Furor Poeticus [Poetic Madness]

What is Inspiration?

“In Greek thought, inspiration meant that the poet or artist would go into ecstasy, or furor poeticus, the divine frenzy or poetic madness. …” — Wikipedia

Why Inspiration?

Inspiration is the catalyst of almost all great things, and it often comes from trying to be just a bit different. I indented the paragraphs in this book to be a bit different.

In the startup world, all great products and business ideas come from inspiration — “Hey, what if the world had ____ ?” That surge of feeling, happiness, the light going on, endorphins, and sometimes even anger, creates a momentary heightened intelligence and vision.

The dictionary defines inspiration as “ a sudden burst of creativity.” Here’s an excerpt from Wikipedia about the history of inspiration:
Ancient models of inspiration.

“ In Greek thought, inspiration meant that the poet or artist would go into ecstasy or furor poeticus, the divine frenzy or poetic madness. He or she would be transported beyond his own mind and given the gods’ or goddesses’ own thoughts to embody. ”

When you’re going about your process of trying to innovate something new in the commercial world, defining your processes, putting your time in, trying to be as clever as you can, you can easily feel like you’re diluting or leaving behind your original inspiration. This happens to me sometimes, and I try to protect myself from it.

“You’ll often wonder why you’re not coming up with the amazing idea, the killer app, the silver bullet. But, with the right ingredients, that’s exactly how inspiration comes along. If you combine all of the above with optimism, sincerity and enthusiasm, that’s where the amazing discoveries happen. You can’t predict or control exactly what or where they will be, you have to, as Nike says, “JUST DO IT.” Challenge yourself, be a little bit scared.

Excerpt From: Tom Nora. “Hacking The Core.” Tom Nora, 2017. iBooks. https://itun.es/us/V5Moib.l