Description
What I am about to say might be obvious to some but not so obvious to others. In short, it is about the hugely important connection between awareness and inspiration, which determines so much about our quality of life. When inspiration weakens or dies, so does a person’s ability to be aware and focus, and that can result in unfortunate errors in judgment.
Once upon a time, there was no such thing as motivational speakers. Those are people who get paid incredible amounts of money to prance around a stage for an hour or so saying things that inspire people to be better than they presently are. And they get paid the big bucks because it works…at least enough to inspire people to pay them their fees.
Decades ago I happened to be at a hotel for a conference of Jewish outreach professionals. As it turned out, one of the first and most famous motivational speakers of that time was doing his thing in another conference room, which I stumbled upon while taking a break from my conference.
The doors were opened to the room, which was filled to capacity, and I had a clear view of the speaker. No one seemed to mind that I stood there, so I watched the presentation for about five minutes before returning to my own program upstairs.
He was impressive, and I enjoyed what I saw. I also noticed that everyone there was completely focused on every move he made and every word he spoke. But the interesting thing was that so much of what he was getting paid to say was already obvious to me, and probably to most of the people attending my conference upstairs. It is just part-and-parcel of a Torah lifestyle.
Or at least should be.
There are 613 mitzvos in the Torah, 365 negative mitzvos and 248 positive ones. Negative mitzvos basically tell a person what not to do to avoid ruining God’s world, so they correspond to the days of the year. Positive mitzvos tell us what we should do to make the world and us better, so they correspond to the limbs of a body.
It can take a lot of willpower to avoid committing a sin, but not necessarily inspiration. But it takes inspiration to get up and do something that may not be comfortable to do, and especially to do it with heart. Willpower can be very limited, but it is amazing what people have done because of a little inspiration, and even more so, a lot of inspiration.
Everyone knows that quality of life and inspiration are basically the same thing. As inspiration goes up, so does quality of life. Quality of life requires energy, and energy comes from inspiration, especially when a person is too tired to do anything. A consistently inspired person is an alive person.
And they’re focused as well. An inspired person tends to have a heightened awareness of the world around them and the task at hand. People talk about being “pumped up,” which seems to slow the situation down and make it easier to see and relate to the outside world. All they are is just super focused because they don’t feel any need to focus on themselves.
There is another net effect. Inspired people can also be more aware of others and their needs. Uninspired people tend to become self-focused, which leaves little or no room to think about others and what they require to be happier. Inspired people talk about being able to “feel” the presence of others more acutely, and the “energy” they project. This makes them a better team player and member of society.
For some, the problem is finding inspiration in life. For others, it’s more a matter of maintaining it. But for everyone, living an inspired life is essential, even an obligation. So, it pays to know what it is, how it works, and where to find it.
