Creativity: The Magic Synthesis

The basis of the book is that creativity is a process, an internal process that may go astray, can result in schizophrenia, or creativity can arise from schizophrenia.... or what seems to be schizophrenic thinking. That's a double bind, but to quote Mr. Arieti on the dedication page, he thanks a friend who 'conceived broad systems of things' and a grammar school teacher: "The two nourishments of the mind that these teachers represent find their place...one in the intellect the other close to the heart and at times mingle, fuse and bring forth innovation." It's been extremely helpful to me, it's led to a better relationship with my own thought world and a better understanding of what psychiatry is all about, since I've a relative that has been schizophrenic for several years. Although most mental conditions are understood differently now than they were 35 years ago when this book was published, there's not a lot of outdated information in it. For instance: I was astonished to find out what 'paleologic' is and I quote him: "Because of it's archaic nature I have called the main form of immature thinking "paleologic" from the Greek paleo, meaning old) This form of thinking is not illogical or alogical, but it does follow a logic different from that used by the human being who is awake and is healthy. The normal human being as a rule uses the ordinary logic of the secondary process, the kind of thinking that in Western civilization is generally called Aristotlean logic because Aristotle was the first to formulate it's laws. But whereas imagery and 'endocepts' (which he explains very well when he introduces the word) constitute a considerable amount of the mental life of every human being, paleologic thinking is present in normal or average people only to a minimal degree. In order to study it in it's almost pure form we have to observe it in schizophrenic patients." It's an important book because the typical individual (especially someone that's in therapy) usually doesn't read books about psychiatric terms or conditions. The information in this book may never come to the attention of people who could benefit from knowing it. Individuals would be on more equal footing in therapies, whatever kind they're involved in, if they had access to the information that Mr. Arieti has written so well in this book. There are products of the mind that conceal a symbolic kind of information (paleologic cognition) but many individuals ignore or misunderstand that kind of content if they don't suspect there is meaning to it. That's the basis of psychiatry to some degree. Dreams are not the only content that contains meaning, a fact that Mr. Arieti is maki I found it by chance, and became interested in his other books also, and as a result found that Western thinking is at this time very much in question. To think and understand in the Western process,(cognition) is somewhat like being able to see forests, but not be able to see and consciously relate to trees