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Homospatial Thinking in Creativity

Article in Archives of General Psychiatry · February 1976

DOI: 10.1001/archpsyc.1976.01770010005001 · Source: PubMed

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 Homospatial Thinking in Creativity
Albert Rothenberg, MD

\s=b\ "Homospatial thinking" consists of actively conceiving two emphasized both regression and adaptation in creativity.
or more discrete entities occupying the same space, a concep- According to Kris, preconscious thought elaborated by pri¬
tion leading to the articulation of new identities. Homospatial
mary process mechanisms such as condensation and dis¬
thinking has a salient role in the creative process in the follow- placement erupts into consciousness during the creative
ing wide variety of fields: literature, the visual arts, music, sci-
ence, and mathematics. This cognitive factor, along with "Janus-
process, but the creative person is not overwhelmed by it:
ian thinking," clarifies the nature of creative thinking as a highly "The general assumption is that under certain conditions
adaptive and primarily nonregressive form of functioning. the ego regulates regression, and that the integrative
(Arch Gen Psychiatry 33:17-26, 1976) functions of the ego include voluntary and temporary
withdrawal of cathexis from one area or another to regain
improved control."6 With his emphasis on the importance
of the preconscious aspect of the psychic apparatus in cre¬
understanding the unique capacity
of
The challenge
of
certain produce great works of art, de¬
persons to
ativity, Kris deviated from what had been a previously ex¬
clusive psychoanalytic emphasis on the Unconscious, al¬
velop new and important scientific theories and dis¬ though he still considered concrete, primitive, and
coveries, and establish and administer important social in¬ id-derived material to be a central aspect of creative
ventions, the challenge of understanding creativity has thought. Lawrence Kubie pushed the matter into contro¬
generated much psychiatric speculation and controversy. versy by taking off from Kris' formulations about pre¬
On the one hand, the frequently touted and often exag¬ conscious processes and insisting that the Preconscious
gerated eccentricities and unusual life styles of creative alone was responsible for creativity.7 He argued that only
people and their use of unusual or deviant modes of the preconscious aspect of the psychic apparatus could
thought in their work has led to a strong emphasis on have the flexibility necessary to produce creations. He
psychopathology; the diagnostic method known as "pa- held that the Unconscious was rigid and stultifying, and
thography" is characteristically applied to the biographies that creativity, rather than derived from id material or re¬
of artists, writers, and scientists. There has also been an
gression, was totally healthy and adaptive. Other formula¬
emphasis on such as, "Einstein thought like a
regression, tions that emphasize adaptation and are therefore poten¬
child." On the other hand, the highly valuable nature of tially in conflict with formulations about regression and
creative achievements has seemed to be at odds with such
psychopathology in creativity are as follows: Schachtel's
perspectives. Therefore, there have been speculations em¬ alloplastic mode of perception8; Federn's concept of ego
phasizing adaptive, healthy, and progressive rather than boundaries9 and its elaborations, especially Rose's notion
regressive factors in creativity. Theoretical compromises of an expansion of ego boundaries in creativity10; Winni-
and rapprochements between the two alternatives have cott's concept of transitional phenomena11'and its exten¬
constituted a third approach. sions.12 Dissatisfaction with placing regression, and par¬
l:i

Lombroso was the first psychiatrist to speculate exten¬

ticularly primary process thinking, at the core of
sively about creativity, and he connected genius directly creativity seems to have reached its zenith in the recent
to degenerative insanity.1 The early psychoanalysts em¬ revisions of psychoanalytic theory proposed by Noy14 and
phasized the role in creativity of regressive modes of other ego psychoanalysts. Arguing that the traditional
thought which were termed primary process thinking and concept of primary process thinking could not possibly ac¬
considered to be characteristic of dreams, schizophrenia, count for creativity in art, Noy proposed a complete theo¬
primitive cultures, and early childhood.2 ' Freud also em¬ retical revision of the concepts of primary and secondary
phasized these types of thought in creativity, but unlike process thinking; according to Noy, the role and develop¬
some of his followers, he was aware of the difficulty of ment of these modes of thought depend on their particular
making them wholly responsible for highly valuable functions in relation to art and reality.
achievements.4 Subsequently, Ernst Kris developed an im¬ Few of these speculations are based on empirical data
plication he believed to be present in Freud's own work on that are derived directly from creative persons, except for
wit,5 and attempted a direct rapprochement with the con¬ some observations accrued from psychoanalytic treat¬
cept of "regression in the service of the ego," which ment. Barron,15 whose data did derive from empirical
study of creative people, took no direct position on the
psychoanalytic controversy about regression and primary
Accepted for publication Aug 6, 1975. process; however, he believed that his findings suggested
From the Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, both high degrees of ego strength and of psychopathology
New Haven, Conn. Dr Rothenberg is now Professor of Psychiatry at the
University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington. in creativity. MacKinnon,16 citing Barron's findings and
Reprint requests to 139 Webb Circle, Monroe, CT 16468. other empirical studies of creative persons at the Institute

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 of Personality Assessment and Research, proposed a dif¬ products of a fused or unified conceptualization. These
ferentiation between creativity and psychopathology that new identities are not the products of analogic thinking,
hearkened back to Otto Rank, an earlier psychoanalytic that is, the finding of analogies and similarities between
advocate of a unique theoretical compromise. Rank differ¬ disparate entities, but of a wholly different process.
entiated among the following three character types and In order to illustrate these distinctions and clarify the
stages of development: creative, adaptive, and neurotic.17 operation of the Homospatial process, let us take the cre¬
On the basis of my own empirical studies (the overall ation of the following specific and definite poetic meta¬
design of which has been presented previously18), which to phor: "The road was a rocket of sunlight." When I asked
date consist of 1,520 hours of intensive psychiatric inter¬ numerous people, (including students, critics, philoso¬
views of outstandingly creative people, special manuscript phers, psychologists, and psychiatrists) how they believed
analyses, and controlled experiments, I described and pre¬ this metaphor came to be created, most said that they
sented experimental evidence for a specific thought pro¬ guessed that the poet was standing above a road on a
cess in creativity called "Janusian thinking."1922 This pro¬ sunny day, or he was thinking of standing above such a
cess consists of actively conceiving two or more opposite, road, and he noticed that the sun made the road look like
contradictory, or antithetical concepts, images, or ideas the trail of a rocket. Some said that the poet was driving
simultaneously. At the time, I pointed out that it was not his car, or thinking about it, and he felt like he was a
a primary process mode of thought, but rather an ad¬ rocket in the sunshine. Other people varied details and
vanced type of abstract or secondary process thinking. speculated about some experience combining the two
Moreover, I alluded to other thought processes in creativ¬ types of circumstances. As another example, consider the
ity that functioned to integrate simultaneously posited metaphor: "The branches were handles of stars." When
antitheses, or Janusian thoughts. In this study, I describe asked how this metaphor was created, people invariably
another empirically discovered thought process that is also said that the poet was walking in the country (or park) at
an advanced abstract or secondary process mechanism. night, and when he looked up at the trees, he noticed that
This thought process functions both to integrate Janusian the branches of the trees look like they connected with the
thoughts and as an independent factor in the creative pro¬ stars shining through them.
cess. The material presented here is derived from a book Homospatial thinking, however, does not operate in
on creativity currently in preparation. such a way, and producing poetic and highly effective
Homospatial Thinking
metaphors is one of the prime functions of the Homospa¬
tial process. The metaphors were actually created as fol¬
The second thought process operating in the process of lows: in the first instance, the poet was attracted by the
creation is what I designate as "Homospatial thinking." words "road" and "rocket" because of their similar sound
The term derives from the Greek word, "homo," meaning qualities, the alliteration and assonance, and because of
"same." Homospatial thinking consists of actively conceiv¬ the somewhat similar shape of the physical entities that
ing two or more discrete entities occupying the same space, they denoted. Then, fusing and superimposing the words
a conception leading to the articulation of new identities. and physical entities in his "mind's eye," bringing them
In this process, concrete entities such as rivers, houses, hu¬ together because he felt they ought to be together, he
man faces, as well as sound patterns and written words, fleetingly thought, "When in reality are they the same?"
are superimposed, fused, or otherwise brought together in He then simultaneously thought of the word "sunlight"
the mind and totally fill its perceptual space, that is, the and of sunlight shining on a road. In the second instance,
subjective or imaginary space experienced in conscious¬ the poet was also attracted to the sound and physical sim¬
ness. Although the process often involves the visual mode, ilarities between "handles" and "branches" and, super¬
the "mind's eye" so to speak, any of the following com¬ imposing and fusing them, he thought of the points of
plete range of sensory modalities may be involved: visual, stars (and the sound properties of the word "stars"). In
auditory, tactile, kinesthetic, olfactory, or gustatory. Any other words, in neither instance did the actual perception,
discrete sensation or series of discrete sensations may be image, or thought of the sunlight or of the stars come
actively conceived as superimposed or fused with one or first, nor did the similarities and connections evoked by
more other discrete sensations. Not a matter of synes- the perception of the play of light or the idea of it gener¬
thesia, which is the experiencing of sensations from one ate the metaphors. Only after the discrete entities of
modality in terms of another modality, discrete entities roads and rockets or handles and branches were brought
and their sensations are intentionally superimposed in the together and fused, because the poet actively fused them,
Homospatial process. did the thought of a plausible circumstance (and further
Of necessity, a Homospatial conception is always a sound similarities) occur to him.
rapid and fleeting one. Discrete entities cannot remain The popular view of metaphor creation that I have de¬
unified for very long, even in the mind, and the diffuse ini¬ scribed is also shared by advanced theorists and23 is based
tial conception soon leads to a separation and precipi¬ on a universal experience when hearing or reading an ef¬
tation of various components and the articulation of new fective completed metaphor. It is based on an extrapola¬
identities. The components separated out of a Homospa¬ tion from the psychological and aesthetic impact of the
tial conception are new integrations and not merely as¬ metaphor rather than a detailed knowledge of the steps in
pects of the original discrete elements combined in some its development. Thus, when hearing or reading "The road
additive fashion. In other words, they are not merely was a rocket of sunlight" or "The branches were handles
products of a stepwise comparison or a consideration of of stars" we all tend to conjure up scenes of riding on
similar aspects of discrete independent entities, but are roads or walking in woods. We tend to compare branches

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 with starlight
or to see relationships between trees and scenes (A Rothenberg, MD, unpublished data). Also, in a
stars that had not noticed before. We also compare
we study involving reconstruction of the creation of the prize-
rockets of sunlight with speeding cars or think of the winning play, High Tor by Maxwell Anderson, a recon¬
blinding light on the road. The poet, too, later visualized struction based on a special statistical analysis of manu¬
such scenes and thought of such comparisons, and they en¬ script revisions in conjunction with intensive interviews
hanced his own appreciation of the metaphor he created. of close surviving family members (similar to a previous
However, these visualizations and thoughts followed after analysis of revisions in Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman
the construction of the metaphor through the Homospatial Cometh™), there was evidence of such a process. The lead¬
conception. ing character of that play was clearly a fusion of an im¬
Homospatial Thinking in the Creative Process portant self-representation of Anderson himself, his dead
grandmother's lover, the living young owner of the Hud¬
Creation of effective metaphors, which consist of the in¬ son palisade named "High Tor," and of characteristics de¬
tegrated representations of abstract ideas, is a major termined by the nature of the plot. All of the persons men¬
function of the Homospatial process. Such metaphor con¬ tioned and the plot of the play were, according to his
struction is an important aspect of diverse types of cre¬ family's testimony, clearly in Anderson's consciousness at
ative processes, not only in poetry and literature, but in the time. Anderson's self-representation of a son grap¬
music, the visual arts, and science. Other crucial creative pling with a father's legacy could be unmistakably de¬
operations also depend on Homospatial thinking. In liter¬ duced from a previously undiscovered connection to the
ary creation, effective and meaningful rhymes, rhythms, play; Anderson's own father had died shortly before he be¬
alliterations, assonances, and double meanings (uncon¬ gan the drama's creation. Revisions clustered around dead
nected to metaphors) result from the Homospatial process. characters in the play at the .05 level of significance (A
Character creation in novels, short stories, plays, and po¬ Rothenberg, MD, unpublished data).
etry is due to an active fusion and superimposition of per¬ In the visual arts, the Homospatial process operates to
sons the author had known, images of himself, and the de¬ produce what may be called a "visual metaphor." The vi¬
veloping image of the character he is writing about. sual metaphor results from the creative artist's capacity
It is well known that authors draw their characters to transcend the ordinary perceptual distinctions between
from actual persons. In a famous textbook of creative figure and ground (as defined by Gestalt psychology) and
writing, George G. Williams lists 100 well-known connec¬ to visualize pictorial elements in the same plane. For in¬
tions between literary characters and real persons, rang¬ stance, a distant mountain in a landscape scene is brought
ing alphabetically from Louisa May Alcott's parents and into the same visual plane as a house in the foreground.
her characters of Mr and Mrs March in Little Women to The resulting image is a fusion of the house and moun¬
Owen Wister's hero in The Virginian and his personal tain, and the painting produced is an integration of these
friend, COL George R. Shannon.24 However, consider the elements in which the house and mountain mutually inter¬
following observation by the novelist Elizabeth Bowen: act and modify each other. As the aesthetician Virgil
"The unanswerability of the question, from an outsider: Aldrich noted,27 the house becomes mountain-like and the
'Are the characters in your novel invented, or are they mountain is domesticated. A similar process occurs in ef¬
from real life?' Obviously, neither is true."25 Bowen's as¬ fective use of elements of color. As the great 18th century
sertion, stated in various ways by creative writers colorist, William Hogarth pointed out: "By the beauty of
throughout the world and throughout the history of fic¬ coloring, the painters mean that disposition of colors on
tion writing, would be quite mysterious without an under¬ objects, together with their proper shades . .
appear at
.

standing of the Homospatial process. Literary characters the same time both distinctly varied and artfully united,
are neither from "real life" nor are they totally invented, in compositions of any kind. . ."28
.

because they result from a superimposition and fusion be¬ In modern times, the highly creative colorist, Joseph Al-
tween the author's mental representation of real persons bers, constantly stressed throughout his famous book out¬
and a mental representation of the developing character, lining the creative approach to color that colors must be
whose qualities arise from the circumstances and struc¬ seen as discrete and fused at once. As he put it, "The mu¬
ture of plot. This is not an unconscious process; the writer tual influencing of colors we call—interaction. Seen from
is aware of vague, diffuse images that are derived from the opposite viewpoint, it is—interdependence."29
the intentional bringing together in the mind's eye of From the point of view of overall composition of a
self-representations, person representations, and repre¬ painting, note the following statement of a constant fac¬
sentations of the literary character in process. Throughout tor in the creation of his works by a leading Expressionist,
my interview studies of highly creative writers, novelists, Max Beckmann: "What helps me most in this task is the
playwrights, and poets, such a phenomenon has been con¬ penetration of space. Height, width, depth are three phe¬
stantly described or else discovered through detailed ex¬ nomena which I must transfer into one place to form the
ploration; it was never described or elicited in interviews abstract surface of the picture. ."30
. .

of novice writers or noncreative subjects engaged in fic¬ In sculpture and architecture, the manipulation of dis¬
tion writing for a fee. For instance, a Pulitzer Prize win¬ crete spatial elements and the visualization of them as oc¬
ning novelist agreed to record all his thoughts prior to set¬ cupying a single space is even more striking than in paint¬
ting to work on a particular chapter one day; the results ing. Louis Kahn, the great creative architect, described his
clearly showed that a particular character in the novel de¬ initial conception of the Congress Hall in Vienna as one of
veloped directly from a mental fusion of images of two parallel lines superimposed upon a circle, and his city plan
discrete college campus locations and the persons in the for Philadelphia as derived from a mental image super-

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 imposing streets and rivers.11 Other creative architects, In scientific creation, the Homospatial process plays an
speaking more generally than Kahn, describe the super- important role in the construction of both elaborately
imposition of horizontal and vertical dimensions and the complex and more simple metaphors, eg, "black holes in
constant visualization of what one architect called "mul¬ space," "left-handed molecules," "superego," which have
tiuse space."32 Henry Moore, the outstanding modern been crucial for the development of theories and for scien¬
sculptor, made the following general observation about tific discovery. Construction and use of metaphors is, in
the creative process in sculpture: fact, intrinsically related to model building in science, as
Kenneth Burke first pointed out36 and as Max Black devel¬
This is what the sculptor must do. He must strive contin¬
ually to think of,and use, form in its full spatial complete¬ oped in an extensive study on the topic.37 The creative sci¬
ness. He gets the solid shape, as it were, inside his head—he entists who have been subjects in my recent interview
thinks of it, whatever its size, as if he were holding it com¬ researches have, on detailed questioning, described com¬
pletely enclosed in the hollow of his hand. He mentally vis¬ plicated thought sequences that were clearly manifesta¬
ualizes a complex form from all round itself; he knows tions of the Homospatial process. A Nobel Prize laureate
while he looks at one side what the other is like . ,33
.

microbiologist, for instance, described his arriving at a

Clearly, the phrases "holding it completely enclosed in new idea about enzyme behavior by visualizing himself
the hollow of his hand" and "visualizes a complex form superimposed upon an atom in an enzyme molecule.
from all round itself" indicate a Homospatial conception Outside of my own direct researches, two great math¬
of discrete entities occupying the same space. ematicians have provided detailed descriptions of the
In music, references to space and spatial conception thought process leading to very important creations, and
are a complicated matter because the musical experience both designate a Homospatial process. First, there is Poin-
seems primarily temporal rather than spatial in character. caré's description of the ideas colliding and interlocking in
Nevertheless, auditory perception does have important his discovery of a crucial aspect of his famous Fuchsian
spatial characteristics and musical patterns are structured functions:
in terms of figure-ground relationships. Analogous to the One evening, contrary to my custom, I drank black coffee
visual artist, the composer creates metaphors in the audi¬ and could not sleep. Ideas rose in crowds; I felt them collide
tory sphere through mental superimposition and fusion of until pairs interlocked, so to speak, making a stable combi¬
foreground and background patterns, of vertical and hori¬ nation. By the next morning I had established the existence
zontal directions, and through bringing elements of figure of a class of Fuchsian functions, those which came from the
and ground into the same plane. Note, for example, hypergeometric series. ,38 . .

Beethoven's description of his compositional process: There is also Hadamard's description of the conception
... head, I begin to elaborate the work in its
In my leading to the discovery of "the valuation of a deter¬
breadth, its narrowness, its height, and its depth, and as I minant," a conception in which two discrete entities, a rec¬
am aware of what I want to do, the underlying idea never tangle and a square, were visualized as occupying the
deserts me. It rides, it grows up, / hear and see the image same space:
in front of me from every angle, as if it had been cast
"... I see a schematic diagram: a square of whose sides
. . .

[Italics added]34 only the verticals are drawn and inside of it, four points
Beethoven's description is almost identical to the previ¬ being the vertices of a rectangle and joined by (hardly ap¬
ous statement of the sculptor Henry Moore, and it refers parent) diagonals. . It. seems to me that such was my
. . . .

to what is clearly a Homospatial process in musical cre¬ visualization of the question in 1892, [when I made the dis¬
ation. Moreover, lest it be considered that the process was covery] as far as I can recollect. ." [italics added]39
. .

somehow unique to Beethoven and to nineteenth century In several other instances, the importance and diversity of
composing, note the following statement by Arnold the Homospatial process are indicated by its clearly cru¬
Schoenberg, the composer whom many consider the father cial role in very important scientific discoveries and in nu¬
of modern music: merous artistic creations as well (A Rothenberg, MD, un¬
[The] law of unity of musical space [is] best formulated as published data). For further elucidation, however, I will
follows: the unity of musical space demands an absolute now turn to a detailed report of the creation of a specific
and unitary perception. In this space, as in Swedenborg's poem. Homospatial thinking was first discovered in con¬
heaven (described in Balzac's Seraphita) there is no abso¬ junction with this particular creative process, and the re¬
lute down, no right or left, forward or backward.... To the port will therefore provide extensive documentation, clar¬
imaginative and creative faculty, relations in the material ify the operation of the Homospatial process further, and
sphere are as independent from directions or planes as ma¬ provide the basis for an understanding of its psychodyna-
terial objects are, in their sphere, to our perceptive facul¬ mic function.
ties. . Our mind always recognizes, for instance, a knife,
. .

a bottle or a watch, regardless of its position and can repro¬ REPORT OF A CASE
duce it in the imagination in every possible position.... [in¬ Study of the Creation of a Poem
sertions added]15
The following description of the creation of a poem is ab¬
Schoenberg speaks of perceiving entities in every pos¬ stracted from a series of interviews with one of my research sub¬
sible position in a manner analogous to Moore and Beetho¬ jects. As described in previous communications,18·19-22-40 these
ven. Virtually the same are Homospatial thinking and his
research interviews are carried out on a regular ongoing basis,
absolute and unitary mental perception, in which entities either weekly or biweekly, and are focused directly on creative
in the material sphere are seen as independent of direc¬ work in progress. At the beginning of each session, writer sub¬
tions or planes. jects submit to me material they have produced during the inter-

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 val between scheduled interviews (when indicated, subjects sub¬ parting shortly before the two men made their picnic trip to the
mit written material prior to the interview and it is electronically desert site. The probability that her expected visit (unconsciously)
copied and returned). When no written material is produced dur¬ revived the poet's thoughts about Monument Valley was strength¬
ing the interval, discussion focuses on general matters pertaining ened by a piece of corroborating evidence-the same woman ap¬
to the work in progress, such as the reasons for the lack of mate¬ peared in one of two dreams he had the night after starting the
rial or further elaboration of previous discussions; interview regu¬ poem. These dreams, both of which eventually proved to have nu¬
larity, in other words, is independent of the subject's patterns of merous connections to his thoughts about the poem, were reported
work in order that the interviewer's influence (implied expecta¬ to me in the poet's own words as follows (the woman whose visit
tions, etc) on the writing process be minimized as much as pos¬ was expected is given the pseudonym of Miriam in the following):
sible. Subjects are paid or offered fees for interview time, inter¬
views are carried out in the subject's home or studio, and the Dream 1
interviews are tape recorded. J. T.[pseudonym initial of the poet's male friend] and I are
The subject is one of America's major poets. Winner of two ma¬ on a trip or a visit. We come to a soccer field and feel like
jor literary prizes, his sole occupation is writing. At the time of playing, even though one must pay to do so. If we start at
the creation of the poem to be described, he and I had worked to¬ once, weshall have two hours worth for a few dollars
gether for two years; we had discussed many poems and had de¬ apiece. But the other players delay. Next, indoors, we are
veloped a high degree of rapport. Because of his interest in the re¬ shown a room with two day beds. Miriam enters and begins
search project, he had, on his own initiative, begun to keep a compulsively to make up my bed—rather to tear it apart un¬
written record of his dreams. Although highly motivated and in¬ der the guise of making it. I keep asking her not to, and fi¬
sightful, he had no commitment to any particular psychological nally am angry. She falls back in a swoon, dressed only in
theory, nor had he ever made a systematic study of psychological, underclothes. Other people enter slowly: J. T. in a sweat¬
psychiatric, or psychoanalytic literature. shirt and a boring old couple I am stuck with throughout
During an extended visit to the southwestern part of the United the party. I have made my own bed by then.
States, the poet and a male friend took a trip to Monument Valley,
Ariz. Named for the unusual rock formations resembling monu¬ Dream 2
ments or statues of humans and animals, this valley is located in
I've taken a position in a large comfortable house. I am to
the Colorado Plateau, east of the Grand Canyon and Rainbow be the companion of a very old woman—at least 100. After
Bridge, and is a bleak, arid region. Although the two friends had many preliminaries I am led (by my mother among others,
planned to picnic at the site, they found it difficult to do so; both but we treat each other like polite strangers) through halls
their enjoyment of the dramatic scenery and their picnic plans and up stairs to arrive at the invalid's apartments. I expect
were disturbed by the blowing and stinging sand. However, while
her to be bedridden but in honor of the occasion she has
they were attempting to eat their lunch, an unexpected event oc¬ risen to meet me at the door-an ancient dwarf with my
curred that turned out to be quite important to both of them: in
the midst of the blowing sand, seemingly out of nowhere, a small
grandmother's face, head smiling and enlarged, in a blue
dress. My mother, with a practiced movement, takes the old
bedraggled horse appeared before them. The poet's friend, who creature onto her shoulders. I touch her hands. They are
had a good deal of experience with horses and had strong feelings
about them, was immediately quite moved. He was excited by the
horribly small, a baby's-no, hands made by a plastic sur¬
geon, the last joints missing from the fingers, and little
horse's presence and the strange and sudden way in which it had false nails attached. We sit down to supper—she in her
appeared. The poet, preoccupied and bothered by the sand, was chair, I on the end of a chaise longue. Her teeth have little
less immediately impressed, but partly because of the dramatic
secondary fangs attached, which enable her to eat. People
qualities of the situation, he thought to himself that he might are watching. It is clear we are going to be delighted with
some day write a poem about the experience.
each other. In an old unused electric heater is mounted a
It was several months before he thought about the horse again. bad copy of a copy of a portrait, coarsely colored and
While working in his study one morning, he thought of the inci¬
dent at Monument Valley and also thought of a poem about horses
printed, of R. G. [pseudonym initials of an old family
friend]. There's some question of destroying it.
by another poet, Edwin Muir. He arrived at an initial idea for a
poem of his own and wrote the following lines: Through detailed associations to these dreams, many latent
meanings and unconscious factors pertaining to the final poem the
Hot pumice blew poet constructed became apparent (A Rothenberg, MD, unpub¬
Through Monument Valley lished data). This discussion concerns only the major dream ele¬
The Elephant rock ached
ments, associations, and meanings that clarify the specific
The Three Sisters wailed
It was not the place for a picnic
thought processes operating in the creation of the poem.
Given the connection between the woman's visit and the incep¬
We ate in the car's shade tion of the poem, let us go back to the subject's conscious thoughts
Hunched over at top speed on the day he began. The fragment that he wrote is a fairly un-
Looking up, there was our guest, our ghost poetic narrative description of the experience at Monument Val¬
At death's door
ley. Some poetic overtones, consisting of references to an aching
Slender, tottering liquid eyed elephant rock and to the wailing of the three sisters appear, but
. . .

Was there anything that stimulated his thinking about Monu¬ the thought guiding the construction of these lines that the poet
ment Valley on the particular day he began the poem? When I considered the initial idea for the poem (some would call it the "in¬
first asked him this question, he could think of nothing at all; it spiration") consisted of a concept pertaining to Edwin Muir's
was an ordinary day and the idea just "came to him." As we ex¬ poem. The subject told me that Muir's poem concerned the ending
plored the matter further, however, he thought of a possible of the world. The few human survivors left were standing around
stimulating factor, a factor of which he was entirely unaware at when suddenly some horses appeared on the scene. Thinking of
the time—he had been expecting a visit from a female friend on this poem in connection with the appearance of the horse at Monu¬
the following day, a friend whom he had last seen on the same trip ment Valley, the poet suddenly thought, "Horses live human
during which he paid the visit to Monument Valley. This woman lives." The full development of this idea consisted of an assertion
had also been a guest at the house of the poet's male friend, de- of the following simultaneous antithesis: horses, while they were

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 beasts and clearly nonhuman were, at the same time, members of presence of a car, the eating, and the appearance of a horse are all
the human species. contained in both the initial fragment and the last three stanzas
The development of this idea is a typical example of Janusian of the final poem. The Janusian thought that was not explicitly in¬
thinking. Rephrased in strict logical terms, the idea would be that cluded in the first day's fragment but did guide its creation is tac¬
"horses . were at the same time members of the human species itly expressed in the final two lines of the completed poem. The
in a sense." The poet himself, in other words, was clearly aware of
. .

reference to an "ancient bond between her kind and mine" clearly

the logic of the matter at the moment he posited the seemingly suggests the poet's initial thought about the conjunction between
paradoxical assertion. He thought of horses renouncing their own horses and humans. Overtones of the Janusian idea, especially the
kind to live in the human sphere and of a statement about dogs by dual or binary quality of the horse-human relationship, are also
the poet, W. H. Auden: "dogs are loyal, yes, but to humans, not to contained in the lines "still half in trust, half in fear of man."
other dogs." A Janusian thought characteristically consists of an So far, I have only outlined the operation of Janusian thinking
active and coherent assertion of simultaneous antitheses or oppo¬ in the creation of this poem; now, to the Homospatial process. The
sitions. Unlike schizophrenic thinking, which posits simultaneous last three stanzas of the poem were, in their essentials, conceived
contradictions illogically, the Janusian thought occurs in the pres¬ and written first. They focused on the horse and were guided by
ence of clear logic; it thus may be called "translogical," a tran¬ the Janusian thought of the horse as simultaneously beast and
scendence of ordinary logical operations. Usually occurring early nonbeast or human and nonhuman. Only later did the conception
in the creative process, the implications and plausibility of the that generated and guided the construction of the first two
Janusian thought are developed and elaborated as the process un¬ stanzas occur. This second conception, together with its develop¬
folds. In this instance, the thought of a horse as both human and ment, is an example of the process of Homospatial thinking. On
nonhuman simultaneously guided much of the ensuing construc¬ the morning after the dreams reported, the poet had a complex
tion of both the content and structure of the poem. Rewriting the thought when thinking about returning to work on the poem. He
initial lines of the poem reproduced above on the same day, the thought of the horse in conjunction with a rider, and he dimly con¬
poet added the phrase "A tradition in China as in modern verse/ ceived in his mind's eye an image of the horse and rider and of the
Gives to each age its emblematic beast." In writing this phrase, horse alone, all occupying the same space. He did not merely visu¬
which does not appear at all in the final poem, he began to formu¬ alize a rider alone, a horse alone, nor a rider astride the horse. He
late the overall emphasis of the poem; the horse, in its nature of did not merely connect a horse and rider through an associative
both beast and nonbeast, human and nonhuman, simultaneously, linkage, but he visualized the horse and rider occupying the same
would be the emblem of our times, the emblem of the currently space. Not a combination of human and animal, such as a cen-
ubiquitous and much-discussed dilemma of alienation. taur-a mythical creature that was part horse and part human-
The Janusian thought of the horse as simultaneously beast and the entities in his conception retained their wholeness and dis¬
nonbeast, human and nonhuman has important unconscious con¬ creteness while seen as superimposed and fused. In discussing the
nection to the material in his dreams on the night the subject be¬ conception later, he spoke specifically of a "double thing" and of
gan the poem and also to his relationship with his female friend, intentionally bringing together horse and rider as representations
which will later be considered along with the psychodynamics of of the ideas of body and soul.
the poem. Let us now look at the final poem, completed several This thought of horse alone and horse and rider together in
days later, to see the ultimate development of the initial Janusian which the horse and rider were superimposed, fused, or otherwise
thought: occupying the same space, led to his construction of the poetic im¬
In Monument Valley age of spiritual and virtually physical union ultimately contained
in the first two stanzas. Later in the same day, he worked on the
One spring twilight, during a lull in the war, lines he had written the day before and he tried at first to follow
At Shoup's farm south of Troy, I last rode horseback.
Stillnesses were swarming inward from the evening star the segment about the horse's appearance with the following:
Or outward from the buoyant sorrel mare A gentle broken horse
Who moved as if not displeased by the weight upon her. For all he knew it could have been I who first
Meadows received us, heady with unseen lilac. Broke him, rode him, abandoned him
Brief, polyphonic lives abounded everywhere. When I went off to study or to war.
With one accord we circled the small lake.
Yet here I set among the crazy shapes things take.
Thus, his first formulation of the Homospatial conception con¬
tained a reference to the horse alone and to himself as the horse's
Wasp-waisted to a fault by long abrasion, rider. Stopping his work on the poem at that point, he returned to
The 'Three Sisters' howl, 'Hell's Gate' yawns wide.
it the next day. He then decided to emphasize the past relation¬
I'm eating something in the cool Hertz car
ship between the horse and rider and to bring them together right
When the shadow falls. There has come to my door away, and shifted the idea to the beginning of the poem. The next
As to death's this creature stunted, cinder-eyed, day, he began anew, as follows:
Tottering still half in trust, half in fear of man- We live mostly in the past or in the future
Dear god, a horse. I offer my apple-core
These lines begin in one and end in the other
But she is past hunger, she lets it roll in the sand, It was the first or second summer after the war
And I, I raise the window and drive on. That I last found myself on horseback.
About the ancient bond between her kind and mine
Little more to speak of can be done.* Thus, the major substance and structure of the poem was deter¬
mined. Within the next several days, he brought the poem to its
The final poem, it might be said, bears little overt resemblance completed form, only changing some occasional words shortly be¬
to those prosaic early lines written the first day. It is clearly a fine fore publication some months later. What was the creative func¬
poem, a true creation, and it conveys much complex and powerful tion of the Homospatial conception in this sequence? Coming after
thought and feeling. However, comparing the final poem to the the initial Janusian thought of the horse as beast and non-beast,
early fragment, we see that the essential outlines of the last three human and nonhuman, simultaneously, the Homospatial thought
stanzas were already cast on that first day: the descriptive content
containing a human rider fused with, or occupying the same space
of the initial fragment and of the last three stanzas is substan¬ as the beast, served to integrate the Janusian idea into a single
tially the same. The references to particular "monuments," the image. This image, the virtual union of human and animal, is pre¬
•Author's name and publication reference not cited at author's request. sented almost explicitly in the final version of the first two stanzas

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 of the poem. The lines in these stanzas reflect a strong sense of these dreams and the creative process. After all, the poet's first
unity and accord between the rider and the horse. In this way, the thoughts about the poem concerned only the horse alone on the
Janusian idea, with its simultaneous contradictions, is rendered first day. After having a dream containing an image suggesting a
cognitively and affectively meaningful; it is presented in experien¬ horse and a rider, he then comes up the next day with the idea of a
tial terms and integrated into a poetic image or metaphor. horse and rider for the poem. Certainly there is an unconscious
The integration of the Janusian thought into a single image also continuity between the dream thoughts and the waking thoughts
served to unify the poem, to mold the first fragment into the final related to the poem. However, a comparison between the dream
aesthetic unity of the completed poem. The idea of the horse in thoughts and the waking thoughts highlights differences rather
conjunction with a previous rider gives a background and a past than similarities between dreams and Homospatial thinking. In
history to the experience in Monument Valley. The poet made this other words, the sequence does not suggest a manifestation of pri¬
connection explicit in his first attempt at using and elaborating mary process thinking in the waking thoughts about the poem,
the Homospatial thought in the poem: he referred to "the past" but a distinct, albeit related, thought process. The following three
and suggested a previous relationship between the human (the I" points of distinction immediately stand out: (1) the poet was not at
of the poem) and the animal. Next, still guided by the Homospa¬ all thinking about the dream at the time he had the Homospatial
tial thought, the poet decided to emphasize a past relationship be¬ thought in which the horse and rider were together. He himself
tween the human and the animal through a structural device; he did not see the analogy of his grandmother on his mother's back
shifted the horse and rider idea to the beginning of the poem and until he and I discussed the dreams and the poem in our interview
he also dropped the reference to the horse alone in that construc¬ session much later. Moreover, no direct connection existed be¬
tion. As a result, there was both a temporal integration—a begin¬ tween the images of the dream and the poem: the horse was not in
ning, a middle, and an end to what might be called the "story" or his dream and neither his mother nor grandmother were associ¬
the development of the poem—and a dynamic structural integra- ated with his waking thoughts about the poem. (2) The dream im¬
tion-the sense of unity between human and animal in the begin¬ ages, as is characteristic of primary process thinking, were vivid,
ning stanzas contrasts sharply with the alienation and separation whereas the Homospatial thought of the horse alone and the horse
at the end. and rider together was vague and diffuse. (3) Whereas the dreams
In cognitive terms, Homospatial thinking is a mode of formal did depict beast and human entities occupying the same space by
abstract operation, specifically a process of spatial abstraction. condensation or compromise formation (note the grandmother's
Conceiving of two or more entities occupying the same space is beastlike fangs in the dream), the Homospatial thought contained
human and beast entities that were clearly discrete as well as
clearly possible only on nonconcrete level. Concrete entities never fused or superimposed. The Homospatial thought of the horse and
occupy the same area of space; such an event is only possible as an
abstraction from reality. While the Homospatial process may pro¬ rider did not consist of the compromise formation of a horse with
duce a metaphor that renders an abstract thought into concrete or a human head (the centaur), nor did it consist of a human with a

spatial terms—indeed, the creator of the poem had abstract ideas horse's head. Both horse and rider were visualized as discrete but
in mind of the horse and rider representing the relationship of the as occupying the same space. A further consideration of the psy-

body and the soul—the Homospatial process is not itself a concrete chodynamics underlying the creation of this poem will specify the
mode of thinking. During the course of the creative process, the nature of the continuity between the dream thoughts and the Ho¬
Homospatial formulation in the creator's mind, its instigation, mospatial process.
and its development have all the qualities of a high level type of COMMENT
abstraction. The creator of this poem was fully aware that the dis¬ Psychodynamics of the Creation of the Poem
crete entities in his mind could not, in reality, occupy the same
space and he manipulated the Homospatial thought abstractly. He
The major psychological issues underlying the writing
brought the entities together into the same space because he felt of this poem, which were revealed in a collaborative analy¬
they ought to be together. In other words, Homospatial thinking is sis of the subject's dreams, concerned his mother, the fe¬
neither a manifestation of pure associational cognition nor a male friend, his sexuality, and his desire to be free of bur¬
manifestation of primary process. The Homospatial process is dif¬ dens and to be independent. This sequence of psychological
ferent from the thinking in dreams or in schizophrenia. events can be reconstructed as follows: While anticipating
I will clarify this point by a brief return to the dreams reported the visit of his female friend, he began thinking of the in¬
earlier. Aside from connecting the writing of the poem to the cident at Monument Valley, an incident associated with
poet's female friend and, as we shall see later, to his mother, these the visit to the southwestern part of the United States
dreams played a role in the psychological process pertaining to the
and the last time he saw her. As might be inferred from
poem. Nothing overt or obvious suggests this. The dreams oc¬ the erotic overtones in the first dream, he was attracted to
curred on the same day as the poet began the poem and therefore
some connection might be assumed. Although he is not mentioned
this woman but was also disturbed about this attraction.
directly in the poetic fragment written during the day, the poet's The Janusian thought about the horse reflected (through
male friend who accompanied him to Monument Valley does ap¬ the negation defense, which I shall discuss shortly) this
pear in one of the dreams. But neither the horse itself nor any¬ underlying ambivalence. The horse, at first primarily rep¬
thing about Monument Valley appears directly in the dreams to resenting the poet himself, was conceived as both beast
connect them to the poem. However, a close inspection of the and human simultaneously. For him, sexual feelings toward
dream and an inspection of the very important second dream (the the woman were animal-like or beastly, and they con¬
poet's associations bore out that the second, more extensive dream flicted with his human, more "spiritual" feelings towards
was the major one; a longer dream is often "the principal clause,"
and the first, or introductory dream, the "dependent clause," as
her. Thus, the horse was to be "an emblem" of our times, a
Freud put it41,turns up an interesting connection to the poem. In representation of his current conflict as well as an intellec¬
the second dream, the poet's mother is carrying her mother on her tual and aesthetic symbol.
back much as a horse carries a rider. However, the conflict about this woman touched on the
Not only does this image of grandmother on mother's back indi¬ poet's deeper conflict about his relationship to his mother.
cate conclusively, along with the poet's associations, that the The second of his two dreams contained an Oedipal wish,
dreams pertain to the poem and the ideas connected with the the desire to be the sole object of his grandmother's and
poem, but it also suggests a psychological continuity between mother's attention; there was "some question of destroy-

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 ing" the photograph in the heater (his association, the the words he used in poetry, such as the similarity be¬
minimal male presence in the house and his only competi¬ tween "mare" and "mère." It was the use of this word and
tion); he and the grandmother were clearly delighted with not his dreams that brought the connection between the
each other (his association, a time in his life when he, his poem and his mother clearly into his awareness. Thinking
mother, and his grandmother lived alone together). The about his use of the word "mare," he became immediately
dream also contained another theme—the grandmother on convinced that the poem unconsciously pertained to his
the mother's (her daughter's) back represented the bur¬ mother. In other words, the urge to change the horse's sex,
dens parents put on children. Although he wished to have an urge that followed the Homospatial conception, led to
his mother (and grandmother) to himself, he feared the the poet's performing an act that uncovered an uncon¬
burden and demands she would put on him. An analogous scious connection. As it is clear that the unconscious con¬
conflict is contained in the first dream directly concerning nection came to his awareness, producing an understand¬
the female friend; under the guise of helpfulness, she also ing of an underlying aspect of the poem, it is appropriate
becomes a burden. She tears the bed apart "under the to say that he achieved a measure of insight (independent
guise of making it." His wish for escape is expressed at of the investigator's influence: he characteristically
the end of this first dream—he makes his own bed. The achieved such insights while creating).
poet's association to this part of the dream was: "I go my The Homospatial conception was therefore part of a
own way." psychological progression that resulted in the uncovering
Working on what ultimately became the final stanza of of an unconscious meaning and the achievement of in¬
the poem, the poet expressed this idea of going his own sight. There is reason to believe that the Homospatial pro¬
way in the lines referring to the dissolution of the bond cess itself plays a role in facilitating such insights. Unlike
with the horse. "Little more to speak of can be done" re¬ primary process thinking in dreams, which allows for the
flected his wish to be free of his own conflict, a conflict em¬ discharge of impulses by disguising, distorting, or other¬
bodied in the dual nature of the horse. However, on the wise hiding unconscious meaning, the Homospatial pro¬
same day as he conceived these lines, he had also
begun cess characteristically functions to reveal unconscious
working out the Homospatial idea, the idea in which the meaning. The Homospatial process functions to reverse
horse and rider were occupying the same space. His work¬ the censorship of dreams. In this particular instance, the
ing out of the Homospatial idea led to a dramatic incident Homospatial conception and its subsequent effects re¬
during the writing and produced a shift in the poem. The versed the primary process condensation of the parent on
incident is psychodynamically dramatic because the shift the child's back in the dream (grandmother on mother)
it produced helps clarify the relationship of the dream and put the child (the poet) on his parent's (the mare's)
thoughts to the poem. The incident consisted of the fol¬ back, an image more directly representing the poet's un¬
lowing: as he continued to work on the Homospatial idea, conscious wish.
deciding to put the horse and rider at the beginning of the Both Janusian and Homospatial thinking function to
poem, and describing the scene in detail, he felt an urge to reveal unconscious meaning and to reverse the censorship
change the horse's sex! of dreams. While we know that dreams are "the royal road
Although the poet did not notice the sex of the actual to the unconscious," this has only been truly so since
horse that appeared at Monument Valley, he described the Freud's discoveries. They are only revealing from the
horse of the poem only as a male in all the early drafts. viewpoint of a sensitive therapist or other sensitive per¬
This is consistent with the point that the horse at first son. The poetic creative process, as I have described in de¬
represented this male poet's own conflict. Following the tail elsewhere,40 always results in some measure of uncov¬
dreams, however, and more importantly, following the ering of unconscious meaning for the poet himself. In a
Homospatial thought, he changed the horse's sex to fe¬ complex way, this is true of other types of creative pro¬
male. Thus, the word that first came to him, the word that cesses as well.
he decided to use in this connection, was, of course, the
word for a female horse—"mare." On the surface, this The Psychodynamics of the Homospatial Process
change and the use of this word might at first seem quite In the creation of this poem, the Homospatial process
innocuous or unimportant, but it assumes import with re¬ differed from the dreams and from primary process think¬
spect to the psychological processes operating in the cre¬ ing in the following respects: (1) the image in which horse
ation of this poem in view of the following: the English and rider were together and superimposed was actively
word "mare" has exactly the same properties as the French and intentionally formulated; (2) the image was vague
word "mère, meaning "mother. Thus, there emerged into
" "
and diffuse rather than sharp and vivid; (3) the dreams ob¬
the poem itself a word that presumably would connect to a scured the poet's underlying wish at the time of writing
deep unconscious meaning. The horse and rider relation¬ the poem and had no overt or direct connection to the
ship in the poem could then represent the poet's deepest waking, logical thoughts involved in creating the poem.
wish, that is, with his mother as the horse, he would be the The Homospatial conception applied directly to the wak¬
rider and therefore be supported and cared for by her. ing thoughts and anesthetic logic of the poem and it led to
At first blush, this is merely an interesting confirma¬ revelation rather than obscurity by means of a reversal of
tion of the postulated unconscious connection between the the condensations in the dream. The fusion of the horse
dreams and the poem. However, going only that far ig¬ and rider in his fully awake consciousness began a pro¬
nores an important characteristic of this poet (of most gressive uncovering of the disgused representations in the
poets, for that matter); highly fluent in French, the poet dream. Thus, after the image of horse and rider in the
was always acutely sensitive to multilingual overtones of
poem was created, the poet's underlying wish came closer

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 to awareness through the urge to change the horse's sex, defense mechanism of negation. (As Freud pointed out,
and eventually led to the attainment of a degree ofinsight. when first describing the negation defense,45 the person
An alternate explanation of the psychodynamic rela¬ who says, "I had a dream last night, but it was not about
tionships might be that the phenomena I have discussed, my mother," has most surely dreamt about his mother.)
namely, the dreams, the Homospatial conception, and the Through negation—in the case of Janusian thinking there
use of the word "mare" were all direct manifestations of are the multiple negations of simultaneous antitheses-

primary process thinking. According to the "regression in unconscious material enters consciousness but repression
the service of the ego" hypothesis, the Homospatial con¬ is not overcome. The person using the negation defense
ception, rather than being a highly complex abstract cog¬ disavows that the material is his own or that it comes
nition, would itself be a manifestation of primary process from his own Unconscious. Thus, the Janusian thought of
thinking that was somehow controlled by the ego and the horse as beast and human simultaneously entered the
shaped through language and logic to produce the result¬ poet's consciousness but he considered only its aesthetic
ing effects. The Homospatial conception, because it in¬ implications rather than any personal meanings of sexual
volves sensory imagery and unusual spatial configura¬ conflict or Oedipal longings. It was as though the poet
tions, would merely be the disguised representation of the were saying, "The horse (myself) is not beast and not hu¬
poet's primitive wish for fusion with his mother and a pri¬ man, that is, I am not a humanly beast nor a beastly hu¬
mary process condensation. This explanation not only ig¬ man." Of course, in his Oedipal longings for his mother
nores the strikingly different characteristics of dream or (and grandmother), he felt he was both of these.
primary process thought and the poet's fully conscious and The Janusian thought, then, embodied the poet's uncon¬
actively formulated abstract conception, but it ignores the scious conflicts and concerns, which, though negated, re¬
important sequence of mental events I have described. mained in consciousness. Next, the Homospatial process,
There is a progression from the waking thoughts about by conceiving the horse and human (the rider) as occupy¬
the poem to the dream thoughts and back again to the ing the same space, functioned to produce a psychodyna¬
thoughts about the poem, a progressive unearthing of an mic fusion. This was not a primitive fusion or, to use
unconscious meaning. The Homospatial process is not an Rose's term, a "narcissistic fusion"46 of himself with his
eruption of primary process material into consciousness mother because at the time of the conception, both the
that is then mysteriously controlled by some undefined horse and rider represented aspects of himself. It was
ego operation. The Homospatial process is itself an ego therefore a fusion of the elements in his own conflict, and
operation and a form of secondary process thinking. The these elements in the poet's conflict can be considered to
Homospatial conception did not occur during a period of be derived from his sexual and aggressive drives. Al¬
"withdrawal of cathexis," a decrease of attention in the though the conflict was superficially represented in terms
environment, or an immersion in fantasy as required by of human and beast, the poet was torn between aggres¬
Kris' concept of "regression in the service of the ego;" on sively going his own way (the rider who rejects the horse
the contrary, it occurred when the poet was fully aware of in the end) and his erotic impulses (the horse as a presen¬
his environment and beginning to think of how to modify tation of his "bestial" sexual longings). Horses, it should
his poem in process. Moreover, the horse was clearly con¬ be added, are frequently the objects and representations
sidered to be a stallion rather than a mare at the time of for sexual feelings, for persons of both sexes.
the Homospatial conception, and only later was it changed Homospatial conception, though operating primarily on
to a female representation of the mother. a cognitive level, served to fuse some portion of the poet's
Psychodynamic fusion is a function of the Homospatial sexual and aggressive drives. Through fusion of sex and
process but it is not a primitive or regressive fusion, it is aggression, neutralized psychic energy became available
an adaptive one. Homospatial thinking involves fusion of as an adaptive force and it propelled the poet toward in¬
cognitive and perceptual elements and, as cognition and sight. The poet conceived the horse and human occupying
perception always have affective and motivational compo¬ the same space, his sexual feelings then came closer to
nents, it also involves some fusion of drives as well. While consciousness and, not too long after, he became aware of
such fusion of drives is necessarily limited, and only an ac¬ the connection between the poem and his feelings about
companiment of the fusion on a cognitive level, it never¬ his mother.
theless functions adaptively in the creative process. As is The function of fusing sexual and aggressive impulses
well established in modern psychoanalytic theory, fusion is characteristic of the Homospatial process in all its
of drives to any degree results in neutralization of psychic manifestations in diverse types of creative processes.
energy.4244 Neutralized psychic energy is a basic psy¬ Though it is primarily a cognitive manipulation in that it
chodynamic factor in adaptive functioning. As a result does not necessarily result from the full working through
of the Homospatial process, neutralized energy becomes of conflicts nor does it produce real resolution of conflicts,
available during the creative process and serves to propel it still produces some fusion of drives. Hence, unlike the
the creator toward insight. This energy also instigates primitive fusions of primary process thinking and the
other adaptive and creative operations as well. Thus, to wished-for fusion found in schizophrenia and other psycho-
some degree, the creative process generates its own adap¬ pathological processes, the fusion associated with Homo¬
tive energy. spatial thinking is progressive and adaptive in function.
The psychodynamics of the progressive sequence, and of Neither Homospatial nor Janusian thinking is primitive
the secondary process ego operations of Janusian and Ho¬ nor regressive. Neither are manifestations of primary
mospatial thinking, is as follows: Janusian thinking, as I process nor regressive thinking that are in turn controlled
have noted previously,19-22 bypasses repression through the by ego mechanisms, as required by the "regression in the

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This study was supported by Public Health Service Research Scientist
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