Thursday, March 3, 2011

Muse

The greatest artists have had them.  Painters, musicians, writers.  What am I talking about? I'm talking about a "muse" -someone or something that inspires you.  Moves you to create, to give it life.  My muse? I have several.  There is one person specifically, that I have for love.  He is the one that inspires all of my almost x-rated thoughts and words and stories.  Sigh, yep. He does it for me.  And then I have others for life stories and anecdotes, experiences.  The reason I bring this up is because on a radio show this morning, they were talking about what it must be like to go through life without experiencing "inspiration".  The radio guy was saying that it's impossible to live your life without anything to aspire to or without anyone or anything to inspire you to be a better person or have a better life or whatever it is that you want.  One caller, a woman who said she was in her 20's, said that she didn't need a muse.  That she inspired herself, every day.  That got me thinking (I know, scary isn't it?)  if that was possible. What do you think? Another caller, a man in his 30's, said that everyone needs something to hope for thus, everyone needs their own muse.  Do you agree?  I'm kind of torn.  I like and agree with the first caller because I believe we can inspire ourselves.  But I also agree with the second caller because I believe sometimes we need a little help.  For me, sometimes my inspiration comes in the form of a sunset or a full moon or the ocean waves, crashing on the sand.  Do you agree that Muse and Inspiration are the same?  Or do you think they are different?  Hmm, this is what is in my head at a quarter to midnight on a Thursday. 

If you made it this far, yay! You get a prize! Not really.  Sorry.  lol

4 comments:

David Batista said...

I don't believe that muse and inspiration are interchangeable. At least to me, a muse is something tangible--like a person, object, or something that brings about inspiration. While inspiration itself, otoh, is more abstract and cuts out the middle man that is the muse. :)

As such, I can't say that I've personally ever had a muse. However, I *do* get plenty of inspiration from a whole host of things, like when I overcame a pretty big health scare and this positive energy then inspired me to write.

That to me is more inspirtation rather than muse. But I will admit that the concept behind the "muse" is something that is an enigma, as I tend to always think of the mythic Greek belief of the muses as being goddesses who embodied the powers that would inspire mortals to achieve great things in the arts. In that sense of the term "muse" -- then, no, I don't believe in it.

Yvonne said...

David - That's what I was looking for! A clearer definition of what "muse" and "inspiration" meant to everyone. I agree with you in that "muse" is somewhat of an enigma. That radio show was really interesting, they discussed all kinds of stuff but this struck a chord with me.

Kelli Hale said...

I agree with David. I think anything in your life can be your inspiration. Although, I would probably define a "muse" as something that provides constant inspiration.

For example, when I'm having a case of writers block, I always tune into some music. I would consider music my muse, even though whomever the artist, or what type of style is irrelevant. Music as a whole never fails to provide me with inspiration. Thus it becomes my "muse".

In addition, I also think that there are two types of inspiration. Positive and negative. Inspiration is defined as "an animating action or influence." Just as you can be inspired to better your self, I believe you can also be inspired to harm yourself.

Yvonne said...

Sunny Dee - I loved you last paragraph. It's rings true! I love music as well and it can be quite inspirational!

Chapter 56

The sunlight peeping through the curtains, stir her from her sleep.  Her eyes open and she rubs them a bit before sitting up in bed.  Eyes n...