"Creative" paranoia

[Terrance]

David Morris wrote:
> 
> >  "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."


COOOL!
> 
> 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.

Sometimes they are and sometimes they are not. 


> Paranoia, whether creative or operational, is simply the natural state of
> human consciousness, "ordering" experience.  

Right on!

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.

Yes, great example!


> 
> 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


WOW! Good stuff man, thanks.