The Green Hour is a theatrical adaptation of Rimbaud's A SEASON IN HELL created by Vancouver's Screaming Flea Theatre.
Artists Involved Include: Heather Lindsay, Mallory Catlett, Derek Whidden, Nneka Croal, James Maxwell, Billy Marchenski and Tanya Marquardt.
We are spread out. Some of us are in NYC. Some of us are in Vancouver. Group research is hard over long distance. We need a repository. This is it.
So post your writing here.
I will start by being to bold as to post Derek's long email to us regarding bliss, which I have not read yet, because it is in my email.
DEREKS THOUGHTS ON BLISS
I wanted to follow up on past discussions about ways into the 2nd Delirium with some thoughts on 'bliss'...there are many ways to interpret this word, but I think this perspective is interesting, and I hope to hear more (either personal or interpretations of Rimbaud's thoughts).
The meat of this discussion in 2nd delirium appears to be these passages (from Schmidt, 3rd page of the section):
"I got used to elementary hallucination: I could very precisely see a mosque instead of a factory, a drum corps of angels, horse carts on the highways of the sky, a drawing room at the bottom of a lake; monsters and mysteries. A vaudeville's title filled me with awe.
And so I explained my magical sophistries by turning words into visions!
At last I began to consider my mind's disorder a sacred thing. I lay about idle, consumed by an oppressive fever: I envied the bliss of animals - caterpillars, who portray the innocence of a second childhood; moles, the slumber of virginity!
My mind turned sour."
Regarding Mal's earlier thoughts: I wouldn't completely agree that Rimbaud is trying to 'strip away' my own definition of bliss; the comment about the caterpillars indicates that he wants to rid himself of the 'busy' mind, the sort of thinking that fluctuates between past and future, the mind that is concerned with vague ambitions, fearful of death, or needs to be engaged with conventional stimulus in order to be engaged in the world.
So, on one hand, we can deduce that he recognizes and perhaps embraces the abstraction of his way of thinking, but is also envious of the simplicity - or pure instinctual 'thought' - of the caterpillar.
However, it is also a matter of definition of the words he uses. For example, the term 'mind's disorder' could be used to describe a mind that lacks clarity or focus, a mind that is obsessed with a series of words. The antithesis to this would be what William Burroughs described as the 'wordless state', which to him (and to myself) is a state of bliss. To Burroughs, the endless stream of words running through the head was akin to possession, practically a disease.
Rimbaud refers to the 'wordless state' in this section when he says:
"And so I explained my magical sophistries by turning words into visions!"
But does he think of that as bliss? With my past experience, my mind was rejecting words and instantly translating them into visions; my senses were the thinking, not streams of words. As a result, I was constantly present, and this was bliss to me. It may not be to Rimbaud. Perhaps he is indicating that he was tortured by his visions, rather than engaged with them without judgment.
The real argument here may also be that many think of bliss in a religious sense, which may be more akin to brainwashing. We have all seen pictures of footage of people in churches feeling so possessed by God or Jesus Christ that they are not functional in the world. Their tears spring from being overwhelmed by beauty, and they describe the unbelievable love and happiness that they feel through the experience. We could also call this bliss, but its instigation through worship - of either a person or deity - differs from my own experience.
So, here is my own understanding of the word 'bliss':
Bliss is experienced when one is in complete control of the mind, and as an extension, of the body. Humans are always looking for ways of achieving happiness, satisfaction, love; positive states of being. Conflict to this occurs when words stream through the head telling us to be mistrustful, vindictive, concerned about the past and afraid of the future. Problems in the past we can do nothing about, and fears of the future often don't materialize, but we believe them, and most people are slaves to these thoughts on a daily basis.
Therefore, we are working against our own best interests, and feel we have no control over this process. This is what I would describe as hell.
When we are completely engaged in the senses & take cues from the body (when it is 'intact'), thoughts of past and future are impossible. There is a knowledge that problems will exist, and that death is inevitable, but there is no fear of these things, because the birth of any of these events is simply another moment. The blissful mind does not value the concept of useless dwelling in words.
The concept of 'time' is altered dramatically: you can actually feel each moment wash away forever as the next one appears. As a result, there is a remarkable clarity both in terms of your surroundings and your knowledge of yourself. The senses open up dramatically, the body feels and understands a different reality. YOu see very clearly how things around you are moving and breathing. In some ways it is akin to an acid trip, without the synthetics, and without the bad trips.
It is, above all, an artistic state, and has been described with small differences before by many artists (especially poets & other writers). I suspect the reason why is because of the amazing opening up of awareness & empathy, and because one is thinking solely in 'images', of almost limitless inspiration.
I don't want to go on any longer for now, but will end by saying that I started reading Rimbaud when in this state, and recognized an understanding of it from him. Unfortunately, because of the incredible difficulty in obtaining and maintaining it, his final words,
"My mind turned sour."
were also part of the experience. Perhaps as a way of realizing how unique it actually was?
Looking forward to the discussion,
Derek
