The death of beloved American pop music artist Dolly Parton raises the question of where profound inspiration comes from. There are answers, both post-materialist and materialist.
Dolly Parton was crystal clear: A creative force aided her songwriting. Throughout history, numerous artists, scientists and religious innovators have made similar claims. Modern psychology has explained creativity as dynamic brain activity. But for some of the most creative individuals, and for most of human history, inspiration has been attributed to a partnership, a relationship with something beyond small self: a muse, a genius, daimon, a god.
Stephan A. Schwartz, distinguished consulting faculty of Saybrook University, studied these sorts of experiences his entire career. Common to all creatives who channel their material is their connection to “non-local” consciousness, Schwartz concluded in a 2018 editorial for ECronicon:
“Although the details vary according to their context – scientific, creative arts, spiritual disciplines, remote viewing – they all share one thing in common: a sense of being connected to a greater unity incorporating everything, a sense of being in a ‘spaceless space, a timeless time.’ They are experiencing an aspect of consciousness not physiologically grounded.”
Parton wrote more than 3,000 songs throughout her long career, and had numerous hits, such as “Jolene,” “I Will Always Love You,” and “Coat of Many Colors.” As with other inspired creatives, Parton was clear her muse was from beyond. Of her songwriting, she has said, “That is my personal time with God, truly … It is my personal time with that divine, creative force.”
Neuroscience has not been able to account for the sheer brilliance of many of these creatives, which sometimes exceeds normal intellectual prowess. For instance, Srinivasa Ramanujan was an acclaimed and prolific Indian mathematician whose process was more visceral than typical. He said his wellspring of creativity was Namagiri, a local incarnation of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi.
The New York Times provided some context for Parton’s inspired songwriting in the paper’s “Believing” column. Columnist Lauren Jackson interviewed Stanford University anthropologist Tanya Marie Luhrmann, who attributed Parton’s experience to “absorption — this ability or interest in getting caught up in your own inner world.” In other circles, this attention state is high focus that enables flow and channeling (the sense of receiving complete information from outside one’s self).
Compared to some psychologists who dismiss such inspired material as a form of hallucination, Luhrmann is more sympathetic. In her view Parton’s songwriting acumen was heightened imagination. But even psychiatric studies have measured distinct differences in brain activity during otherworldly communications versus imagination or hallucination.
One myth about such inspired material, both post-materialist and materialist scientists agree, is that it comes effortlessly. Almost all creatives are intensely focused on developing the ability. It is cultivated through time and effort. But artists often say the impulse — the vision, the riff, the melody, the idea — just arrives as if they are the instrument for giving it physical form.
“I have to write and sing, see, that is my first love,” Parton told the BBC.
Written by Tom Zolper
Edited by Anders Bolling
