Seeing Beyond: Movies, Visions, and Values now available

A brief W. R. Robinson biography A W. R. Robinson bibliography A W. R. Robinson lexicon Quotes from W. R. Robinson "'Like Light': The Movie Theory of W. R. Robinson" an essay by David Lavery Robinson Photo Gallery Friends of Bill Photo Gallery

A W. R. Robinson Lexicon

Abstraction	a factor that is operative in transcendence, in dying to be reborn again
Act, an	what is done in a unit of passion
Action, an	the process of what is done in a unit of passion
Actuality	an action realized, brought off
Aperspectivity	without depth, flat
Art	a solution to the problem of unity; is what it does and can do; its history the evidence and what it has done; what it can do, its potential, can only be known by working with it; it begets art
Center, the	the source that is everywhere and nowhere in a field of force from which the energy of the field of force flows; or the total forces in a field of force coordinated in a single act
Change	any alteration that makes a difference; there are three kinds: a) of place; b) by cause and effect; and c) creative
Character	a person's mark; the public identity that establishes him as a known and predictable figure
Communication	to make common; a mutual exchange of values: images communicate images
Composition	to unite by linking together in place; spatial organization..
Concrete	growing together.
Concrete thinking	a discipline in which the reflective powers concentrate on the individual rather than generalizations
Concretion	growing together, coalescing
Conflict	a complication or friction in the plot; there are three kinds: a) of man with the physical conditions of life; b) of man with himself--his head and his heart, his conscience with his passion; c) of man with the medium of his creative effort
Conjunctive powers	the forces that move toward unity
Conscience	to know together with; the science of relations
Consecution	to be united by linking sequentially; "temporal" organization
Convergence	inclined to come together; the pre-condition of any plot and the major direction of the action of any plot up to the climax
Correspondence	an eye-to-eye alignment; a one-on-one relation
Creation	a radical change in form; the supreme instance of growth
Cut, a	the space in between movie images (since it is dark, it raises the question of whether the dark and death should be feared, of what happens in the dark; it is the key to what is carried across from one image to another; whereas with words, inventions of man's reflective powers, artifice is carried across; with images. entities within the visible creation, it is creative power that carries across the cut)
Disjunctive powers	the forces that move toward disunity or differentiation
Emotion	the faculty of reacting to threatening or friendly forces
Energy transformation	an exchange of value that has qualitative consequences
Evaluation	getting the value out of; building upon the strength of
Evolution	in contrast to revolution, which is a 180 degree reversal, it is progression by refinement in the relations of the vital powers
Exchange	a transfer of value or energy. as when electrical energy turns into light
Feeling	the faculty of sensing the ebb and flow in the interaction of the vital powers
Form	the key to the perception of concrete individuals
Getting right with the light	aligning man's vital powers with their source and the medium of human life
Growth	an increase in the total energy of a system and therefore of its power to act (the opposite of entropy)
Ideographics	the method for describing the peculiar or unique, the concrete individual
Image	a sensory, not a mental image; a visual event, specifically a birth
Imagination	the image inventing capabilities whereby the potentialities of an image are given birth in a new image
Individuation	the objective of the growth process
Judgment	opposite of evaluation; assessing the worth of an individual in relation to a general principle or universal standard, thus emphasizing deficiency or looking for imperfections and weakness
Juxtaposition	the method of composition and consecution (it means "to put together")
Light	the source and model of unity, simultaneously particle, wave, and quantum; an excess or overflow that breaks out in energy exchanges; has zero mass, no electrical charge, and an infinite life time; is the offspring of interactions
Media	the surrounding, enveloping, pervading conductor, the source of the power for and means of change, not a vehicle for carrying a message or an intervening substance or device
Method	a disciplined, systematic way of going after, pursuing, or seeking out
Moral	pertaining to the behavior of things or to systems of action
Narration	the study and rendering of change, or of relating to and relating change; simultaneously an art form and a science
New Story, The	a narrative in which the new frees itself from the old
Object	throws itself in the way of or forward; an active, alive entity
Old Story, The	a narrative in which the old defeats the new, keeping it from breaking on through in a completely successful creation
One-on-one	an interaction between concrete individuals
Organic	a functional integration that includes all of the powers and all of the forms of growth
Particularization	the discipline devoted to creating concrete individuals
Passion	the power of action
Plasticity	renewability, not just moldability; readiness to undergo qualitative alteration
Plot	the structure of an action (as opposed to just changing places); there are two kinds: a) that which moves toward disunity or disintegration. and b) that which moves toward unity or integration
Point of view	perception limited to a relation between one facet of perceiver and perceived
Pragmatics	knowledge of value, of know-how; ability to work with, to make something of or actualize
Process	a systematic activity that is capable of going forward
Realization	method by which the potential is made into an actuality
Relativity	recognizing that relations are all that is "real"; that there is nothing out there but interactions
Space-in-between	where relations occur, interactions transpire
Technology	extensions of man's physical powers that amplify and accelerate his capacity for action, his mobility; all art is technology
Transaction	an exchange in which the powers of action are transferred or communicated from one individual to another
Trinary system	opposite of binary structure; means by which change occurs, of the dynamic process; its three aspects are a) the senses: the powers that conduct exchanges with the creation and the body of the system; b) the intellect: the powers that analyze or polarize and section the energy of the system; c) the imagination: the powers that integrate and coordinate the system as an on-going enterprise
Unity	a juxtaposition of powers that allows and enables them to work together in a common enterprise
Value	strength; appears only in concrete instances; a field of energy at work, or of work in progress in which potential is being actualized
Violence	an eruption of vital powers, as when the embryo breaks the egg shell
Vital powers	all the activities life is capable of
White out, the	complete infusion of the eye and an action with light