Mary Ellen Binkele

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The unconscious mind is decidedly simple, unaffected, straightforward, and honest. It hasn’t got all of this facade, this veneer of what we call adult culture. It’s rather simple, rather childish. It’s direct and free.

 — Milton H. Erikson

What is God’s end game?
          Jasmine-scented pajamas

Question Michelle Tennison,  Answer Sabine Miller (2015)

How many muscles are in a body?
          Enough

Q&A Session with Timothy Binkele, Anna Binkele (age 14), Seth Binkele (age 11), Cole Binkele (age 5), Ella Binkele (age 3), Mary Ellen Binkele, and Michelle Tennison (2015)

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This is a true revolution, Poetic first, because it denies poetry by transcending it. The arrangement as a poem is banished in favor of the automatic text, the dictation of the unconscious, the dream narrative. No concern for art, for beauty. Those are paltry goals, unworthy of attention. The poet’s soul is what it is.

Maurice Nadeau,  The History of Surrealism

 

Does the ocean have a soul?
          All the children tell the same story. 

Q&A Session Mary Ellen Binkele and Michelle Tennison (2013)

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I made some studies, and reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.

— “Trudy,” played by Lily Tomlin in The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe, written by Jane Wagner

 

Am I falling or flying?
          The universe goes as far in as out.

Q&A Session with Paul Cunniff, Sharon Cunniff, Mary Ellen Binkele, and Michelle Tennison (2016)

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Who hears but me hears all

— Surrealist proverb, Paul Eluard and Benjamin Peret

 

What is a dream?
          The voice of a monkey out in the darkness

Q&A Session with Mary Ellen Binkele and Michelle Tennison (1999)


Where did the melody for Amazing Grace come from?
          Under the ivy on the wall, a flock of birds singing

Question Michelle Tennison, Answer Mark Harris (2016)


How do we know when to forgive ourselves?
          Music only you can hear

Q&A Session with Paul Cunniff, Sharon Cunniff, Mary Ellen Binkele, and Michelle Tennison


What is the real meaning of being alone?
          Trying to hold hands with the sound of the ocean

Question Christopher Herold,  Answer Michelle Tennison (2017)

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Grasp the Eye by the Monocle

Surrealist proverb, Paul Eluard and Benjamin Peret

 

What do babies see?
          I’m a butterfly when you’re not looking

Q&A Session with Mary Ellen Binkele and Michelle Tennison (2014)

 

What did the bird leave behind in the tree?
          The flower no one sees

Q&A Session with Paul Cunniff, Sharon Cunniff, Mary Ellen Binkele, and Michelle Tennison

 

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Make two o’clock with one clock

— Surrealist Proverb,  Paul Eluard and Benjamin Peret

 

 

What is time?
          Memories of sleepwalking

Question Harry Hudson,  Answer Michelle Tennison ( 2005)

 

What fills the empty spaces?
          This moment

Q&A Session with Paul Cunniff, Sharon Cunniff, Mary Ellen Binkele, and Michelle Tennison

 

How long does a flower last?
          The eternal soul

Q&A Session with Mary Ellen Binkele and Michelle Tennison (2015)

 

 

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transpersonal zinnia signedjpg

Photograph by Michelle Tennison

 

It is a cry of the mind turning toward itself and determined in desperation to crush its fetters.

Surrealist tract, 1925

 

What if a question does not have an answer?
          One more step

Q&A Session with Timothy Binkele, Anna Binkele (age 14), Seth Binkele (age 11), Cole Binkele (age 5), Ella Binkele (age 3), Mary Ellen Binkele, and Michelle Tennison (2015)

 

What is deja vu?
          A blind person’s description of a sea anemone

Question Michelle Tennison, Answer Paul Miller (2014)

 

How can you recognize your own despair?
          A phoenix rising

Question Michelle Tennison, Answer Eve Luckring (2017)

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I admit that two-and-two-makes-four is an excellent thing, but if all things are to be praised, I should say that two-and-two makes five is also a delightful thing.

–Feodor Dostoevsky

What is the secret life of numbers?
          A black spot just outside your field of vision

Question Michelle Tennison, Answer Mark Harris (2016)

How long is a moment?
          Remember me

Question Mary Ellen Binkele, Answer Michelle Tennison (2016)

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A New Truth

The strangely beautiful juxtapositions engendered by The Question and Answer Game can, when successful, highlight the revolutionary gifts of Surrealism. The rational mind is sidestepped. Mental habit is challenged. Our social conditioning is no longer in control. Even our personal story and world view can be called into question in order to make sense of  a radically new correlation of ideas. We aren’t really sure how it is possible, but somehow this thing confronting us just feels true in a new way.

What is the moment of conception?
          Lost to her breath given willingly

Question Michelle Tennison,  Answer Chris Hudson (2010)

What am I doing in the other dimensions?
          The perfume of strangers

Question Michelle Tennison, Answer Sabine Miller (2015)

How will I know you in the afterlife?
          The heart outside my body

Q&A Session with Mary Ellen Binkele and Michelle Tennison (2014)