In our day, bright moments often occur – when we’re suddenly inspired, when an idea or a solution to a problem comes to us out of thin air, a mysterious gift. Here’s how Lewis Hyde explains that process: “The gift leaves all boundary and circles into mystery. The passage into mystery always refreshes. If, when we work, we can look once a day upon the face of mystery, then our labor satisfies. We are lightened when our gifts rise from pools we cannot fathom. Then we know they are not a solitary egotism and they are inexhaustible.”
We may respond by getting a new perspective on a challenge we’re facing, or summoning the energy or inspiration to create our own unique work of art after interacting with someone else’s gift. Lewis Hyde says of this stage, “Through it we can give more than we were given, say more than we had to say.”
