@ernst But passion can be the fuel for something meaningful you create...if you are able to turn its course round- because it is energy in its purest form? I see it in passionate artists for example- all their passion flows into creation and helps other people understand their own passions- just an afterthought 🙂
The trouble is that we are so used to doing things or living with passion, that when emotional health occurs, it is easy to rush back trying to live in a passionate way. Without passion, life seems bland. Blandness in itself is harmony, but it does seem hard to live a life of blandness when one is used to living a life with passion, or rather emotional illness.
@manisha Sorry I´m not Ernst but- I think we have to discern between healthy energetical thrive (a form of passion too?) towards a goal that produces real fulfillment and passionate cravings for the wrong outer goals as examplified through the principles of Lajjitaadi Avashtas...? ...As long as we are not enlightened/ highly spiritual and therefore without ambitions
I would term the healthy energetic drive to be inspiration and not passion. In your example of artists, when they create, they create from inspiration. It might look like passion, but it is coming from the inside and flowing outwards. Trying to find the 'muse' could be an example of passion, as the focus has shifted outwards, and they are seeking inspiration from outside sources.
Passion is a chase - a chase for anything. But basically, at the root of it, it is a chase for fulfillment. That depends on what one feels one is lacking.
Inspiration makes us take action without any thought. The feeling of fulfillment might come later, but we are not chasing after it, or doing something to feel fulfilled.
@manisha Thank you thats a well expressed distinction of both things !
But when I think for example: unhappy emotions, bitterness because of sth, a relation breakup, or else- you can take this emotion- and in that moment it is still this intense emotion you feel- and pour it into artistic action- like sculpting something out of clay..or you go running everyday a hundred kilometers. Afterwards you feel reliefed in a way- It´s like therapy. The passion has been channeled into a creative act of expression- of physical expression. So when does the inspiration come into play? In that moment you decide to pour your emotional energy into a medium which then serves as a mean to transform it instead of being passively intoxicated by it? So there is the emotion and the genuine inspirational mind finding a way to transform what is there- to not getting ill. Which would be possible with good Mercurial and Jupiterian influences in the chart?
So I am coming to the conclusion that passion becomes emotion becomes inspiration 🙂
I understand what you mean. I'm seeing it as a way of releasing the emotional charge, to be able to go beyond it to connect to inspiration.
Say, if I'm angry, and I decide to sculpt, I'm going to pound that clay to begin with. If I'm sad, I'm going to vent my resentment on the clay. If I'm still angry or sad, the sculpture might take a form, but it will always be a depiction or a reminder of the event that caused the angry or sad emotions.
If I sculpt from inspiration, the feeling will be of peace, because that is our inherent nature.
I find that physical exertion, in any form, is a great way to release any emotional charge. Meditation, in any form, also does the same. Once we are rid of the emotional chaos and not so focused on it, there is space for inspiration to make it's quiet presence known.
Trying to find fulfillment from something or someone outside ourselves causes us to chase. This becomes passion, and even obsession. Since that won't last, and the chase gets us nowhere, we experience these intense negative emotions. Working through these negative emotions, we eventually find our way back to ourselves and peace, which brings forth inspiration. In this way, what you said is right, that "passion becomes emotion becomes inspiration".
Perhaps, the inspiration felt during distress, is that of getting rid of the emotional overload, in some way, shape or form, that is causing the mind and body to suffer.
Ernst, But dont you think passion is important to have for your work? Passion can be for so many things, healthy and unhealthy things. But if you can channel your passion to the good healthy things in life, then I would think that is wonderful. It is like you create something, a poem, an art object, a piece of writing, anything that is meaningful to you, and you channel all the energy to it. When you complete it, you sit back and enjoy it. That is truly the best moment in life. Then you move on to the next project.
Passion can lead to addiction if you are not careful. I wonder if passion and energy are the same?
tuyet
I feel passion is rajasic, inspiration is satvic, and negative emotions (including blandness or ennui) are tamasic.
Rajasic component is necessary to bring either satvic or tamasic into being.
Without the rajasic passion, even a satvic inspiration would remain in the realm of idea. And without the rajasic passion, emotional healing wouldn't take place.
Probably everyone is giving an opinion based on their own charts. As someone with Rahu in Taurus, I truly have to learn the role of passion in building ones life, so I totally understand all the ones saying passion is important.
Passion as an emotional force is a disease that comes from the emptiness in our psyche wanting to be filled by the world. The opposite of that is emotional peace or health. Inspiration that comes from the consciousness that is a natural quality of the self and not there to fill an empty hole, but which comes out of self is healthy. And yes, it can be hard to determine which is which.