Chasing Inspiration

Many of us in our day to day lives find life to be a bit drab, if we're honest. It's so easy to get caught up in the pressure of paying the bills, getting to work on time, taking care of our loved ones, and so on. It takes a lot to simply get through the day. 

It's been my experience that, in difficult times of fear or stress, a person's priorities quickly reveal themselves. Beyond the basics of food, shelter, and safety - statistically, humans tend to splurge next on art of some kind: music, a film, television, etc. 

This point was illustrated when it someone whose name I can't remember stated that "Culver City (which was home to Metro-Goldwyn Mayer Pictures, or MGM) was the only city to never feel the Great Depression". Why? Because people needed the escape, they needed the inspiration. 

Today we find the need for inspiration as great as ever. And also greater than ever is the amount of inspiration wanting to be given to others. It should work, and to an extent definitely does. However, it also starts to have the effect of bogging us down, numbing us to inspiration in the truest and most passionate form. 

I have had to combat this in my personal life. For me, it's important to cut but on taking "inspirational pornography" in lieu of surrounding myself with great work: the best poetry, symphonies, films, music, theater, food and so on. I find inspiration in watching a powerful sports performance, in an elegant design of clothing, in architecture. Anywhere I can find it with the exception of the dross that comes from those blandly offering "inspiration". Such offerings, to me, feel a bit like a proposition from a one legged prostitute. Not that there is anything wrong with one legged prostitutes...I'm sure that they are quite lovely...

The point of this rambling is this: Look for inspiration in the tapestries of culture, created by the greatest works and ignore the rest. You'll find your cup suddenly running full...