A CrazyMaking Project
Believing Things and Other Creative Acts in the Last Days of the Culture Wars
Believing anything is a creative act. Even before the “Post-Truth” world was branded, this was the case. In some ways belief is the ultimate creative act. The sculptor works with a hunk of stuff, the musician with manipulated sound, the poet with language that’s been hacked. But the believer takes everything, all of experience, and makes something new of it. Because belief is the most expansive and ambitious kind of creative act, it is also inherently the most dangerous. And we are, all of us, believers. We all believe something. We are all dangerous creators.
For several years, I’ve been conducting an informal survey of sorts. In a variety of forums and formats, I’ve been asking people the following two questions:
What is the craziest thing you believe?
What is the riskiest thing you believe?
For many people these are effectively a single question, or in any case have a single answer. For most of us they are distinct; they are questions with completely different answers. If you believe, for example, that 9-11 was an inside job, a so-called “false flag attack” perpetrated by elements within or behind the US government, well, that may or may not be the craziest thing that you believe. But unless you actively attempt to either subvert or withdraw from the system that created this situation, it’s not really a risky belief. For a belief to be risky, you have to have put some effort into it, you have to have some skin in the game.
“People are basically good” is a perhaps surprisingly common belief. And whether or not it is ‘crazy,’ it is certainly risky. I mean, if you really believe it, you’re going to act accordingly, and sometimes you’ll pay a penalty for that belief. And this is what makes it risky.
A personal favorite, and one I hear pretty often: “I don’t believe anything that’s crazy.” It sounds at first like a reasonable response. All of us want to believe we’re level-headed and clear-eyed.
So then some thoughts about that word, “crazy”: This project engages participants at every end of the cognitive, psychological, and clinical scale. I have punched the clock myself on both sides of psychosis, addiction, neurosis. I am intimately aware that crazy is an inherently othering word. And that is why we are using it. This is an invitation to step outside of ourselves, to catch a glimpse of the range of ways our own beliefs might be viewed by a truly random sampling of fellow human beings.
Belief is a creative act. A reckless, random, occasionally destructive creative act. We must handle our crazinesses responsibly. And to do this, we have to own it.
I invite you to share, anonymously here, if you prefer, or on the Facebook page, your craziest, riskiest beliefs. Below the poll you’ll find a sampling of some of the craziest, riskiest things other people are busy believing.
Two questions inviting you to explore the nature of beliefs in the Post-Truth world:
EXAMPLES OF PARTICIPANTS’ CRAZY / RISKY BELIEFS:
• Souls travel in packs. Craziest
• The world is perfect, but not for us. Craziest / Riskiest
* The act of questioning is a spiritual act. Craziest / Riskiest
• Evolution is spirituality in material form. Craziest
• Humans are mechanisms capable of learning and improving their lives Riskiest
• The soul travels backward in time, so that your soul enters your body when you die, and leaves your body when you’re born. Craziest
• God and aliens are the same thing, and Fermi’s Paradox is Russell’s Teapot. Craziest
• Trump is the answer and the question. Craziest
• The water turned into wine Craziest / Riskiest — Ret Fed Judge
• All of my stupidity and selfishness are rendered irrelevant on the cross Craziest / Riskiest
• The universe is a closed, exclusively mechanical system Craziest / Riskiest
• If the Cold Civil War turns hot, it will be because Twitter does not have italics. Craziest
• Every generation has its opportunities to perceive that it is in the end times. Riskiest — Inpatient Psychiatric Patient
• Even if everything in scripture had happened exactly as it is written, I would still have to treat it all as metaphor. Riskiest
• Life is basically meaningless Riskiest
• Everything happens for a reason Craziest
• The universe is a vast battlefield of angelic and demonic forces, and we are a rogue fleet of drones constantly subjected to hacks and countermeasures by the contending forces. Craziest
• 9-11 was caused by the invention of the alphabet, 2900 years earlier. Craziest
• Corporations are hyper-empowered sociopathic entities which will ultimately be the end of us. Craziest
• I am invincible at driving while intoxicated with my daughter in the car. Craziest / Riskiest — General Contractor
• lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muḥammadur-rasūlu-llāh Riskiest
• The HARPP towers control the speed, intensity and direction of hurricanes Craziest
• The possibility of a just world Craziest / Riskiest
• Civilization is a race between education and catastrophe. Craziest
• White people are inherently evil Craziest /Riskiest
• I am not insane. Craziest /Riskiest
• I matter Riskiest
• Van Gogh’s The Cafe Terrace on the Place du Forum follows me around in life. Craziest
• Quantum Mechanics Craziest
• There might be some actual kind of heaven Craziest — Writer
• Death is the reset button, sending us back to the beginning of our lives, and we live the same life over and over again without variation. Riskiest
• We’re supposed to not speculate about what happens after we die. Craziest /Riskiest
• Art and religion are the same thing Riskiest
• Curiosity is the antidote to fear. Riskiest
• Terminator was the last great sci-fi movie, certainly the last great movie about AI, done without CGI. Craziest
• Progressives fetishize equality the way conservatives fetishize freedom Craziest
• Time travel is possible Craziest
• People don’t change Riskiest
• Nazi research underpins western medicine Riskiest
• Elon Musk will come out with a $35k electric car Craziest
• Chemtrails Craziest
• White supremacy is real and defines our lives Craziest /Riskiest
Continue to PART 2: CrazyMaking Folio Images and visual treatments.