Why do we do the things that we do? The world we live in is likely perceived to be a structured, rational one. It asks for reasons all the time. The need to give justification for something that one does or is happening seems almost intuitive that is difficult to say if it is indeed naturally embedded in the human psyche or if instead it is a learned habit. I would say that there is a possibility for the latter, which would imply that it is also possible for human beings to be naturally irrational, as a simplistic way of naming the idea of being beyond rationality and being something else. It is possible, for non-rational things happen out of the human initiative. There are phenomena like creativity, innovation, inspiration, intuition, love, etc., that just seem to escape any sort of comprehensive rationalisation.
Take inspiration for example. One artist may say that they have a muse and this muse is their inspiration. The artist makes their art believing that they are capable of doing so because of their muse. Critics of their art, however, may ascribe the genius of their artwork to many other things besides the muse. There is the context in which this artist (and perhaps the muse as well) belong too—the spirit of their time influencing the artist’s subject whether consciously or not. There are also the technical matters: a piece feels so full of life because of such and such technique.
Another artist may instead believe that they create art out of routine and discipline; the trick is to do it regularly, with or without a ‘muse’. Yet similarly, others might see traces of inspiration in their works.
At the same time, we can have another set of artist, one with a muse and one with the discipline, and tell them they would be geniuses by virtue of those methods. Would it really be the method then and not something else?
Inspiration can constitute an other and some characteristic of a subject, but at the same time it is also possible to be without those. Sometimes, an inspired art just happens and it may not even be an artist who makes it. Where then does this thing come from?
Does the difficulty of describing what inspiration is make it any less real? Imagine this proposal: there is no such thing as inspiration. What kind of world would that be? “There is no such thing as love.” What sort of experience would that bring about?
It is possible to deny these things that are without cohesion and certainty. However, to say that they are not real due to their unavailability to rationalisation is simplistic and I would argue is even a symptom of a weak imagination (which is yet another thing beyond explanations). But let us say that such a case is perfectly acceptable. Existing beings would still live and perhaps even thrive without all of these ‘unnecessary’ things that are irrelevant to survival. The world devoid of such ideas indeed exists.
Would human beings, though?
Here is another proposal: when we seem to think in a manner of rationalisation, perhaps we are instead hearing the call of wonder and simply mis-translating it as a need for certainty. Those ideas which say that there is no purpose or inherent meaning to life/existence do not, by experience, completely rid of that which calls us to ask the question “What is the point?” Instead, it seems more like another boundary, another kind of tension, to have to not ask what the point is. It is quite circular: “What is the point? There is no point. But why am I doing this if there is no point then what exactly is happening?”
Surely, one can train oneself to be in a corporeal form that is immune to such questions, but are they really that bad to begin with? After all, many things get accomplished with an “end in mind” approach.
Maybe there is simply something so undeniably human (or alive) with the act of continually asking questions without having to arrive at a definite answer. Would it make sense to view thinking as something more similar to breathing: being done over and over again as both a sign of life and a need to stay alive. Both could be consciously improved upon but they are also just as natural and just as inevitable.