heart of what inspiration is about. In our sleeping and waking lives we are perpetually swimming in information about the culture around us. “Cultural ephemera” (as introduced by Josh in his article) are those pieces of information which hold meaning based on their context – we therefore understand them in relation to each other. So when we forge connections between previously unlinked dots of information, we’re creating new meaning or generating new ideas. Inspiration is the “how” of this connecting process and isn’t nearly as straightforward to pull apart – as we learned first-hand during the development of this issue.
My announcement of this month’s theme was received by a chorus of positive feedback and hats thrown into the ring. Almost everyone liked the theme, so it followed (or so I thought) that they would therefore find it easy to write about. But producing twenty different takes on inspiration is essentially attempting to come up with as many ideas as possible about how to come up with ideas. And by the time it dawned on me that my role was essentially to inspire twenty people to compose different takes on the process of becoming inspired, it was too late to turn back.
Life began to imitate art (when I could get it) fairly quickly. Drafts explaining the unpredictable and capricious nature of muses, nymphs, sparks and lightning bolts, coincided with frustrated appeals for more time because “the magic” hadn’t happened yet. Links to scientific theories and psychological profiles helped to explain why promises to deliver first drafts by already extended deadlines, were repeatedly broken. And testimonials about the power of urgency to wring blood, sweat, tears and eventually ideas from minds which had professed to be bone dry – appeared in my inbox only after I’d issued polite but firm ultimatums.
Oh yes, we had a "fun time" - but by the end of it my understanding of inspiration as the catalyst for new connections, was much clearer; though magic is a main (and stubbornly unfathomable) ingredient, the rest of the recipe is easy to grasp, both figuratively and literally.
The best way to start is with knowledge. As Sarah details in her article, if you know a subject inside-out (or at least as well as she knows the music biz), then you also know all the connections that have been made around that subject so far, making it easier to create and recognize new ones. Having comprehensive knowledge of your subject also gives you the confidence to randomly experiment with new connections when put on the spot (like performing a musical solo, to use an example from Alex H).
Randomness itself is possibly the most important part of the inspiration process. But of course it’s unpredictable, so to a certain extent, you have to manufacture it. This seems counter-intuitive but is totally doable, whether by regularly changing your environment, or by turning an aspect of your everyday life into a creative project (as advised by Saleem’s giraffe). My own example was to produce a set of tee-shirts in conjunction with this issue. For me, as a non-creative (at least professionally) who had no clue what a silk screen was until last month, this was as random as it gets. The biggest problem with randomness though, is that as well as being unpredictable, it’s also rare. Douglas tackles this aspect, discussing the laws of probability and the necessity of simply cranking out shed loads of ideas until you eventually hit upon a good one. Thankfully, inspiration isn’t always so elusive – Annie makes the good point that it’s actually infectious, for when the people around you are inspired and inspiring, it almost always rubs off.
At the end of the day you have to have the right mindset though. Our creative output is usually reflective of the changes we want to see in the world – so being inspired also requires being in touch with your dreams and aspirations, as Miki explains in her take on the subject. This aspect of looking within yourself for inspiration, as opposed to waiting for it to come from an external source, is also expounded upon, albeit in a somewhat counterintuitive direction, by Ron.
In keeping with the theme and our intention to evolve the content and design of our magazine each month, we introduce photography in this issue with 3 sets of images, each with inspiring moments captured in almost a dozen countries outside the U.S.
So take a deep breath, clear your mind and dive in. I hesitate to go so far as to promise that you’ll find inspiration – but at the very least there’s plenty of information in here, hopefully some of it useful. Enjoy.
by Onika Simon
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Hmmm. Does inspiration come from within us or without us? As usual, you've boiled the main idea down to the core question.
So, now, the answer must be "Waiting" somewhere there on the sidebar: Is it "Knowing", "Manufacturing", "Aspiration", "Imitation", "Connection", "Plagiarism", "God's Gift", "Bucky", "Zen", "The Giraffe" or "The Fairy Nymph"? In "Spite" of the obstacles, I'm almost certain FU've figured it all out...
And, like any guru worth her salt, you've made the study guide available in handy t-shirt form. Now that's inspiration!