Iron sharpens iron - TED.com

I heard about TED.com during a training at work that I just attended, the refreshing idea of an annual conference by a NPO as a platform for sharing ideas on Technology (T), Entertainment (E) and Design (D) lured me to check out the website and after my first visit, I'm intrigued!

The first clip I found happens to be a 20-minute talk on Creativity by Elizabeth Gilbert, writer of Eat Pray Love, a book I am reading (and struggling to finish). Her beliefs in both the book and this speech sometimes hints of controversial New Age - not something that goes down well the churchie conservative in me, but I can't help but see parallels between the "inspiration" moments she describes as "genius" from an external source (an idea from ancient Greek/Roman paganism) instead of the ability/competence of the human writer/artist/artisan. Therefore no need for the creative worker to go through the stress that will more often than not suck them down the dark whirlpool of self-destruction and manic depression out of fear that a work will not turn out to be as brilliant as it should. The naming of that "moment of genius" as a "glimpse of God" and feeling like being a channel through which divinity has communed with man - lit a lightbulb in my head.

In the book, Liz has her moments of brilliance, and the simplicity of her spirit is what attracts people to read and identify with her work. Some parts bore me to tears but others grab my attention for a pretty long time after I've put the book down.

Anyway this post is not about Elizabeth Gilbert totally, but what a great source TED could be, and I regret not knowing it earlier but a platform where "iron sharpens iron".