“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
From Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning (1946)
Inspiration is not the exclusive privilege of poets or artists generally. There is, has been, and will always be a certain group of people whom inspiration visits. It’s made up of all those who’ve consciously chosen their calling and do their job with love and imagination. It may include doctors, teachers, gardeners — and I could list a hundred more professions. Their work becomes one continuous adventure as long as they manage to keep discovering new challenges in it. Difficulties and setbacks never quell their curiosity. A swarm of new questions emerges from every problem they solve. Whatever inspiration is, it’s born from a continuous “I don’t know.”
Poet and 1996 Nobel Prize winner Wislaw Szymborska.
“It takes a long time to sound like yourself.”
Miles Davis
Nelson George: “How long does it take you to write?”
Marvin Gaye: “If its inspired seconds, minutes. If its contrived hours, days, months.” Spring 1983
“You rather be a trend or rather be forever?” Jay-Z.
The continuous "I don't know" reminds me of PSH directing actors and encouraging them to keep asking; "Why" -- the accumulation and tackling of the Why's lead to a moment of emotion & inspiration which reveals TRUTH.