Is it inspiration or pirating?
The great Chuck Palahnuk once said, “…everything is a copy, of a copy, of a copy” — (Fight Club).
It is said that every element in your dream is real and not just made up by your brain.That means, a stranger in your dream was also captured by your brain at a random moment in your life. That moment can be from a movie, in a library or you just passed by that person in your life on some random day.
Our brain captures the slightest moments in our lives without us even knowing it. Everything we see, hear, smell and touch, all of this is stored in these walnut looking organ. And our dreams, they are just a cocktail of these senses and our thoughts.
Now, just like these dreams of ours, inspirations are also formed in a similar way.
Sometimes, we just get inspired by the existing information in our brain out of the blue. But other times, the information stored in us is simply inadequate. We have to fuel ourselves with more inspiration. This is mostly done via viewing or by hearing. We may just listen to music, or maybe hop on to Pinterest or Behance to get our gears rotating. It is after all of these efforts that we finally get THE EUREKA MOMENT.
But a question to ask over here is that, is your Eureka moment original? Was it the inspiration that got you the final idea, or did you steal it; like a pirate?
The thing is, if we don’t add our thoughts and essence to the idea and just end up mixing various ideas by other individuals, that’s when we become the pirate. Doing so does not make our idea original.
Our eureka moment is original when it is mixed up with the ideas of others, as well as ours. It simply has to have a part of an interpretation/idea thought by us and not someone else. So, go make your own cocktail. Shake up your memories, thoughts, visuals along with something you have read, watched or heard. Get inspired and drink up your cocktail. Don’t be a pirate.
Author:
Tanvi Mehta, B. Des. Product Design, Sem. III, School of Industrial Design, Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID)
Disclaimer: The opinions / views expressed in this article are solely of the author in his / her individual capacity. They do not purport to reflect the opinions and/or views of the College and/or University or its members.
