The Light of Inspiration

2025-05-11

“What would Dante do?”

That’s the question Youtuber Struthless, challenged everyone to ask in the face of the current upheaval around the world. His video wanted to look at the chaos many of us feel today through a positive spin. He argues that, throughout history, the dark times have often resulted in a ‘creative renaissance’.

When things go dark, the artists, writers, musicians, and others create and find the light.

In Dante’s case, when you get exiled from Florence, you go and create the Divine Comedy.

Competing factions, political turmoil, and the weight of choices. Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

We’re currently living in rather dark, tumultuous times. Negative news and distressing events happen constantly in different pockets of the world.

I’d even argue that what’s making it all feel so much worse is the loudness of it all. Our access to news, events and platforms to voice our thoughts is instantaneous.

And voice our opinions we do. An event can happen and instantly it will be discussed and debated on social media. There is no pause for thought or, often, consideration of what actually has occurred.

So, what would Dante do?

Well, I think a bit of introspection never harms. And so I felt like drowning out the voices for a bit might be a good starting point. I did what quite many people have done in recent months and quit technology for a bit.

I wanted to see if stepping away from the negativity and loudness of it all has any impact on how I feel. While I’m not the biggest phone user by any stretch of imagination, I find myself looking at breaking news stories or reading through comment sections a bit too often for my liking.

And without technology, aside from during my workday, I found the world much less noisy and invasive.

Suddenly, I had time to think — indeed, I often had nothing but my thoughts to entertain.

After, I noticed I also began to engage with slower and more thoughtful forms of media and even art. Books instead of tweets. Long-form journalism instead of breaking news.

Short-term, instant gratification leaves you hollow. Reading a headline and a five-minute summary removes so much of the nuance. You don’t truly end up knowing anything.

I felt more connected with the world when I wasn’t constantly ‘connecting’. I was actually living, feeling and contributing.

Sometimes, it’s good to take time to gather thoughts. To put things on paper, to edit them, to refine them.

I think it is time we start focusing on creating and not ‘opinionating’. To go on a deeper self-discovery rather than purely shouting about what is happening.

Not only would it lead to more meaningful art, but also to change. Because we’d be figuring out what is happening around us and within us, focusing on the future we truly want to build.

To create our divine comedies instead of purely participating in someone else’s dramas.