Inspiration
INSPIRATION. As it appears in the general history of religions, inspiration may be defined very broadly as a spiritual influence that occurs spontaneously and renders a person capable of thinking, speaking, or acting in ways that transcend ordinary human capacities. Taken in this general sense, the term refers to a form of religious experience that is widely distributed and found in a great variety of forms. Taken more narrowly, the actual term (which derives from the Latin inspirare, "to blow or breath upon") implies the existence of a spiritus, or "breath," that is breathed into the soul and enlivens it. Although inspiration may often be conceived in this way, its specificity as a religious phenomenon should not be located in an explicit notion of spiritual breath or divine spirit, because such a notion may be absent in cases where one would still wish to speak of inspiration. In such cases, inspiration may be attributed to the direct action of a god, or even to the effects of a particular kind of food or drink. What is common to most forms of inspiration is its efficacy as an influence that motivates or facilitates action, very often in the form of inspired speech or song.
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