I am fascinated by the dynamic experience that is inspiration. I don’t pretend to understand it, which maybe only makes it all the more fascinating. I think we think too narrowly about inspiration. I think we think of artists being inspired, of poets being inspired, of musicians being inspired. We have heard that they have some sort of experience out of which comes a beautiful painting or sculpture, a poem that rivets us when we hear it, a song or musical composition that leads us into transcendent experiences of our own.
But, can an auto mechanic be inspired? Can a surgeon? Can a plumber? Can a salesperson be inspired? We might chuckle about some of these possibilities, but honestly, when my car is not running and the solution seems elusive, I want an auto mechanic that is open to something other than the ordinary. When my body is defying every day medicine, I want a surgeon or a physician who is willing to muse beyond the typical prescriptions.
In other words, in my human community, I always benefit from those who are willing to be drawn into a relationship with me and my concerns and begin an open-ended conversation with me. That kind of drawing in invites the other person or being to draw in, too. In that mutual drawing in, two beings enter into something that becomes larger 
than the two of them. Very often what arises is what we call “inspiration.” Some call it magick. Others call it a miracle. The two may be drawn in around a problem (broken down car, broken down body). The two may be drawn in by a fascinating question. The two may be drawn in by a question, a hope, a fear they wish to face together. In that mutuality of being drawn in, the Muses speak and something which neither had conceived of just before emerges. Imagine the miracle that the tree branch must seem to the bird tired and hungry in the winter–drawn into each other.
I wonder, today, who or what being may draw me in. Will I be willing to be drawn in? Will I remain in that drawn in place long enough for the Muse to speak? What inspiration, what magick, what miracle may emerge from my encounters today?
Bob Patrick
