"Creative" paranoia

[David Morris]

>  "Creative paranoia means developing at least as thorough a
>We-system as a They-system--" GR.638

Salvidor Dali was a proponent of Creative Paranoia.  He actively pursued a 
method of vision, which he called "systematized error," in which he grabbed 
hold of "wrong" associations and built upon them, putting himself in the 
driver's seat of "reality."

>From  http://cair.kaist.ac.kr/wm/paint/auth/dali/life/

"He took over the Surrealist theory of automatism but transformed it into a 
more positive method which he named `critical paranoia'. According to this 
theory one should cultivate genuine delusion as in clinical paranoia while 
remaining residually aware at the back of one's mind that the control of the 
reason and will has been deliberately suspended. He claimed that this method 
should be used not only in artistic and poetical creation but also in the 
affairs of daily life."

Creative Paranoia may also be linked to the notion of Film as "pornography" 
in GR.  Film is essentially a Re-Creation, a substitution for primary 
experience.  It is a "story-teller's" representation: analyzing, filtering, 
ordering, framing "reality."  Creative Paranoia and Story-telling are 
identical, and are also both "pornographies."  "paranoia" and "pornography" 
(as well as "delusions") are pejorative terms, normally, but not in GR.  
Paranoia, whether creative or operational, is simply the natural state of 
human consciousness, "ordering" experience.  At its best it is raised to an 
art-form (remember how Roger is told he's only a novice paranoid?) and can 
provide a potent tool for challenging the "paranoia" of the Dominant 
Power-Structure.  Roger's strength in his confrontation at Pointsman's 
office comes from his embracing new frameworks for his own thoughts and 
bombarding others with them.

As a general statement I know this sounds trite, but part of GR's "mission" 
seems to be the laying bare of these terms "paranoia," "pornography," and 
"delusions" as the universal condition, thus exposing the strengths and 
weaknesses of the human-mind's creative/perceptive abilities (I guess this 
is part of what makes him PoMo).  Yet, rather than collapsing into a 
self-centered mindlessness or despair, he continues to seek out "Truth & 
Justice, and the American Way," plumbing the depths of the condition in 
search of a balance.  In this regard I would agree with Jane that Pynchon's 
writings are inherently "religious."

David Morris

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