Do You Need A Muse For Creativity? 6 Sources To Awaken Inspiration - Self-development

2023 Author: Oswald Adamson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 12:13

Throughout human history, one of the honorable female "duties" is to serve as a muse for her man. Recall that muses are goddesses from ancient Greek mythology who were responsible for inspiration in artistic or scientific creativity. The picture can be visualized like this: some poet is sitting, suffering, trying to compose another poem. But at one fine moment a muse visits him, which gives the creative process an emotional impulse, after which brilliant poems are easily composed. Do you really need a muse for creativity?

To the cinema

In 1999, a funny film called "Muse" was released in the USA, which tells about the difficult life of a Hollywood screenwriter. The screenwriter is going through a creative and life crisis, despite the fact that he has a beautiful wife, a cozy home and a decent bank account. The family does not help him to get out of the crisis, and here comes a "professional muse" (whose role is brilliantly played by Sharon Stone). The entire film consists of comic episodes in which the screenwriter is forced to fulfill the strange whims of the "muse", because of which he constantly finds himself in awkward situations. Of course, the "professional muse" works for money and pretty much empties the pockets of the screenwriter. Nevertheless, everything ends well - the crisis has been overcome; the protagonist sells his new script to a major film studio.

In the reality

Unfortunately, in real life, not everything is as funny and optimistic as in the movies. Take, for example, the fate of Tatiana Lapp, the first wife of the writer Mikhail Bulgakov. In the early 1920s, Bulgakov was a village doctor suffering from drug addiction. He then wrote some feuilletons for newspapers, but he did not seriously plan to engage in literary work. Only thanks to Tatyana he managed to get rid of drugs (she diluted morphine with water, gradually reducing the dose). In addition, she actually became the editor of his first major novel, The White Guard. Thanks to her, the writer Bulgakov gained confidence in his creative powers. But after popularity came to the newly-minted author, the "muse" became unnecessary and the writer divorced her.

In a relationship of the type "man-genius and woman-muse" this scenario is typical. A man-creator, in constant search of inspiration, is chasing new "muses". And the previous muse remains at a broken trough: "I gave him all of myself, but what did I get in return?"

Most of all it resembles emotional vampirism, when a loving woman is used as a donor

The care, attention and support on her part creates a breeding ground for a man's self-realization. He gets his inspiration from the self-sacrifice of a close woman. And when her emotional resource is exhausted - that is, she is completely emotionally burned out and is no longer able to inspire - you can throw it away as unnecessary and find yourself a new "emotional battery".

In relation to a woman, such a relationship can be called manipulative and exploitative. But is it possible to do without the "muse"? Is it possible to find your own inspiration without shifting the responsibility for it onto another person? Yes, this is possible!

Inspiration is just a state that can be controlled and which can have many sources, not just the help of the "muse."

Do you need a muse for creativity? What can replace it?

1. Taking care of health and good sports form. A vigorous body is a necessary energy base for creativity. The more feasible physical activity in our life, the easier the state of inspiration arises.

2. New impressions, knowledge, information. In principle, any vivid impressions will do, but it is better if they are related to the kind of creativity you are doing. Anything that piques your interest and admiration will fuel inspiration.

3. Communication with the Masters. There are probably people in your work who have achieved much greater results than you. The closer you are to the Masters and the more you communicate with them, the more your "emotional batteries" will be charged.

4. Learning new skills. Any creativity needs tools for self-expression. It is the mastery or invention of a new tool / skill that can create a real explosion of inspiration.

5. Difficult creative task. Each creator has an achieved level of skill and ambitious goals that he dreams of achieving. Such goals / objectives are perceived as a challenge to oneself, but it is in the process of overcoming this challenge that inspiration returns.

6. Regular routine work. The paradox is that if we wait for a special state of inspiration to come (or someone will create it for us), then we can not wait at all. You just have to do your job through "I don't want" and "I can't." And then the quantity will surely turn into quality. Routine work will set the stage for creative insights.

And the last thing. It is clear that the life stories of male creators who have maintained a healthy relationship with their wives are not as interesting and exciting as the dramatic life stories of “muses” who sacrificed themselves. But this does not mean at all that a successful and equal relationship in terms of emotional support and mutual inspiration is impossible!

Today this cultural mythologeme "man-genius and woman-muse" looks like a harmful anachronism, muse for creativity is an optional condition. Any emotionally and personally mature man, whether he is at least three times a genius-creator, is unlikely to emotionally exploit his beloved woman. Moreover, there are many other ways to get inspiration.