Reinventing Popular Term
Introducing the “Muse Exclusive”
I was tired of saying “download” every time I got a new idea, so I invented a new term.
My Issue with “Download”
Many people, especially those in the new age community, love using the word “download” to explain new realizations.
You hear it used all the time, referencing anything from pop culture to spirituality:
“Dude, I got an interesting download last night about why I love Taylor Swift’s music.”
Or…
“The download I got during my three-day vipassana retreat allowed me to integrate my childhood traumas and alchemize them into the Prima Materia of Cosmic Consciousness.”
It’s becoming such a mainstream phrase now, I think I might have even heard Donald Trump using it during a recent rally.
“Let me tell you. I got the most incredible download. Just incredible. Nobody gets downloads like me. Nobody. I get the best downloads, and this download I got the other day. Let me tell you. The best.”
Seriously, though…
About two years ago, when I first heard “download” being thrown around outside the context of digital files, I wasn’t a fan. Yet, I couldn’t explain what it was that bothered me about it.
Afterall, it’s quite the apt metaphor. According to Etymology.com, the word “download” first came into usage in the year 1977 and is defined as an “action or process of transferring from the storage of a larger system to that of a smaller one.”
Which is exactly what happens when you download a video from YouTube onto your laptop hard drive.
The metaphor works because when we get these sudden insights, it’s as if we are “downloading” information from some larger dimensional framework (like the angels, or God, or the collective unconscious, etc.) into a smaller, singular framework — the individual consciousness.
To extend the metaphor further, that individual then might “share” their “download” to others and those others, if they are paying attention, might “upload” the information into their respective, individual minds.
If enough minds upload the download received by the original mind, then that download might go viral and — whalla !— we have a new religion.
Jesus and Buddha each “downloaded” a whole religion worth of information when they retreated from society and meditated for a length of time on the meaning of life.
They returned to society to share their divine files with anyone who would listen. Those who listened uploaded the files and became the first disciples.
Later disciples then translated the downloads into a “code” known as the “written word” turning the downloads into portable, easily replicable “flash drives.”
The Buddhist flash drive is known as the Nikāyas (teachings of the Buddha), and the Jesus flash drive is known as the New Testament.
So, as you can see, using basic computer tech terms as metaphors for spiritual and religious experiences works quite logically. It’s just not very poetic.
I’m also discouraged by the anachronistic nature of using tech language to explain spiritual phenomena. When Jesus was sermoning on the Mount two thousand years ago and 500 years before that when Buddha was chilling under the Bodhi tree, there were no computers.
There was nobody saying, “I saw Jesus at Golgotha last night, and I got a major download. You can hear all about it on my TikTok!”
Jesus didn’t have a Twitter account and Buddha wasn’t streaming on Hulu.
In other words, spiritual experiences have been around far, far longer than Wi-Fi.
The language of technology has a coldness to it that lacks sentience and therefore, compassion. Spirituality is all about sentience, love, compassion, healing, and conscious evolution.
When we apply terms associated with the material world of technology to these deeply profound non-material concepts and experiences, it reduces the significance inherent in spiritual transformation to a series of superficial catch-phrases you might encounter during a Super Bowl commercial.
“I downloaded Starbucks new Pumpkin Spice Latte right into my body’s network database and now my taste buds are enlightened!”
Gross.
Homage to the Ancients
Enter the term “Muse Exclusive.”
People have been experiencing eureka moments since the dawn of humankind, long before “download” was ever part of the lexicon. Our ancestors attributed these “insights from above” to beings known as the Muses.
By “our ancestors” I mean the Greeks, but I imagine just as every culture’s history features its own pantheon of gods and goddesses, demigods and heroes, other non-Greek cultures must have had their Muse equivalents. But, based on the limited research I’ve conducted, I don’t know what they’re called.
So, I’m going with “Muse”.
In Ancient Greece “The Muses were the goddesses of poetic inspiration, the adored deities of song, dance, and memory, on whose mercy the creativity, wisdom and insight of all artists and thinkers depended.” (Source).
According to Etymology.com, as a verb used in everyday parlance, muse comes from the twelfth century Old French word “muser”, which means “to ponder, dream, wonder.”
“Muse” acts as a root for such words as museum, music, amuse, bemuse, and mosaic (originally defined as “work of the Muses”).
Back in the day, if you wanted to get into a “flow state”, you picked which Muse was best suited for supporting your genre of creativity, and you called upon her by name.
You had nine Muses to choose from:
- Calliope — Epic Poetry
- Clio — History
- Erato — Love poetry, lyric art
- Euterpe — Music, especially the flute
- Melpomene — Tragedy dramas
- Polymnia — Hymns
- Terpsichore — Dance
- Thalia — Comedy dramas
- Urania — Astronomy/Astrology
Personally, I don’t call any of these Muses by name. I imagine them working together in a dynamic way somewhere in the astral realm, and as such I group them all together in my mind as The Muse.
The benefits of using the term “Muse Exclusive”
Although a Muse Exclusive can strike at any moment, for me the preponderance of them occur during my nightly meditation practice.
In fact, the term “Muse Exclusive” came to me during a meditation session when I thought to myself, “I don’t want to use the word ‘download’ anymore. What could I use instead?”
And just like that, The Muse spoke in the far reaches of my mind and “Muse Exclusive” was born.
Why the term works:
- It’s reminiscent of the term “news exclusive,” and therefore resonates with a kind of punny, dad joke cleverness.
- It’s like the news but it’s a lot better because it’s coming from a divine, expansive, holy place. Your sources aren’t the CIA or FBI or other questionable “experts”. Your source is the genuine article! (see what I did there?)
- The word Muse honors our Greek ancestors, and given the immense breadth of knowledge, wisdom, and beauty the Greeks handed down through the ages, I feel they deserve some credit and some love.
- The word “exclusive” indicates that what you are receiving from The Muse is unique and for your privileged access. This is an “exclusive” just for you, so please, take it seriously. Write it down. Share it with the world!
- The term “download” is used to describe creative or spiritual insights that one receives either out-of-the-blue, during flow states, or during moments of quiet contemplation. Yet, as its original definition implies, a download is something you consciously choose to happen. You click your mouse on the “download” button and wait. With “Muse Exclusive”, you receive the information from a place beyond your own immediate awareness.
For these reasons and more, I submit that the term “Muse Exclusive” is far superior in describing the epiphany phenomenon when compared to the term “download”.
Please feel free to use it in all its glory. I can’t guarantee what kind of results you’ll receive, but I’m guessing, the more you interact with “Muse Exclusives” the greater will be your creative rewards.
As a bonus bit of content, here are some preliminary phrases I might employ before I do anything creative.
“As I focus with single-pointed attention, my heart-mind is open to receive Muse Exclusives that best support my creative task at hand.”
Or
“I wonder what it would be like to receive a Muse Exclusive about [fill in the blank].”
Or
“Thank you [deity of choice] for the Muse Exclusive I’m about to receive.”
I received a Muse Exclusive the other day about starting a writing series titled — you guessed it — “Muse Exclusives”!
These short-form articles will focus on the insights, epiphanies, eureka ideas, revelations that I receive during my nightly meditation sessions.
For instance, I had a major Muse Exclusive three nights ago about the Hindu myth of Indra’s Net which I plan on writing about soon.
So stay tuned, and may The Muse be always guiding your creative endeavors.
