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For Surrealist automatic writing, see Surrealist automatism. Automatism has taken on many forms the Automatic writing and drawing initially (and still to this day practiced by surrealists can be compared to similar or perhaps For the album by Ataxia, see Automatic Writing (album). Automatic Writing is an album by Ataxia released in 2004 Ataxia consisted of John Frusciante of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Joe Lally For similar and educational technique, see Free writing. Free writing - term applied to a Technique used by mainly Prose writers or teachers of writing

Automatic writing is the process, or product, of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer. Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the People who believe in "automatic writing" say that the writer's hand forms the message, with the person being unaware of what will be written. In some cases, it is done by people in a trance state. An altered state of consciousness, (ASC also named altered state of mind is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking Beta wave state Other times the writer is aware (not in a trance) of their surroundings but not of the actions of their writing hand.

While advocates of automatic writing believe that their experiences are genuine, the Encyclopedia Britannica article on spiritualism notes that ". . . one by one, the mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud, sometimes employing the techniques of stage magicians in their attempts to convince people of their clairvoyant powers. " The article also notes that "the exposure of widespread fraud within the spiritualist movement severely damaged its reputation and pushed it to the fringes of society in the United States. "[1]

Contents

History

In the late 1800s, William Stainton Moses, a priest and teacher, experimented with automatic writing. The Reverend William Stainton Moses (born Donnington, near Lincoln, England, in 1839 died 1892 was an English Clergyman and A priest or priestess is a person having the authority or power to administer religious rites in particular rites of sacrifice to and propitiation of a deity or deities His beliefs were orthodox Christian, but he said that the messages from his automatic writing took a more undogmatic view, to which he converted over time. A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth He believed the message originated from higher spirits. John B. Newbrough was a New York dentist who said that he wrote the book Oahspe through the process of automatic writing on the newly invented typewriter in 1882. John Ballou Newbrough (born in Springfield Ohio, June 5, 1828; died in 1891 wrote several books of Religious philosophy from the 1880s New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous Dentistry' is the "evaluation diagnosis prevention and/or treatment (nonsurgical surgical or related procedures of diseases disorders and/or conditions of the oral cavity Oahspe A New Bible is a book announcing new revelations from God, which was produced by John Ballou Newbrough (1828&ndash1891 by Automatic A typewriter is a mechanical or Electromechanical device with a set of "keys" that when pressed cause characters to be printed on a medium Year 1882 ( MDCCCLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common

Rosemary Brown was an English housewife who said that she automatically composed music. Rosemary Brown ( 27 July, 1916 – 16 November, 2001) was a spirit medium who claimed that dead composers dictated new musical The English people (from the adjective in Englisc) are a Nation and Ethnic group native to England who predominantly speak English She could play the piano, though not very well. The piano is a Musical instrument played by means of a keyboard that produces sound by striking steel strings with Felt covered hammers She felt that great composers were writing through her. Elsa Barker in 1914 published a collection of letters that she said that she had produced by automatic writing. She said the letters came from the deceased Judge David Patterson Hatch. Her book was reprinted in 2004 as Letters From The Afterlife: A Guide to the Other Side.

George (Georgie) Hyde-Lees, the wife of William Butler Yeats, said that she could write automatically. In 1975 Wendy Hart of Maidenhead said that she automatically wrote about Nicholas Moore, a sea captain who died in 1642. Maidenhead is a town within the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, in Berkshire, England. Her husband did research on Moore, and he said that this person had resided at St Columb Major in Cornwall during the Civil war. St Columb Major (Sen Kolomm Veur often simply called St Columb, is a town in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, to the south west of [2]

Use

Automatic writing is used in Spiritualism, Spiritism and the New Age movement as a form of channeling. Spiritualism is a Religion founded in part on the writings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772 Spiritism is a Christian philosophical Doctrine, established in France in the mid-nineteenth century New Age ( New Age Movement and New Age Spirituality) is a Social Collective Phenomenon and a Spiritual Nature Mediumship is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Louisiana Voodoo, and Hélène Smith, an early 20th-century psychic, said that she did automatic writing that was the attempt of Martians to communicate with Earth. Hélène Smith (real name Catherine-Elise Muller December 9 1861 Martigny ― June 10 1929 Geneva) was a famous late-19th century French psychic who claimed The twentieth century of the Common Era began on Parapsychology is a discipline that seeks to demonstrate the existence and causes of Psychic abilities and life after death using the Scientific method She said she could translate their Martian language into French. French ( français,) is a Romance language spoken around the world by 118 million people as a native language and by about 180 to 260 million people The Brazilian medium Chico Xavier wrote over 400 books written. Mediumship is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Louisiana Voodoo, and Chico Xavier was a popular medium in Brazil ´s Spiritism movement

Automatic writing is used as a tool in Freudian psychology and in related "self-knowledge" studies. Sigmund Freud (ˈziːkmʊnt ˈfʁɔʏt born Sigismund Shlomo Freud (May 6 1856 &ndash September 23 1939 was an Austrian Psychiatrist who founded Some psychologists argue that we can gain insight into the mind of a person who is doing automatic writing through their subconscious word choices. The term subconscious is defined as existing or operating in the Mind beneath or beyond Conscious Awareness. It was used by Pierre Janet in France, and later by Morton Prince and Anita Mühl in the United States. Pierre Marie Félix Janet ( May 30 1859 - February 24 1947) was a pioneering French Psychiatrist and Philosopher in the This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Morton Henry Prince ( December 21, 1854 &ndash August 31, 1929) The United States of America —commonly referred to as the

André Breton pioneered the use of automatic writing within the Surrealist movement, penning the book Soluble Fish. André Breton (in French ɑ̃dʀe bʀəˈtɔ̃ ( February 19, 1896 &ndash September 28, 1966) was a French Writer, The ideas of Hélène Smith, the so-called "Muse of Automatic Writing", also influenced the Surrealist movement (in the Surrealist deck of cards, Smith is the "Genius of Knowledge"). Hélène Smith (real name Catherine-Elise Muller December 9 1861 Martigny ― June 10 1929 Geneva) was a famous late-19th century French psychic who claimed In Greek mythology, the Muses ( Ancient Greek, hai moũsai: perhaps from the Proto-Indo-European root * men- "think" are Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early-1920s and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members

Automatic writing became a part of the Surrealists' repertoire of games, and it soon developed into a number of other Surrealist games and tools that greatly influenced the movement, such as automatic drawing, automatic palimpsest, and a variety of marker-word games. Automatism has taken on many forms the Automatic writing and drawing initially (and still to this day practiced by surrealists can be compared to similar or perhaps A palimpsest is a Manuscript page whether from scroll or Book that has been written on scraped off and used again (See Surrealist automatism. Automatism has taken on many forms the Automatic writing and drawing initially (and still to this day practiced by surrealists can be compared to similar or perhaps ) John Frusciante dedicated an entire musical album to the process of automatic writing, said that "music is just there and we, as musicians, are sucked into its swirling energy". John Anthony Frusciante (pronounced) (born March 5 1970 is an American Guitarist, singer songwriter and record producer [1]

Free writing later gained popularity with writers and poets, both as a means of stimulating creative thought and as a technique for overcoming writer's block. Writer's block is a Phenomenon involving temporary loss of ability to begin or continue writing usually due to lack of inspiration or Creativity. Nergal of the Blackened Death Metal band Behemoth says that he wrote the song "Libertheme" from The Apostasy through automatic writing. The name Nergal (or Nirgal, Nirgali) refers to a Deity in Babylonia with the main seat Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs fast tempos heavily distorted guitars deep growling vocals morbid lyrics Behemoth ( Hebrew בהמות, behemot; Arabic بهيموث bahīmūth, or بهموت bahamūt The Apostasy is the eighth full-length album by Polish Blackened death metal band Behemoth.

It was recently publicised in series 2 episode 3 of Derren Brown's "Trick or Treat", in which he got Doctor Who star David Tennant to use automatic writing to predict a newspaper story three days in advance. Derren Victor Brown (born 27 February 1971 is an English magician, psychological Illusionist, Mentalist, painter and David Tennant (born David John McDonald; 18 April 1971 is a Scottish Actor.

Criticism

Skeptics such as James Randi note that there is little evidence distinguishing automatic writing claimed to be of supernatural origins from a parlor game that is little more than sparks of creativity in the minds of the participants. In ordinary usage skepticism or scepticism ( Greek 'σκέπτομαι' skeptomai, to look about to consider see also spelling differences James Randi (born August 7 1928 (stage name The Amazing Randi) is a stage magician and scientific skeptic best known as a challenger of Paranormal The term supernatural or supranatural ( Latin: super, supra "above" + natura "nature" pertains to entities events A parlor game is a group Game played indoors During the Victorian era in Great Britain and in the United States, these games were extremely Creativity is a mental process involving the generation of new Ideas or Concepts, or new associations of the creative mind between existing ideas or concepts The Encyclopedia Britannica article on spiritualism notes that ". . . one by one, the mediums were discovered to be engaged in fraud, sometimes employing the techniques of stage magicians in their attempts to convince people of their clairvoyant powers. " The article also notes that "the exposure of widespread fraud within the spiritualist movement severely damaged its reputation and pushed it to the fringes of society in the United States. "[3]

Skeptics assert that there is no evidence that there is anything more than the subconscious of those performing the writing influencing their actions and that there is no solid evidence that any messages are coming from anywhere other than the minds of the person holding the pencil. This is referred to as the ideomotor effect. The ideomotor effect is a Psychological phenomenon wherein a subject makes motions unconsciously As in reflexive responses to pain the body sometimes reacts reflexively A 1998 article in Psychological Science [4] described a series of experiments designed to determine people who believed in the ideomotor effect could be shown that it was not true. The paper indicated that "our attempt to introduce doubt about the validity of automatic writing did not succeed. " The paper noted that "including information about the controversy surrounding facilitated communication did not affect self-efficacy ratings, nor did it affect the number of responses that were produced. In this sense, illusory facilitation appears to be a very robust phenomenon, not unlike illusory correlation, which is not reversed by warning participants about the phenomenon. "

As there is no scientific evidence regarding the use of automatic writing in psychotherapy, its usage to release repressed memories is suspect as well. Scientific evidence is Evidence which serves to either support or counter a scientific Theory or Hypothesis. Psychotherapy is an Interpersonal, relational intervention used by trained psychotherapists to aid clients in problems of living Repressed memory is a theoretical concept used to describe a significant Memory, usually of a traumatic nature that has become unavailable for recall also called While unconscious ideas are expressed in automatic writing, skeptics question the likelihood that they are any more profound than the writer's conscious thoughts. Many observers throughout history have argued that there are influences on Consciousness from other parts of the Mind. Consciousness has been defined loosely as a constellation of attributes of Mind such as Subjectivity, Self-awareness, Sentience, and the Skeptics argue that there is no evidence that the "true self" lies in the unconscious any more than there is for it to lie in normal consciousness.

Psychology professor Théodore Flournoy investigated the claim by 19th century medium, Hélène Smith (Catherine Müller) that she did automatic writing to convey messages from Mars in Martian language. Flournoy concluded that her "Martian" language has a strong resemblance to Ms. Smith's native language of French. Flournoy concluded that her automatic writing was "romances of the subliminal imagination', derived largely from forgotten sources (for example, books read as a child). " He invented the term cryptomnesia to describe this phenomenon. Cryptomnesia, or inadvertent plagiarism is a Memory bias whereby a person falsely recalls generating a thought an idea a song or a joke when the thought was actually generated [5]"Skeptics consider automatic writing to be little more than a parlor game, although sometimes useful for self-discovery and for getting started on a writing project. " [6]

Psychography

In Spiritism, Spiritualism and similar religions, psychography is a technique for "channeling" written messages from what is believed to be a disembodied spirit. Spiritism is a Christian philosophical Doctrine, established in France in the mid-nineteenth century Spiritualism is a Religion founded in part on the writings of the Swedish mystic Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772 The English word " spirit " comes from the Latin " spiritus " (breath The usual approach to psychography is to relate it to a special ability, innate or developed, called medianimity, which not everyone possesses at a useful degree. Mediumship is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Louisiana Voodoo, and

Allan Kardec's Mediums' Book, one of the works comprised in the Spiritist Codification, is a treatise on psychography. Allan Kardec was a pseudonym of the French teacher and educator Hippolyte Léon Denizard Rivail ( Lyon, October 3, 1804 – Paris The Book on Mediums or Mediums and Evokers' Handbook (aka The Mediums' Book — Le Livre des Médiums, in French) is a book by Allan Spiritist Codification is the customary name given by spiritists to the set of books codified by Allan Kardec — allegedly dictated by Spirits — between the years Kardec recognises two basic types of psychography. Indirect psychography depends on a material device, like an Ouija board, operated by one or more persons. A ouija board (correctly pronounced "wee-jah" /wiʤə/ although often pronounced "wee-gee" /wiʤi/ and commonly known as a 'Spirit Board') is any flat board This type is cumbersome and not useful for large communications, frequently producing gibberish. Gibberish is a generic term in English for talking that sounds like speech, but has no actual meaning Direct psychography is the most conventional type, in which a person, the medium, writes under the alleged influence of the spirit. It is called "direct" because the relationship between the medium(s) and the spirit is not by means of any mechanical device. This type depends on medianimity alone and is subdivided into five subtypes, depending on how the spirit's message is committed to paper.

With mechanical psychography, the spirit takes control of the medium's arm and writes independently from his awareness (the medium may pass the time paying attention to something else while his arm writes autonomously). Considered to be the most reliable and extraordinary type. Communications thus obtained are thought to be completely free from the interference of the medium's conscience. With semi-mechanical psychography, the medium writes keeps relative control of his limb, but still feels a foreign influence on its movement. Unlike mechanical psychography, the medium knows all that is being written and can stop to rest or to turn the page whenever he sees fit. Reliability is almost as high as in mechanical psychography. Chico Xavier was this type of medium. Chico Xavier was a popular medium in Brazil ´s Spiritism movement

With intuitive psychography, the spirit communicates with the inner self of the medium (subconscious), resulting in him writing what is on his mind, though it is something different from what the medium would normally think. Sentences come formed, but the medium can amend them with richer vocabulary or a better syntax before writing them down. This is the most common type, but is less reliable and is usually marred by the interference of the medium's conscience. With inspirational psychography, the medium receives vague notions in his mind, which he will write in his own words. This type of psychography is very difficult to tell apart from the regular thinking process, especially in people with a literary talent (a careless analysis would have most writers fall into this category). Literature is the Art of written works Literally translated the word means "acquaintance with letters" (from Latin littera letter

Even considering the authorship as really belonging to a spirit, psychography does not guarantee the literary merit of the works produce, which can range from good to atrocious depending on many circumstances. Mediums who produce good works are likely to keep a high tone throughout their lives.

Books attributed to automatic writing

See also

References

  1. ^ spiritualism (religion) :: History - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  2. ^ Ivan Rabey's Book of St Columb (1979)
  3. ^ spiritualism (religion) :: History - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
  4. ^ Psychological Science, Vol. Oahspe A New Bible is a book announcing new revelations from God, which was produced by John Ballou Newbrough (1828&ndash1891 by Automatic Asemic writing is a wordless open Semantic form of Writing. The word asemic means "having no specific semantic content" Cryptomnesia, or inadvertent plagiarism is a Memory bias whereby a person falsely recalls generating a thought an idea a song or a joke when the thought was actually generated The Book on Mediums or Mediums and Evokers' Handbook (aka The Mediums' Book — Le Livre des Médiums, in French) is a book by Allan VALIS is a 1981 Science fiction novel by Philip K Dick. The title is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System, Patience Worth was allegedly a Spirit contacted by Pearl Lenore Curran ( February 15 1883 –1937 Arthur Ivan Rabey was best known as a Cornish historian and author from St Columb Major in Cornwall. 9, NO. 1, January 1998
  5. ^ Randi, James. An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural (N. Y. : St. Martin's Press, 1995, page 22).
  6. ^ automatic writing

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