Date of Submission
4-2024
Type of Work
Exegesis and Creative Work
Principal Supervisor
Dr. Toby Wren
Keywords
art ; cognition ; Divine Madness ; Divine Mania ; elastic thinking ; esotericism ; irrational ; left cognitive strategy ; left brain hemisphere ; linear thinking ; LRC ; mysticism ; non-linear thinking ; rational ; right brain hemisphere ; right cognitive strategy ; RCS ; subconscious ; subliminal ; system 1 ; system 2 ; unconscious
Audience
Mature (M) - moderate impact language/themes, includes violence/nudity, not restricted to 15+
Abstract
This study explores the cognitive process of creating a design for a single Tarot card, concentrating on the relationship between the visual (non-verbal, spatial) and verbal (linear) elements involved in the process. The research uncovered that linear and non-linear (visual) cognitive strategies are employed in synergy during the conception and creation of the artwork. The most notable result of the research is that immediate, pre-reflective and non-verbal experiencing has undeniable primacy over verbal, conceptual thinking. Verbalising thoughts is interchangeable with analytical, critical, symbolic, and linear cognitive strategy (“rational”). However, the context, interrelationships, and, ultimately, meaning are provided by integrating the findings of critical analysis into an integrated whole. A surprising finding is the centrality of beauty in my quest for truth and meaning. I find that articulated thinking and reasoning lead to knowledge, but the knowledge of truth and beauty is, in my experience, ultimately transcendental.
Recommended Citation
Lamont, S. (2024). The Way of Madness [Masters dissertation, SAE University College]. Creo.