Inspiration is perhaps an exhausted
term, occasionally thrown about with tremendous apathy. Whether it be watching
Felix Baumgartner plunge into the troposphere, or marvelling at Shakespeare’s
carefully ordered sonnets, one will exclaim as if a divine epiphany is
pulsating through their body: “I am inspired!” But to what end? How does this
joyful flood of inspiration manifest itself?
No, I’m not a misanthrope, nor am I a
cynic. I simply encourage action. To avoid inspiration becoming yet another
empty verbal vessel or “shape without form” as Eliot would perhaps describe it,
one must act upon their inspiration. After watching Baumgartner leap in the
air, try bungee jumping. After reading Shakespeare’s sonnets, craft your own
poetry, play with form. It can be anything, but don’t let inspiration dissolve
inside you like an antacid tablet. Instead, douse the flames of creativeness
with a tankard of petrol; ensure you don’t let the grand thoughts inside your
head remain meaningless electrical pulses.
The greatest literature our times have
formed due to this mentality. Modernist poets and novelists such as T.S Eliot
and Virginia Woolf were able to transform the traumatic event of WW1 into
inspiration, aiding them to create a new type of literature. Eliot was in turn
inspired by Dante, Dante by religious texts. The majestic works they went on to
produce are therefore a result of a long cycle of inspiration, of a willingness
to act. These works continue to inspire today, ensuring that there will always
be a new generation of writers.
So, you can see that I’m far from
cynical. There are those who are deeply mired in pessimism and would suggest
that inspiration can act as a catalyst for negative action. The hateful
rhetoric of Enoch Powell in 1968 inspired a deep antipathy towards immigrants,
mistakes over the existence of WMDs led to a pointless charade in Iraq and
inspiring people to throw away their lives. Yet I don’t belong with those that
make it their daily task to wade through thick pools of misery, but rather I
believe in the necessity and value of action, of achieving and matching the
dizzy heights of what inspires you. Thomas Jefferson, former president of the
USA and one of the founding fathers, appears to epitomise this idea: “Do you want to know who you are? Don't
ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” Make sure your
inspiration has meaning.
