Inspiration, Part IV

(con't from Part III)

"Inspiration comes, but it has to find you working."
-- Pablo Picasso

Saint Matthew and the Angel, oil on canvas, by Guido Reni.
The subject of this painting says a lot about artists and creative people in general.
Typically, they're modest because they know they're not doing the work; they're just taking dictation from an unseen force that kicks in whenever they sit down to do their work, an intelligence that's smarter than they are, a lot smarter, that goes to work all by itself, as if it enjoys it.
So-called "non-creative people" typically don't like creative people because they're jealous; they sense that artists are tapped into some grid of energy and inspiration that they themselves can't seem to connect with.
This, of course, is nonsense; we're all creative.
The same everyday miracles are happening in everyone's head, day by day, minute by minute; it's the same force yanking at everyone's sleeve to provide us with ideas, insights, and inspiration once we begin to do our creative work, that work that's the epicenter of our being, that's necessary for the growth of our soul.
That same invisible Principle is at work with everyone, independent of our own mind and yet in alliance with it, processing our material for us, and alongside us, once we start working.
The difference is, the artist is determined to do his creative work no matter what; he knows that it's not the work that's hard; what's hard is sitting down to do it [See blog, The Lizard Brain, Parts I-VII, The Book].
(con't in Part V)