Form

Form is the most important of the determinants as it is the most important aspect of the visible world. Out of Chaos form creates Kosmos. From Aristotle and Plato to Thomas Aquinas, Leonardo, and Goethe form has been recognized as the ordering, structuring principle of the universe perceived by man. But in the world of living organisms this holds true only if form allows for transformation. Where it becomes rigid and unchangeable, it paralyzes rather than structures life. In Rorschach’s test, too, we can see that form can be constructive and destructive; constructive insofar as it gives order and structure to the unfamiliar inkblots, destructive when it becomes too paramount, rigid, schematic, or stereotyped and does not allow for flexibility, fluctuation and for openness to the charm, richness, and impact of color. Whether it does one or the other depends on the function it serves in the encounter of the testee with the inkblots.