More on Dali's 50 Secrets

I'm continuing to read further, but I haven't gotten to a point where the Secrets arrive at their next conclusion. Because that's the case with these things. Dali may have enumerated 50 of them, but the Secrets seem to be falling into groups of things. I don't have the book immediately to hand, but all of the bits about creating 5 different araneariums (spider-habitats) to convince webs to be spun so that you can look at the landscape through them... well, let's just say that I respect spiders, but I'm not running out to cultivate close relationships with orb-spinners.

Just like the Bible and the IRS Tax Code, you can interpret the 50 Secrets on a number of different levels. There's the words exactly as written, which in the hands of practiced occultists become a path toward the Great Work. Any occultist who actually performs the steps as written exactly has my respect in pulling it off, but also my sympathy... just because a painting Master tells you to go do something doesn't mean he was a) talking to you, b) telling the truth, or c) worth listening to as much as his work is worth looking at.

Dali the mad genius?

Dali's worth listening to, but you need to also think for yourself. While I'm sure that the egomaniac/marketing side very genuinely believed that you needed to listen exactly to Dali in all of these things, I'm sure that the actual artist portion of his persona would have delighted in the fact that he had found someone with enough strength of character to stand up to him, and yet wisdom enough not to dismiss him just because of his stylized fantastical elements.

Part of the problem is that, as with any inspirational writing, you need to be able to sift through what is actually said to get at the wellspring of meaning and inspiration which prompted the writing. Dali's tapping into some very essential, spiritual truths here, but the manner in which he himself manifested the realization of these spiritual truths is not as universal as the truths themselves.

Keeping my head

As it always it. Reading is not permission to close your mind and stop thinking for yourself. However, setting aside your preconceptions to at least give serious consideration to even the most fantastical proposistions is what allows us to come to know in some small way these other creatures we name as fellow humans. So we continue reading through these secrets with one eye on the literal expression for what it is, and the other eye on the probable sources of inspiration or motivation for what they are. Where the literal cannot serve us properly, then we are left trying to approach a personal apprehension of the truth that inspired, say, the fish eyes or the sea urchins. Whether we can or not is the test of both our ability to comprehend and Dali's ability to communicate.

I'll analyze more of the secrets when I get far enough along to be able to see where the similar points end and where new motivations begin to pour through. So far, they're mostly concerned with items like controling your sex life to channel or retard the creative energies of the libido. Taoist monks practice celibacy along with meditations and diet as the keys to prolonging life eternally. (Once again, without sex, is life worth prolonging that much?)

They also seem to be about finding the right mental/spiritual balance with regard to the painting. Not spending too much time. Not over-finishing. Not letting the details bog you down until it's time to worry about the details, and then knowing when the painting is finished.

Interesting theories. When I'm done with the whole book I'll go back and pick apart each of the secrets.