Is Inspiration Unexploitable? Open Thread

So in Britian's Guardian newspaper,* I came across the sort of half-thought-out exploration of artmaking we've come to expect from our contemporary MSM (was anyone else really, really embarrassed for the state of journalism today when comparing it with the sheer intelligence of the Edward R. Murrow monologues re-created for "Good Night and Good Luck"?). The article focuses on what it termed the "vital ingredient of creativity"---inspiration--- and goes on to quote a host of artists' thoughts on the phenomenon, but (as usual) something in the general text distracted my ADHD-riddled mind and wouldn't let go:

[I]nspiration ... is the kind of magic that people like to believe in, perhaps especially now, in a culture where money can buy virtually everything else of value, and science and technology can create or invent the things we most need. Inspiration, in other words, is a kind of God-term; it refers to something we think of as essential but that we can't, or may not want to, understand.....

Whatever it is that feeds us our best lines - the gods or God, the unconscious or the genes, the class war - it is something we depend upon but cannot command. Like God's grace, inspiration doesn't respond to our need or our greed for it. It is not a resource we can exploit; and it doesn't look as if, at least as yet, science or technology can help us get more of it. It isn't exactly measureable. And it may be this, perhaps more than anything else, that makes inspiration so difficult to describe in its workings, and so enraging in its elusiveness. [emphasis mine]

OK, so that's the conventional wisdom about inspiration, but is it accurate? Is inspiration a resource we cannot exploit? I'm not so sure.

I've been mulling this over for a few days, and what I've concluded is that inspiration may be part divine intervention, but it comes via other means(controllable means) as well. For instance, being in the right frame of mind is often critical to being inspired, which is why artists take great pains to create an environment in their studio in which they can clear their thoughts and hopefully forget their worries. It's often why artists sometimes experiment with (live off?) mind-altering substances as well. Being inspired is often contingent on being open to it, and so doing what it takes to be in a receptive frame of mind is something one can do to encourage inspiration. Also controllable is the decision to visit or call on one's muse. If some person or thing sparks one's imagination, then seeking that person/thing out is a means of encouraging inspiration. Finally, there's nothing like the pressure of a deadline to stir up one's creative juices. By waiting until the last minute, or simply setting deadlines for oneself, creative types can often jump start the process (perhaps this is similar to just being in the right frame of mind, but...) through panic.

Now, of course, it can be argued that none of the above ensures inspiration will come. But take them out of the effort and inspiration becomes much less likely, no? So, isn't it, in that way, somewhat exploitable?

Curious about your thoughts.

*Which I once heard described by a London comic as the only daily paper with two crossword puzzles: cryptic and f*cking cryptic.