Automatic writing

For an article about Surrealist automatic writing go to Surrealist automatism.

For an article about music album "Automatic Writing" go to Automatic Writing (album).

Automatic writing is the process, or product, of writing material that does not come from the conscious thoughts of the writer. The writer's hand forms the message, and the person is unaware of what will be written. It is sometimes done in a trance state. Other times the writer is aware (not in a trance) of their surroundings, but the actions of their writing hand.

How is it done?

The writer takes a pencil in hand, places it against a piece of paper as if about to write something, then turns their attention to something else, such as watching television, reading a book, or talking with someone. For many people, their hand will write coherent material.

Often, the writing is illegible. But for some people, words, sentences or whole paragraphs appear.

The message is often signed with a name other than the person who is writing, or show a differnt handwriting appearance. The person often feels that another personality is writing the message.

Many contemporary automatic writers use a computer and type the material.

Case stories

Sometime before 1900, William Stainton Moses, a respected priest and teacher, experimented with automatic writing. His beliefs were Orthodox Christian, but the messages from his automatic writing took a more open, undogmatic view, to which he "converted" over time. He believed the message originated from higher spirits.

Rosemary Brown was an English housewife who automatically composed music. She could play the piano, though not very well. She felt that great composers were writing through her.

Use in religious movements

Automatic writing is used in Spiritualism and the New Age movement as a form of channeling. One of the best-known automatic writers was Hélène Smith, an early 20th century psychic who felt that her automatic writing was the attempt of Martians to communicate with Earth. She claimed she could translate their Martian language into French.

Use in therapy

Automatic writing is used as a tool in Freudian psychology and in related "self knowledge" studies, where it is seen as a means of gaining insight into the mind of the automatic writer through their subconscious word choices.

It was primarily used by Pierre Janet in France, and later by Morton Prince and by Anita Mühl in the United States.

Use in stimulating creativity

The ideas of Hélène Smith influenced the Surrealist movement. André Breton, leader of the Surrealist movement, pioneered its use within the movement and produced several important pieces of automatic writing, most famously, Soluble Fish. The Surrealists dubbed her "The Muse of Automatic Writing"; in the Surrealist deck of cards, Smith is the "Genius of Knowledge." Automatic writing became a part of the Surrealist's 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. (See Surrealist automatism.)

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.

Criticism

Skeptics point out that automatic writing claimed to be of supernatural origins is a parlor game that has little more effect than to spark creativity in the minds of the participants. They claim, as with other paranormal phenomena, that the subconscious of those performing the writing is the only thing 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.

As there is no scientific evidence supporting the use of automatic writing in therapy, its usage to release repressed memories is suspect as well. While unconscious ideas are expressed in automatic writing, skeptics point out that it is unlikely that they are any more profound than the writer's conscious thoughts. Skeptics argue that there is no evidence that the "true self" lies in the unconscious any more than it does in normal consciousness.

References

• Carroll, Robert Todd. "Automatic writing". The Skeptic's Dictionary. ISBN 0471272426
• Randi, James. "Automatic writing". An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. ISBN 0312151195
• Harald Schjelderup: "Det skjulte menneske"
• Alfred Lehmann: "Overtro og trolddom"

See also

Surrealist techniques