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Inspiration is an animistic conception of the experience in which a new idea from the unconscious breaks into consciousness. 'The voice of the unconscious is externalized and becomes the voice of God who speaks through the mouth of the chosen.' The subject turns from activity to passivity, and is thus released from responsibility. Close analysis always demonstrates the relativity of the 'suddenness' of the appearance of the new idea. The first case cited suffered from a compulsion to quote authorities, and when occasionally he was independent of such authoritative protection, he felt it as a triumph. The second case was able to work only when either he had had an alcoholic drink or some stimulating drug—or he sought an authority to give him 'advice' which he himself first suggested to the 'authority'. 'In both of these cases a homosexual fantasy forms the background of experience in the intellectual field, the sexualization being obviously responsible for the failures. The climax in the old fantasy is replaced in the first case by the intellectual fight and the deep satisfaction which eventually ensues, in the second case by the states of excitement. In this second case, however, the aggressive meaning of creative activity leads to the quest for an authority whose advice frequently represents the patient's own ideas. Here, si parva licet componere magnis, lies the analogy with the state of inspiration in the full metaphorical sense.'
Generally, in phenomena of this kind, pregenital experiences are genitally elaborated. A really creative 'inspiration' has to be desexualized. In principle there is not much psychological difference between ecstatic unio mystica and states of inspiration. The difference lies in the outcome: 'In ecstasy the