The Blossoming of the Key
Dale Houstman
The Blossoming of the Key: Loose Thoughts on Surrealism
_____________________________________________
As long as man lies to himself and so refuses to liberate himself as an
individual from capital corrosions and base trivia and from the merely
gregarious - there shall be no sense to life: life will remain a utilitarian
and non-sequential parade of duties and segregated urges enforced from
above, and only put into action from below. Surrealism exists to assist in
this revolution. This - not any mere aesthetic program whose art is an end
to itself - is the wellspring of all legitimate Surrealist activity. The
poems and the paintings, although their charms cannot be denied, are more
in the way of instrumentations in this endeavor, or the forensic debris of a
struggle with the marvelous. At all times, we hope to provide more life, not
only to add bulk to a museum or anthology. One of the main tools in this
campaign is the Poetic.
_____
A Query on the Poetic:
"I observe that for many. the word poetic has deep
and important
positive meanings. The word seems to be related to
surrealism in a
significant way. / I find the word deeply disturbing.
I do not like the word;.
It may represent a point where my thinking
departs in a serious way
from the thinking of others. interested in
surrealism. It may separate me
in a very significant way from whatever. that
surrealism is."
The poetic is a creation of the human mind in search of its natural ground,
and as such is not superior to that mind: it is NOT a "deity" but an
instrumentation of human desire. It is a stream of shared and personal
images that may be forded by all.
The poetic is a ticket to the interaction of potential versus failure. It
maintains no power to interfere with its own movements (as we sweep it up in
our deluge) toward more life and more mindfulness.
The poetic is valuable because it is the power of the individual to
supervene in his own making or unmaking of the world about him; it is not
(as in religion) a set of rules, but an integrity of willed immersion, and
though drowned it arises from the human as light does from the solar body.
Any reverence due it pertains from reverence toward the human that is an
axiom. It appears "spiritual" only in light of our forced separation from
its natural extension: the poetic is man wresting the seat of power back
from the supernatural sickhouse of his created gods; it is the radiation of
that reclaimed sovereignty into the air about each human movement. It is a
sort of human birthright. An added and overweening sense.
There are specious and half-considered neurological studies that locate (or
appear to locate) a a seat of transcendence and connection within the
physical structure of the human brain. This has been dubbed "the God node";
however the religious use of these poetic (and thus surrealist irradiations)
is a typical power grab by society's riot control. This is little different
from the ancients who felt that epilepsy was a manifestation of the gods.
Epilepsy (which can be traced to functions in the brain also) is thus
exploited by societal pre-constrains and turned to religious significance.
As the history of such "royal diseases" proves, mindfulness and
investigation can regain the ground. Demons have their day and depart.
Religions lie in ruin.
The poetic pre-dates and shall post-date the great ages of religious
mania. We may yet see it clearly. stripped of its vestments and investments.
_____
The key to liberty is always prepared to blossom into our hand. This key -
while always freshly nurtured by nutrients yet to be discovered - will have
to contain the seeds of what has gone before (failures, successes, and even
the scarcely attempted) if it is to have any useful strength.
But we cannot conceive of these new flowers of accomplished desire as having
sprung merely from what we now gaze upon. It shall have to be a mutation, a
new flower.
_____
We shall shield ourselves from those all-too-easy tumbles into explanation
that would reduce the poetic adventure to a bland series of "messages" no
matter how earnest the program to be promoted. We shall keep our eyes open
to all the possibilities for a collective divergence, a derailment of
expectations that might lead to new paths, or recover ancient ways hidden
beneath this light dusting of capitalism from which we always trust we can
recover.
_____
The word "surrealism" can be, has been, and shall be misappropriated by
charlatans, new managers, those who would have it be only a nostalgic trip
through nonsense and/or depressive "oddity"; and although it has not been
moved (yet) into a position of "crimes against itself," it may be judged as
having done so by those who desire only to be "assigned" to duties and
contracts constructed mainly to contain their desires safely.
Surrealism (this system of sprung desire) will (of course) be assailed most
by those wishing to constrain their own frightful desires; by those
constricted in pressures high enough to transform soft envy into diamond
hard mistrust.
_____
In the end though, Surrealism must not foster loyalists and sycophants: one
must remain loyal not to systems but to non-conformity, especially to the
non-conformity we may foster within surrealism itself, since loyalty to
surrealism as a system may lead to aesthetic mimicry of technique, and of
such "effects" as may be purchased at no risk.
Though surrealism is a collective "covenant" (of a guarded mutability) only
an informed individual resistance can liberate desire. And, far from the
re-education camps hallucinated by our enemies, we call now for constant
self-education.
Unanimity of any group not intended to contravene the greater assembly
remains suspect; but we must be willing to grant our assent to even untested
programs that we intuitively sense are dedicated to the creation of further
and further freedoms for the individual man.
Loyalty to systems equivalent to loyalty to beautiful entities is to be
avoided as an error.
Men's "ideas" may be seduced into camps of opinion, and thus be violate by
those who find such camps attractive.
_____
Automatism - or the spontaneous and uncensored access to pure thought
through a velocity of transcription - is still among the most helpful of
Surrealism's discoveries, bypassing (as much as is possible) the "easy
answers" that too often occur to those who would settle for artistic
accomplishment in place of an overall program of liberation. That this
"swift dictation" can be used as just another generator of renowned images
is obvious, and the only thing to be said on this "crisis of ego" is that
such a minor accomplishment as one more "glass dictionary" or "hand woven
from fire" is its own punishment in the end, as such utilitarian successes
will not access that very real space that lays beyond the matter of literary
expression, and is the Terra Incognita toward which we are sailing.
The Collaborative Imagination lies at the very marrow of Surrealist ideas,
and is essentially another process by which the "crisis of the ego" (or
composing for fame and sensationalism) is to be bypassed. It is also a
central weapon in the fight against that isolationism and disassociation
nurtured by capitalism as the very weed of its garden - for man, separated
from other men and from his birthright as an imaginative fountain, turns to
material goods in solace, hoping to regain some inexpressible state of
being. That such a system of empty desire leads to the positions we read of
in the newspaper each day should not be surprising. Only by collaborative
(and voluntary) involvement may we begin to regain a proper relationship vis
a vis matter. The texts and projects thus produced "belong" to no single
consumer of goods, but instead stand as celebrations of a very real
mediation.
Objective chance - or the sudden shining forth of what is a connected
imaginative field, is at the core of our potential to access the Marvelous;
a scrap of newspaper blown against an equestrian statue contains the
headline "The Race is On!" and our imagination is the connecting tether. A
certain glance from a dark-haired person across the street reminds you of
the shape of a cloud over your childhood home, just as the bus to the
maternity hospital passes. A sign in a window proclaims "This is the end of
the Gold Season" and suddenly you are in that poem. These pathways (although
difficult to arrive at in our Cartesian and self-conscious cities) still
course just beneath each street, like pale veins of radiant alcohol. They
represent our true freeway.
_____
And always, Surrealism is not a tool of Art. Art is a tool of Surrealism.
That the clutter in museums that hope to capture some essence of "The
Surreal" usually fails to announce that Surrealism as a living creature
still continues to stalk what is most desired, that what was most important
about their creation was that they were born from a very specific hope that
predates and outlives their now often only arcane charms, that the
experiential hypothesis which made their creation inevitable still thrives
in London, Prague, Leeds, Paris, Stockholm, and hundreds of other places
around the world, that every day (huddled against the huge machinery of pure
capitalism that threatens to erode every heart) new works are evolved, still
dedicated to the transformation of the world: that this occurs is to be
expected. That - however - we, as Surrealists, will not fail to protest this
senescence, this forced retirement into art history and the sideshow of
oddity is without doubt.
The experiment is not yet complete. The adventure continues.
__________
dmh
Parry
>
> The Blossoming of the Key: Loose Thoughts on Surrealism
[much snippage of this fine text to conserve space]
> A Query on the Poetic:
>
> "I observe that for many. the word poetic has deep
> and important
> positive meanings. The word seems to be related to
> surrealism in a
> significant way. / I find the word deeply disturbing.
> I do not like the word;.
> It may represent a point where my thinking
> departs in a serious way
> from the thinking of others. interested in
> surrealism. It may separate me
> in a very significant way from whatever. that
> surrealism is."
Where is this quote from?
> The poetic is a creation of the human mind in search of its natural ground,
> and as such is not superior to that mind: it is NOT a "deity" but an
> instrumentation of human desire. It is a stream of shared and personal
> images that may be forded by all.
Unfortunately, “poetry” is one of those words that seems to mean
something different to everyone. I prefer its broadest definition
(“intense beauty or emotional power”) and think there’s potential for
poetry in all activities: poetry in motion, as they say.
> Automatism - or the spontaneous and uncensored access to pure thought
> through a velocity of transcription - is still among the most helpful of
> Surrealism's discoveries, bypassing (as much as is possible) the "easy
> answers" that too often occur to those who would settle for artistic
> accomplishment in place of an overall program of liberation. That this
> "swift dictation" can be used as just another generator of renowned images
> is obvious, and the only thing to be said on this "crisis of ego" is that
> such a minor accomplishment as one more "glass dictionary" or "hand woven
> from fire" is its own punishment in the end, as such utilitarian successes
> will not access that very real space that lays beyond the matter of literary
> expression, and is the Terra Incognita toward which we are sailing.
My reservation about this section is that talk of “velocity” and
“literary expression” may reinforce the misconception that “automatism”
is synonymous with “automatic writing.” My understanding of automatism
is that it is the condensation of divers memory traces, provoked by
desire; and that it is crucial to surrealism, far more so than automatic
writing (surrealism initially being defined as automatism). The
requirement for “The dictation of thought, in the absence of all control
by the reason, excluding any aesthetic or moral preoccupation” is not
any particular technique but rather a deference to intuition and
instinct over teaching and habit. So surrealism/automatism may be found
in Hugo and Poe, through collage work or found objects, in dreams, by
objective chance -- anywhere that thought is relaxed and receptive.
> The experiment is not yet complete. The adventure continues.
Buñuel once characterized surrealism as a failure, because it did not
achieve its goal of changing reality. I think this is a bit harsh, as
reality has changed over the last 3-quarters century, and surrealism
surely played a catalyst role. But it’s true that the original
surrealists dispersed and died and witnessed only the smallest
incremental changes. Still, the spirit of surrealism and revolution have
not yet been expunged, and there is no cause to be fatalistic about the
human condition for the desire and potential to transform it still blaze
as brightly as they ever have.
Thanks for the dose of inspiration.
-- Parry
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Dale Houstman
"Parry" <pa...@zxOMITmail.com> wrote in message
news:392D2E...@zxOMITmail.com...
> Dale Houstman wrote:
> >
> > The Blossoming of the Key: Loose Thoughts on Surrealism
>
>
>
> >
> > "I observe that for many. the word poetic has
deep
> > and important
> > positive meanings. The word seems to be related
to
> > surrealism in a
> > significant way. / I find the word deeply
disturbing.
> > I do not like the word;.
> > It may represent a point where my thinking
> > departs in a serious way
> > from the thinking of others. interested in
> > surrealism. It may separate me
> > in a very significant way from whatever. that
> > surrealism is."
>
I forgot to include the attribution: it is a fine considerayion by the one
who signs himself "scotteyes" - posted a while back now - and which inspired
me to construct the text. I've already thanked him for thre inspiration, but
now he's got F. Lee Bailey on my case, and I had to sell my gold-plated
cistern to pay court costs. Whelp!
>
>
> > The poetic is a creation of the human mind in search of its natural
ground,
> > and as such is not superior to that mind: it is NOT a "deity" but an
> > instrumentation of human desire. It is a stream of shared and personal
> > images that may be forded by all.
>
> Unfortunately, "poetry" is one of those words that seems to mean
> something different to everyone. I prefer its broadest definition
> ("intense beauty or emotional power") and think there's potential for
> poetry in all activities: poetry in motion, as they say.
Yes: but it is very material to me, and - I think - to most of the intended
audience of the piece. I might go into detail specifically on that point to
elucidate.
>
>
> > Automatism - or the spontaneous and uncensored access to pure thought
> > through a velocity of transcription - is still among the most helpful of
> > Surrealism's discoveries, bypassing (as much as is possible) the "easy
> > answers" that too often occur to those who would settle for artistic
> > accomplishment in place of an overall program of liberation. That this
> > "swift dictation" can be used as just another generator of renowned
images
> > is obvious, and the only thing to be said on this "crisis of ego" is
that
> > such a minor accomplishment as one more "glass dictionary" or "hand
woven
> > from fire" is its own punishment in the end, as such utilitarian
successes
> > will not access that very real space that lays beyond the matter of
literary
> > expression, and is the Terra Incognita toward which we are sailing.
>
> My reservation about this section is that talk of "velocity" and
> "literary expression" may reinforce the misconception that "automatism"
> is synonymous with "automatic writing." My understanding of automatism
> is that it is the condensation of divers memory traces, provoked by
> desire; and that it is crucial to surrealism, far more so than automatic
> writing (surrealism initially being defined as automatism). The
> requirement for "The dictation of thought, in the absence of all control
> by the reason, excluding any aesthetic or moral preoccupation" is not
> any particular technique but rather a deference to intuition and
> instinct over teaching and habit. So surrealism/automatism may be found
> in Hugo and Poe, through collage work or found objects, in dreams, by
> objective chance -- anywhere that thought is relaxed and receptive.
These are good points.
>
>
> > The experiment is not yet complete. The adventure continues.
>
> Buñuel once characterized surrealism as a failure, because it did not
> achieve its goal of changing reality. I think this is a bit harsh, as
> reality has changed over the last 3-quarters century, and surrealism
> surely played a catalyst role. But it's true that the original
> surrealists dispersed and died and witnessed only the smallest
> incremental changes. Still, the spirit of surrealism and revolution have
> not yet been expunged, and there is no cause to be fatalistic about the
> human condition for the desire and potential to transform it still blaze
> as brightly as they ever have.
Bravo...
>
> Thanks for the dose of inspiration.
>
Most doses can be cleared up with penicillin, although its effectiveness
is waning with time.
dmh
Dale Houstman
"Dale Houstman" <dm...@citilink.com> wrote in message
news:392d9284$0$12260$65a9...@news.citilink.com...
>
> > Where is this quote from?
>
> I forgot to include the attribution: it is a fine considerayion by the
one
> who signs himself "scotteyes"
I meant "scottyes."
Your eyes spray yes, but your lips spray snow.
dmh