Surrealism is, first of all, an immense force for divisiveness. The
way in is not by means of probes and tests, but by a brusque mutation
of the spirit which overthrows in an instant every means of thought
and feeling. This does not mean that surrealism is, as its detractors
would have it, an absurd wager, but only that it will not enter the
Procrustean bed of their conceptions; nor should it be supposed
that this indispensable mental mutation is not within the reach of
everyone. Every man can, if he wants, discover within himself an
interior domain where it becomes possible to set foot within the
boundaries of surrealist worlds. If they are separated from these
worlds, it is because they are first of all separated from themselves,
cut off from their own secret domain. Understanding surrealism is
nothing more than understanding one's self. That is possible, however,
only on the condition of breaching deeply that wall which a classic,
rationalist education has built in us, and which divides us stupidly
from ourselves.

Surrealism is a human experience, and every human experience
has meaning; it is that meaning which we are going to try to set
forth here.

-vii-