Today I have concluded that I am myself and my opposite at the same time. That makes me a natural surrealist. It is definitely true that I've noticed that for every argument and feeling I want to argue and feel the opposite too. Also when calm I want action, and when active I want calm. Today I think this is because I talk to and argue with myself too much. The vast majority of my conversations are with myself (as is this one). That has been the case for over a decade at least.
Perhaps in some way all surrealists are like that. Certainly the ability to perceive opposites instinctively is an essential requirement and I'm increasingly convinced that thinking in a surreal way cannot be learned, but is a product of a contrary nature. I suspect that I am highly social yet by circumstance remained anti-social and thus my metal spikes of emotional connectivity were bent inwards and point at me instead of at others.
Who knows how other surrealists thought. From what I've read it seems that I'm very like Bréton, was his schism caused by Great War trauma? I think like Dali too, was he a naturally social child but isolated by circumstance? Who can say.
If we could choose our lives, in full, before we were born... what choice would we make? Is life better when conformist or when different?
For an artist, different is better.
