We receive inspiration from two main sources. The first is from within. It consists of creative thinking, remembering and ‘body intelligence’. For example, skilled mechanics know straight away why an engine won’t start and professional musicians can tune in to a piece of music and play along without necessarily rehearsing. In both cases the memory of how to do it is imprinted in their consciousness,

We also receive inspiration from without. It comes to us in the form of ideas that cannot be traced to our own experiences. Many geniuses believed that they were tuning in to a higher form of consciousness. Einstein, Louis Pasteur, Edison, Alexander Fleming, Mozart and Ludwig Van Beethoven believed they were tapping into a source of inspiration beyond their own minds and were merely channels through which ideas flowed. The Prophet Mohammed was illiterate, yet he made profound statements about science and the natural world centuries ahead of their time that turned out to be amazingly accurate.

Where did this come from? ‘It cannot be done by willpower,’ said the composer Johannes Brahms when asked from where his inspiration came. ‘When I feel the urge to compose, I begin by appealing directly to my maker. I immediately feel vibrations that thrill my whole being. In this exalted state, I see clearly what is obscure in my ordinary moods, then I feel capable of drawing inspiration from above.’

You are a channel

All the knowledge that ever was or will be already exists. We think we are expanding the boundaries of knowledge, but this is untrue – the knowledge is already there! We simply discover what has always been. The means of sending radio signals, e-mails and text messages, travelling by air and carrying out organ transplants existed before humans discovered them. We didn’t create the knowledge, we uncovered it.

To be the best channel you can, you must allow the inspiration to flow through you. Are you resisting by refusing to believe you have this power? Enter the silence through meditation and contemplation, then you are ready to receive spiritual ideas and inspiration from wherever it comes. Be calm and still. Be open to imaginative ideas. Be patient – the Superconscious cannot be hurried – maybe later – a fully formed solution presents itself.

You are no less a channel for universal ideas than Edison, Pasteur, Brahms and the rest – we all are. All it takes is self-belief and a little practice.

©David Lawrence Preston, 12.12.2016

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How to Books, 2007