When looking for an idea, you may suddenly find yourself in the great iron grip of the muse. And if you suddenly felt your hands and mind racing as if they were not your own, you would certainly not be alone. The massive quandary afflicting artists since the dawn of history has always been to contact this ephemeral state of mind. And yet throughout history there have been those to suggest it was not of their own design at all, but rather something else.
The Greeks would often call upon the great god Hermes to assist them in their artistic endeavors. The Mayans would call upon Ix Chel. And throughout it all the words of these gods were agreed to be the best expressions of the human condition despite coming from an alien source. And if contacting an external entity for inspiration seems like an ancient or outdated practice, many of the artistic and creative endeavors found in the modern day halls of fame would fit into this category as well, ranging from the gloomy musings of Edgar Allen Poe to the deeply cerebral and disturbing images authored by Philip K. Dick. The Beatles each had their own experiences causing them to give credit to one force or another or simply “the muse.”
So what if the muse was more than just a simple thought pattern swimming through the minds of each of us? What if it was actually a very real entity somehow roaming through the fabric of space and contacting us in ways that didn’t depend on the more conventional five senses? If it sounds preposterous consider the following: Philip K. Dick encountered a blue beam of light one day while answering his front door. In that moment he received deep specific knowledge that his son was going to die if he didn’t specifically go see a doctor and tell them exactly what the condition was. The doctor was astonished when he heard Dick’s account and quickly the boy was diagnosed with exactly the illness he had seen in his vision. Later, Philip K. Dick would write the book VALIS, which would be credited as being from similar experiences. The man who also wrote the book that would become Blade Runner has been said to have written his best book based on this muse which Dick described as a Vast Active Living Intelligent System.
Others have pointed out specific external paranormal creatures as well. And the inspiration was not limited only to artists. Throughout history scientists have similarly been drawn in by inspiration from sometimes bizarre supernatural forces and creatures. Palomar credited a mysterious creature that crawled through his window and told him to build the now famous Palomar observatory in California.
So is it a series of coincidences? Do we truly get our inspiration from external sources? Or is this strange alien force within us all?
Special thanks to Jeff Behnke of Paranormal News for being my own inspirational entity in suggesting this topic.