I begin this post by first addressing the terminologies 'inspiration' and 'influence'.
Here's what the dictionary told me about them:
Inspiration - The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative.
Influence - The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.
Many people have said, and so do I agree, that one should be inspired not influenced by someone or something. Being influenced might be good during certain times, I don't deny, but that influence should not govern your mind. I rather feel that one should add his/ her own touch of thought to that influence which he/ she has gained before using it, to have some originality. Inspiration on the other hand, inculcates the same. Thus I reach my main point, which is inspiration.
So many times have I been asked, "Who is your inspiration?". I'm pretty sure most of the readers too face such questions frequently in their lives. What my objection, however, is the word 'Who'. Let me get you to what I am saying sequentially. Say, someone asks me who my inspiration is. I might answer that I am inspired by say Beethoveen. Now if someone asks Beethoveen (though I know there is no way of doing this today) who his inspiration was, he might talk of another great figure. And so can this can continue till we reach the first human. Ask him/ her who his/ her inspiration was (please don't tell me about the fact that language wasn't well-developed back then or that there might have been more than one homo sapiens when our species came to life). What would he/ she answer? He/ she has no human to talk about. I quite naturally expect the question directed toward him/ her to be "What is your inspiration?" rather than "Who is your inspiration?". He/ she might answer nature, considering that almost everything at that time could be called nature. Why then do people today never ask "What" my inspiration is?
In fact, I feel that nature (or maybe any other non-human thing, though I'm focusing more on nature) in this world can prove to be a better inspiration than a particular human.
I support this with what Albert Einstein had once said, "Look deep, deep into nature and you will understand everything better."
Today, I feel, that what was once but natural for people to do (seek inspiration from nature), has unfortunately, I should say, been converted into a field of study, called 'bionics'.
You can google that for more information, but in short, it is a study wherein people design technology and engineering methods from biological methods and systems of nature. Today, there wouldn't have been velcro, resilin, cat's eye reflectors, and many more things if people hadn't worked in bionics.
Yet, I get the feeling that this world of humans is quite insane. On one hand we destroy nature, and on the other, draw inspiration from it. A truly "weird world". :-)
Here's what the dictionary told me about them:
Inspiration - The process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, esp. to do something creative.
Influence - The capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something, or the effect itself.
Many people have said, and so do I agree, that one should be inspired not influenced by someone or something. Being influenced might be good during certain times, I don't deny, but that influence should not govern your mind. I rather feel that one should add his/ her own touch of thought to that influence which he/ she has gained before using it, to have some originality. Inspiration on the other hand, inculcates the same. Thus I reach my main point, which is inspiration.
So many times have I been asked, "Who is your inspiration?". I'm pretty sure most of the readers too face such questions frequently in their lives. What my objection, however, is the word 'Who'. Let me get you to what I am saying sequentially. Say, someone asks me who my inspiration is. I might answer that I am inspired by say Beethoveen. Now if someone asks Beethoveen (though I know there is no way of doing this today) who his inspiration was, he might talk of another great figure. And so can this can continue till we reach the first human. Ask him/ her who his/ her inspiration was (please don't tell me about the fact that language wasn't well-developed back then or that there might have been more than one homo sapiens when our species came to life). What would he/ she answer? He/ she has no human to talk about. I quite naturally expect the question directed toward him/ her to be "What is your inspiration?" rather than "Who is your inspiration?". He/ she might answer nature, considering that almost everything at that time could be called nature. Why then do people today never ask "What" my inspiration is?
In fact, I feel that nature (or maybe any other non-human thing, though I'm focusing more on nature) in this world can prove to be a better inspiration than a particular human.
I support this with what Albert Einstein had once said, "Look deep, deep into nature and you will understand everything better."
Today, I feel, that what was once but natural for people to do (seek inspiration from nature), has unfortunately, I should say, been converted into a field of study, called 'bionics'.
You can google that for more information, but in short, it is a study wherein people design technology and engineering methods from biological methods and systems of nature. Today, there wouldn't have been velcro, resilin, cat's eye reflectors, and many more things if people hadn't worked in bionics.
Yet, I get the feeling that this world of humans is quite insane. On one hand we destroy nature, and on the other, draw inspiration from it. A truly "weird world". :-)
Humans are so bothered about "who" versus "what in many spheres. When there is a problem on hand, the natural question is "who did it" rather than "what is the issue on hand". The moot question thus is "What (not Who) could change this wierd world?"
ReplyDeleteHaha I truly agree! Unfortunately, this world might have to be changed by humans themselves, cause they're the ones who've made it weird. I wouldn't ask Mother Nature to help out with such problems. She's done enough for humans. Nor any non-human thing. Humans need change. So maybe "Who could change this weird world?" should work well :-D
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