Unconscious States and Creativity (I)

Definition of normality

When we talk about what is hidden, about the occult world, as also depicted in H.C. Agrippa's Occult Philosophy, or in the later works of authors such as E. Thacker, we inevitably have to think about unconscious states, because if we want to try to understand what is hidden from us, we have to find a way to access it. For simplicity's sake, we can imagine a human body that can reveal itself in different ways with the help of different devices, for example, gamma rays or ultrasound beams. So, to reach the subconscious, we can be sure that we have to find the right techniques - the right 'rays'. In A Brief History of Time, S. Hawking wrote that in order to know the unknowable, we need to change the way we see, to rethink our tools and actions (48). As the Western world has tried to normalise everything, the conscious and the unconscious, sanity and madness, have become too separated. It is as if the conscious is the good and the unconscious is the bad. In the Western world today, nobody wants to hear that they are unconscious, because that seems to refer to abnormality, to mental disorders. Paradoxically, however, although the established boundary of normality is a logical, calculating narrow medium, unlike what we are used to thinking, normality does not have a clear positive or negative connotation (49), but rather, as we can see by looking at the historical facts, the tendency to define normality as a kind of dogma is merely a cultural interpretation shaped by society, and it is not surprising that in the pathetic notion of normality we can very often see deviations reminiscent of episodes of mass mania. It is not for nothing that the French philosopher Michel Foucault said that in order to understand society, we must first look at the history of madness. One such example, which has become the narrative of many a horror story, is Bedlam, which is known as a symbol of confusion and a frightening place, but this has not always been the case. Bedlam is considered to be the first specialised mental hospital in Europe. When philanthropist Edward Wakefield visited the famous institution in 1814, it wasn't long before his writings about naked and starving people chained to the walls appeared. In the 18th century, Bedlam was generally open to the public, and for as little as one penny you could watch the Bedlam Mad Show. This entertainment soon became popular among Londoners, who were allowed to beat and push imprisoned patients with sticks (50).

Focault's reflection on normality emphasises that seeing others as dangerous, whether mad or otherwise, as inferior, reinforces an already pervasive perception of social normality. It is true that it is not worth looking back only. Living in a time of media domination, it is as if we are echoing a phrase popular since antiquity: the crowd needs bread and games. Where once the crowd was entertained by gladiatorial fights, then by Bedlam shows, today a large part of society is blinded by its own normality, entertained by blue screens broadcasting bizarre freak shows, soap operas, sad or tragic stories with horror elements, and tapping their fingers on the sofas, trying once again to reaffirm their own normality.

It can be assumed that the normalised/normal life and its canonical repetition is so pervasive in society because the individual can feel an illusion of security and avoid confronting what he or she fears the most: the unknown.

It is no coincidence, then, that this chapter is dedicated to the unconscious. To a large extent, the unconscious is what we don't know, what we hardly consider normal. It is like black matter, not interacting with the light, whose existence we are almost certain of, but which we still do not have the means to detect and verify. The truth is that just because we cannot consciously perceive or see something, it does not mean that it does not exist. It is like a parallel world that we can't always see, but it is always there. There are things that seem to refuse to reveal themselves to the world, and often, from our anthropocentric perspective, we perceive them as magical, occult, hallucinations, or else as mental disorders. It is true that we cannot exclude the historical perspective that, in retrospect, many facts that once belonged to the mystical field are today explained by science. Some of the most compelling examples are Einstein's general theory of relativity, Hawking's singularity theorem or the quantum theory of black holes (51). All these discoveries not only demystify the unknown, but also change the way we look at our environment. So, on the basis of these examples, how can we be sure that dreams, hallucinations or visions are not a full experience of this reality and, finally, is what we think of as normality not just a desire for inner confirmation that we are living well?

48 HAWKING, Stephen. Trumpa laiko istorija. Vilnius: Kitos knygos. 2019. p. 264. ISBN: 9786094273568

49 Žodis normalus lotyniškai reiškia tiesus, atitinkantis nusistovėjusius arba nustatytus reikalavimus, normas; neperžengiantis leistinų ribų, artimas vidurkiui. XIX a. sąvoka normalus apibūdino vidutinybę. XVIII a. idėja vidurkį sulyginti su normalumu kilo šveicarų matematikui Jacob Bernoulli. Apsėstas renesanso azartinių žaidimų, jis sukūrė tikimybių skaičiavimą ir pagrindą statistikos mokslui, bei parodė, kad dalykai yra nuspėjami, jie vyksta normaliai. Adolphe Quetelet, tas pats žmogus, kuris sukūrė kūno masės indekso skaičiavimą, veik po 100 m. nuo J. Bernoulli atradimų, tikimybes iš azartinių lošimų lauko perkėlė ir pritaikė žmonėms. Būtent jis iškėlė vidutinio žmogaus sąvoką.

50 HAWKEN, Abe. Haunting faces of the Bedlam ladies: Portraits show patients at asylum where problem women were dumped by families even if they were sane… and paying gawkers watched their cruel treatment. 2017. [Žiūrėta 2022 m. kovo 12 d.] Prieiga per internetą: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4381710/Haunting-portraits-women-Bedlam-Hospital.html

51 HAWKING, Stephen. Trumpa laiko istorija. Vilnius: Kitos knygos. 2019. p. 264. ISBN: 9786094273568