Finding Inspiration in Human Greatness: Here's How to Do It

Today’s suggestion is about letting yourself be inspired by masterpieces.

Masterpieces are great works of art, literature, and music. They can come in many different shapes and forms, including:

• the written word (books, poems etc.)
• music
• videos (movies, short films etc.)
• visual arts (paintings, photography etc.).

I would also include recordings of the spoken word (speeches, spoken poems etc.) in this category.

For this article, I think the main thing that matters is the impact it has on you. Does it take your breath away, bring tears to your eyes or goosebumps to your skin? Does it move you? Does it inspire you? Does it create a shift in you?

If so, let’s call it a masterpiece.

In a way, masterpieces stand outside time. They have an ageless quality to them.

As Italian Journalist Italo Calvino put it: “A classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.”

The same could be said of masterpieces. Thus, masterpieces can be recent (for me, the movie "Cloud Atlas" falls into this category) or incredibly old. And often, masterpieces get even more powerful as they age.

Take, for instance, the cave paintings in the Cave of Altamira in Spain. The first of these paintings were created around 36,000 years ago.

These paintings are so impressive that, after visiting this site, Pablo Picasso reportedly said: “after Altamira, everything is decadence.”

That’s the power of a masterpiece. From an emotional point of view, a masterpiece transcends time.

Often, masterpieces “channel” a particular energy that we could call the muse.

Masterpieces can be found in many different places, depending on the type you look for.

Many masterpieces can be found in museums or historical sites. Today, many masterpieces are also available to us online, in the form of a picture, an audio or a video recording.

If you have the option of seeing a masterpiece in person or just seeing a copy of it or a virtual depiction of it, go for the real thing.

With all that being said, let’s move on to…

Grab a pen and paper. 📝Then, take a moment to go through the following process.

(If you want to get the most out of this or if you're afraid of getting stuck, get the "Taking Action Worksheets" and begin by filling those out.)

• Make a list of 5 masterpieces that inspire you
  For instance: “Beethoven’s Ode to Joy is amazing. I also feel really inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey.’ I also remember that I liked Schiller’s ‘The Robbers’ when we read it in school. And Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner is incredible. I also just love Sartre’s ‘No Exit.’”
  
  
• Evaluate your list
  As you look over your list, evaluate if it’s a pretty homogeneous one (in terms of time periods, mediums, areas of the world as well as the background of the creator).
  
  For instance: “Hmm, so they are not all from the same time period and I have different mediums represented so there’s some diversity there. While they don’t all have the same nationality, I’m noticing that all the people of my list are from Western countries (Germany, France and the United States), which is probably not that surprising given my own background. Also, all of them are men.”
  
  
• Diversify your list
  Try to make this list as diverse as possible.
  For instance: “Coming up with a more diverse list is harder than I thought. Okay, so I can add Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and Rumi’s poems to the list which gives me more diversity in terms of the time periods and the conditions in which these masterpieces were created. I can also add Aretha Franklin, Doris Lessing, and Frida Kahlo to the list so that I don’t only have examples of male creators. Also, let’s add the Cave of Altamira. It’s still a list that’s very Western-centric but I can ask my friends if they can recommend some masterpieces from different cultures to me.”
  
  
• Pick one masterpiece to explore
  For instance: “I think I would like to find out more about the Cave of Altamira and look at pictures of the cave paintings first.”

To connect with your passion and purpose, let yourself be inspired by masterpieces — great works of art, literature, and music.

These masterpieces “channel” a particular energy that has often been called muse, and that you also want to access when working on your own masterpiece.