The synthesis referred to in the title is the ability of a person to combine the primary process and secondary process of the brain. The primary process is concerned with the subconscious workings of the brain: dreams, imagery, associations. The secondary process is concerned with logical thinking or how we express our primary thinking to the outside. The "magic synthesis" is the result of an individual merging these two processes, and then creating metaphors, symbols, abstractions and a new way of seeing or thinking about the world.
According to author Silvano Arieti, creative persons and schizophrenics have a greater connection to the primary process, but, unlike the schizophrenic, the creative person is able to then process this thinking into a rational or logical form and create something new. I am not surprised to read once again about the closeness between madness and creativity.
Aside from the physiological similarities, I believe there is a driven quality, a momentum that is shared by both states. I have felt compelling urges when creating something new and in states of intense emotional duress. In my life, when I make art I take that energy and try transmute it, to articulate it, to infuse it with metaphor, rhythm, and hopefully, a certain beauty. (Unlike when I've experienced deep emotional crisis, where the experience is more like a spiraling panic that I cannot release.)
As I started work that combined movement and poetry, I found myself more and more concerned with the way the spiritual is linked to the physical, the way the word is made flesh, both literally and figuratively. I'm working on a "living Mass" of sorts, a new ritual grounded in female physicality, how something ineffable as connection to Spirit manifests its singular importance to me.
In Creativity: The Magic Synthesis, Arieti discusses the neurological and biological aspects of creativity. The fact that “the human cortex has fifteen billion neurons” seems to account for our ability to be more creative than the other animals on earth. A path or an “engram” is formed in some neurons when we perform a task or have an experience. It is through the engram that we are able to later recall the experience or perform the task again.
Article comments
1 - James Nichols
Since this book was published in the late 70s, as much as I respect its content, it's not accurate to say that it reflects "current" research or ideas in this field. I'll stick my neck out and say that a lot has probably changed in the last 30 years! Not to say that it's not a valuable read and resource, as long as it's kept in historical perspective. Further, it's my recollection that Arieti's synthesis had more to do with interaction between the left and right hemispheres. His discussion of primary and secondary process was a prelude to his explanation of tertiary process.
2 - Lisa Alvarado
James -- I never meant it to represent current research, but only my fascination with Areti's general approach.
3 - pimobius
I found the book almost a life saver, and although much is dated, most information is worth reading and knowing, its very detailed and explicit. Especially his definitions of 'paleosymbolism'.I believe the modern 'Western philosphical mindset' has been severed from the roots of their own thought, but 'mindsets' are difficult territory to explore. The book has a lot of material to work with in 'self exploration'. I sent a copy of The Parnas to Victor Mansfield because it seemed to me a book he'd learn something from, as I had myself. He was a very kind and interested Jungian/synchronistic author who was also a physicist. I'd experienced an extremely unusual coincidence which he appreciated knowing about and we exchanged a few emails. Its my opinion that the contents of Creativity, The Magic synthesis as well as 'Interpretation of Schizophrenia' are worth reading, irregardless of their age. New publishings sometime erase important information, or ignore it.