{"id":954,"date":"2014-02-24T23:10:49","date_gmt":"2014-02-24T23:10:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/?p=954"},"modified":"2014-02-24T23:10:49","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T23:10:49","slug":"information-and-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.scu.edu\/writeherewritenow\/2014\/02\/24\/information-and-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"Information and Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"

Know the sunlight
\nWhile confronting the shadows,
\nBecoming a leader to all.<\/p>\n

Tao Te Ching, <\/i>28<\/p>\n

\"stars\"<\/a>We experience a daily deluge of information\u2014news, gossip, external demands, TV, radio, e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and more. But we are much more than information. As astrophysicists remind us, we are made of the very elements of the stars. And, accordingly, the light of inspiration is essential to our nature. Without inspiration, that sense of meaning that illuminates our lives, something within us withers and dies. As Viktor Frankl found in a Nazi concentration camp, those people inspired by a sense of meaning–with someone to love, a book to write, something to live for–survived while others lost hope and died.<\/p>\n

Great leaders have always communicated inspiration, bringing hope to the people around them. In the dark days of the Depression, Franklin D. Roosevelt affirmed that \u201cthe only thing we have to fear is fear itself.\u201d During the Battle of Britain, Churchill raised his people\u2019s spirits, affirming that this was Britain\u2019s \u201cfinest hour.\u201d In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy\u2019s inaugural challenged Americans to \u201cask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,\u201d and Martin Luther King\u2019s \u201cI have a dream\u201d speech touched the hearts of a nation.<\/p>\n

A vital task for any leader is to communicate with heart, inspiring those around us. This does not <\/span>mean imposing our will on a group and calling it vision. As Steve Privett, President of the University of San Francisco, once said, a leader must learn to \u201cresonate with the sensus fidelium<\/i> of a group.\u201d All groups have a sense of who they are and what they believe in, values often hidden beneath the surface. A wise leader can discern these unspoken beliefs and articulate them, holding up a beacon of hope to light the path to the future.<\/p>\n

Now it\u2019s your turn–to break through the constant clamor of information to discover the light of inspiration within and around you.<\/p>\n

Take a moment to pause, close your eyes, and ask: \u201cWhere do I find inspiration? When do I feel vividly, vitally alive?\u201d<\/p>\n