Spencer Heath Archive

Item 440

Random taping by Spencer MacCallum from conversation

1955?

     We are not off on the very best foot when we consider things in terms of their ease of execution. What we really strive for is the thrill of accomplishing something that we have never accomplished before, or ever so greatly or so well accomplished before. We have a creative impulse within us which can only be gratified by bringing something to pass that we have only dreamed of before. What gives a joy in any act or process or the conduct of any affair, what gives a real joy as distin­guished from mere relief from pain or from ennui, is the sense of creating something, the sense of feeling the inspiration of a new creation, and the sense of communicat­ing that inspiration to others, either present or in time to come.

     Now I think that we should be concerned about whether a course of action is inspiring, whether it will inspire us or inspire others rather than whether it is going to be easy to perform. And if it does inspire us, and we feel that it may inspire others, there will be no rigors, no labors so severe as to deter, and it will be a minor matter how difficult it may be to perform.