Inspiration: the cure for what ails us
Here we are! The economy is in a huge mess; banking is crumbling, healthcare in crisis, education is a joke, and in almost every place you can look old structures and established ways of doing things are crumbling before our eyes. That’s just the “big picture”. And your individual life? Where are you right now and where would you like to be?
The very act of wanting something new begins the process of transformation of a life, an organization, a nation or a planet. We have wished a lot, for sure. We wish prosperity; complete and perfect health, new avenues of income, new modes of energy and transportation, education that works, happy people, clean environment, ad infinitum. There is certainly no shortage of powerful questions.
When we pray, we are asking. We are asking for protection, money, health, ideas, guidance, etc. In a sense, we are transmitting, sending our message to the Universe, to God or whoever is listening.
If you’ve ever seen a CB radio operator, he or she sends the message and then says “Over.” At this point, you click on the earpiece and change the internal orientation from “send” to “receive” in a listening position. within. In that internal posture, they are allowing the other to send so they can receive.
In the same way, when we have asked or wanted something new, we have sent our message to the Big U. You have received our request. Our next step is to click the internally receive button, switch to receiving mode, and allow the Big U to deliver the answer to our prayer or question. It is received in inspiration.
By definition, according to the Miriam Webster Dictionary, inspiration is:
1) a: a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify for receive and communicate the sacred revelation
b: the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions
c: the act of influencing or suggesting opinions
2) the act of withdrawing; specifically : the aspiration of air into the lungs
3) a: the quality or state of being inspired
b: something that is inspirational inspiration
4) an inspiring agent or influence
Now let’s look at the etymology of the word itself, inspiration:
c.1303, “immediate influence of God or of a god”, especially under which the sacred books were written, by O.Fr. inspiration, from LL inspirationem (nom. inspiratio), from L. inspiratus, pp. de inspirare “inspire, inflame, blow”, of “+ spirare” breathe “(see spirit). Inspire in this sense is c.1340, from O.Fr. enspirer, from L. inspire, a loan-transl. from Gk pnein in the Bible The general meaning of “to influence or animate with an idea or purpose” is from 1390. Inspirational is 1839 as “influenced by inspiration”, 1884 as “tending to inspire”.
So if we look at the definition and then the roots of that word, we come back to understand the literal and intended meaning of the word. Inspiration is with spirit, with breath, influenced by spirit with our breath on our intellect and emotions. Inspiration, therefore, has a practical and “real” effect on the world of our lives.
Have you ever noticed that when you are stressed, you don’t breathe deeply? Not only are you restricting the flow of oxygen to your physical body, but you are also restricting the flow of Source, which carries your breath, to your mind and soul. When you are stressed, you are normally “sending” urgent messages to the Big U. When you are stressed, you are not receiving or allowing the responses that have been sent to you. When you are relaxed, you breathe deeply and allow Life to flow through you, you are in reception mode.
Meditation has been used by many religions and cultures for the purpose of restoring calm to our internal state, as well as to contact the Divine Mind. The Divine Mind, where inspiration comes from, is also Your Mind. You just can’t hear it over the drone and the screams of your human mind. This is where we in Western cultures have to follow the example of Eastern cultures and learn to quiet the human mind long enough to receive our inspirations, our responses. We can also breathe deeply, relax and in this way, we are also in reception mode.
This is a practical tip. We ask, and we ask, and we ask, and then we wonder why our prayers have not been answered, when they have. We just haven’t been in the listening, receiving, and allowing mode. We talk, we talk, we talk; but we have not been trained to be good listeners.
To achieve everything we would like: clean air, new modes of energy, new ideas for education, how to be well, how to prosper, not just survive, we have to allow inspiration to come in. From our human mind we will only regurgitate the same old ideas and get more of the same results. It’s time for new ideas, inspired solutions, and creativity.
Each of us is connected to the same Source. Each of us can receive the inspired solutions not only for immediate requests for our own lives, but also for the most important jobs facing our nation and the world.
Be quiet. Receive. The Big U already knows what you want, you’ve asked for it a trillion times. Now relax and listen, inside. Inspiration is your birthright and an integral part of your Being. Now let’s learn to use it, apply our spirit to everyday problems, and receive our guidance for our inspired solutions.