Tuesday, February 7, 2023

196 - Inspiration

【霊感、reikan】
[Inspiration is used here in its original meaning, 'divine influence'. The Japanese word refers to a nondistinct 'ability to sense the supernatural'. The English translation was specified in this entry itself, but I originally meant to use 'sixth sense', which is also brought up here.]

It describes, in general, the ability to see or sense the presence of ghosts and other such entities.

Spirits are also thought to harness human energy to generate phenomena, in particular, it's believed that energy-filled and, on top of that, unstable children experience such sensations more often.

It is also said that being around people with inspiration strengthens one's inspiration as well.


Inspiration is broadly considered to be the ability to sense supernatural forces or information that cannot be explained scientifically, and is not limited to psychic phenomena alone.

It can be describe as a sort of sixth sense.

The ability to sense danger and other forces in the world is a necessary skill for wild animals in the first place, and it is also thought that there are parts of the human brain that are responsible for such senses.

For this reason, such abilities are often seen in childhood, when the brain is not fully developed, or in people who have had one of their other five senses obstructed for some reason.


In alchemy, inspiration means to take within oneself the element of 'spirit', which mediates between the great power at the root of the universe and the soul of a living being, in other words, overseas, inspiration is thought to have originally been the ability to perceive such supernatural power in the soul.

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