Hypnotism, a cure for the cultural ailments of modern society? : Bi Laide on "Zhuangzi" x Erickson

The world we live in can be said to be based on contemporary European and American countries as the ideal benchmark, constantly turning forward. However, researchers living in advanced countries have begun to consider such a question: Has our development gone astray and narrowed the path? However, while most people agree that there seems to be something wrong with the trends in our society. But what the problem is, what is the most fundamental problem, etc., it is different for everyone, and everyone has different ideas.

Therefore, this article cannot exhaust all the ideas. This article will center on the thinking of Jean François Billeter, about his observations of the modern world, his diagnosis, and the treatments he proposes. Of course, this method can also be generally applied to those of us who are constantly working hard and hope to enter the developed countries as soon as possible. Bielder believes that the biggest reason we go astray lies in several wrong definitions of the word "human": 1. We think that the mind and body are separate, so we ignore the voice of the body too much. 2. We place too much importance on the "rationality" that handles everything clearly, but we fail to think that: whether it is ourselves or others, the watching "I" cannot fully understand; In between, there should always be a little space for "imagination". 3. The result of ignoring "imagination" is that we are eager to know the techniques to achieve our goals, but we are unwilling to slowly develop in-depth relationships with others and ourselves.

However, as a man who has changed the field of study by himself, Bileide's treatment plan is also very unique: he wants to combine the "Zhuangzi" literature with the experience of contemporary hypnotherapy, by awakening our "imagination", let us renew Regain patience, energy, and deep connection with others.

Bypassing the Minefield: Avoiding the Limits of Consciousness

In the 20th century America, there appeared a master who changed the history of hypnotism in the world, and he was Milton H. Erickson. Erickson does not pay attention to theory, and mostly decides how to hypnotize and treat patients at this moment through conversations and observations with patients. Later scholars compared Erickson with the hypnotherapy that preceded him, referring to the Ericksonian approach as "interpersonal" and "cooperative" hypnosis. To put it simply: the hypnosis method of the "cooperative school" is to try to induce the patient's inherent willingness and ability to solve problems by himself in the process of hypnosis, instead of "helping the patient solve problems". In Bi Laide's view, their ideas are very similar to a record in Zhuangzi.

Master Mou Yinji was too breathless, looked up to the sky and smiled and said, "Isn't your son heard of the turtle in the Kanjing? He said to the turtle of the East China Sea: 'I am happy with you! I jumped out of the beam on the top of the well, and entered the rest on the cliff where there was no sill. If you go to the water, you will pick up the armpit and hold the scorpion. If you smash the mud, it will not be enough to destroy the tarsus. If you return the crab and the scorpion to fight, Mo Wu can be as good as it. Besides, the husband is good at a ravine of water, and the joy of crossing the squat well is here. Does Master Xi come to watch from time to time?” The turtle in the East China Sea has not yet entered with its left foot, but its right knee is already crumpled. Therefore, he patrolled the sea and told the sea, “A thousand li is not enough to lift it; it is a thousand kilometers high. In the time of Yu, there were nine droughts in ten years, and the water was not beneficial; in the time of Tang, there were seven droughts in eight years, but the cliffs were not damaged. , this is also the great joy of the East China Sea.” So when Kanjing heard about it, he was shocked, and the rules and regulations were lost. […]”

Gongsun Long's mouth was stunned, but his tongue did not go down, so he walked away.

——"Zhuangzi·Outer Chapter·Autumn Water"

In this example, Gongsun Long came to seek treatment, and Gongzi Mou was his hypnotist. Bi Laide emphasized the two movements of "Tai Xi" (sigh) and "Looking up to the sky" performed by Gongzi Mou at the beginning. "Taixi" uses physical cues to induce the patient's emotions to become calm and relaxed; "Yangtian" invites Gongsun Long to open the field of vision in front of him, and quietly hints him to perform "imagination visuelle" together. So next, the hypnotist tells a fable that requires the audience's imagination to understand.

The most important reason for the influence of this fable is the word "different". Using the imagination, the therapist takes the patient to another, different space. Being in another space and keeping a distance apart, can one look back at the various immediate problems that seem to be "no way to go". "The Turtle of the East China Sea" changed the way "The Turtle of Kanjing" understood space and told him the vastness of the sea. Gongsun Long was relaxed at first, listening to a story that had nothing to do with him. Suddenly, his vision is also opened by the sea; he superimposes another thing (the kanjing) on himself, so this is the beginning of man stepping out of his place and changing himself.

According to Bielder, the point of the story is this: when we feel uneasy and need to step out of the place called "self", we are repeatedly carried away by emotions. Two techniques can avoid our own thunder points with less effort: first, give way to the body, let go of thinking, and directly feel the experience of the body; second, use your imagination to overlay another "different" space on yourself. On the body, use yourself to echo the experiences and feelings of others.

Body schemas: how we shape ourselves in communication

However, there are two techniques for stepping out of the "self" that we mentioned earlier: the body first and then the consciousness, and the overlapping of the "other" on one's own body to echo it. Why do these methods work? What functions of man have these methods cut into, so can he be reshaped from it? To understand this, we must first talk about how the functions of the human body and mind work. Bi Laide still uses the example of Zhuangzi to illustrate:

Confucius observed in Luliang, the water in the county was thirty kilometers, and the foam was flowing for forty kilometers. Seeing a husband wandering around, he thought he was suffering and wanted to die, so he sent his disciples to go with him to save him. Hundreds of steps out, was released a song and swim under the pond. Confucius then asked this question, saying: "I regard my son as a ghost, and I see him as a human being. May I ask if there is a way to walk through water?" He said, "When I die, I don't have a way. My origin is from the beginning, I grow from my nature, and I complete my life." Entering all together, going out with the gushing, following the way of water and not for personal reasons. This is why I dance." Confucius said, "What is the origin of the beginning, the growth of nature, and the fulfillment of life?" He said, "I was born in The mausoleum is settled in the mausoleum, so it is; it grows longer than the water, but it is settled in the water, and the nature is;

——"Zhuangzi·Outer Chapter·Dasheng"

From Bi Laide's point of view, Zhuangzi's characteristic lies in his statement that he puts the ordinary and mysterious concepts such as "reason", "nature", and "destiny" in the operation category of "body". Bi Laide translated the three words "hence", "nature" and "destiny" into "natural", "natural" and "necessary". Zhuangzi took swimming as an example. The nature of the body is not only an abstract machine that cannot be changed, but a field that can change its operation method naturally if it communicates with water frequently. With people's bodies as the premise, he can change his state through training, so that he can complete certain actions without thinking and outside the control of consciousness. For example, in the case of swimming, although "where to swim" and "how to swim" still depend on conscious thinking, some reactions that must be experienced when dealing with water are deeply engraved in the body. Yes (of course those who can swim).

For Bielder, the solution to the modern man's dilemma boils down to this question: How can we achieve "inevitability"? This "necessity" does not refer to something abstract or out of reach, but simply refers to certain functions that "must" appear when we loosen the control of our consciousness a little bit and let our bodies harmonize. However, we may think of a question: everyone's body is different and has its own characteristics; so, is there really anything "certain" to say about "body"?

The recent study of the "body turn" that started in France and spread to the world has expanded our thinking about the term "commonality". According to these studies, no matter whose body is, it must be directed toward the "world" and participate in living in the world. Maurice Merleau-Ponty used the "phantom limb" to illustrate this truth: from a biological point of view, a person who has cut off a part of his body should have no sense of touch in the place where the limb is amputated or fitted with a prosthetic limb. . But in fact, people still have negative feelings such as pain, coldness, and numbness in the prosthetic and severed limbs. It turns out that the human body actually defines its own position from the world by participating in the space around it. Continuing Merleau-Ponty's research, Bielde found that the body participating in the world, if coupled with the description of the body's communication with water, cattle, knives and other specific things in "Zhuangzi", we can supplement the body's dynamic Sexuality, talking about how things outside influence us, help us internalize the goals we want to achieve into our bodies.

Epilogue

Let the consciousness temporarily "abandon" and enhance the influence of the body and imagination on oneself. This is the "solution" that Bileide proposes to modern people. Of course, this is just one of the many treatment options that scholars have offered to society. However, since everyone has a body, it should not be too wasteful to follow Zhuangzi, Merleau-Ponty, and Billard on a journey of self-knowledge. For our consciousness, we can choose whether or not to be in the world of others; however, our bodies are actively involved in this world of living with others. Although the various experiences of communication with the world, other people, and objects are not inherent in our body, the possibility of accumulating and bearing these fruits is always already in our body. This is the beginning of all our desires and projects.

bibliography

Bi Laide: "Four Lectures of Zhuangzi". Translated by Song Gang

Jeffrey. Sade (Jeffrey K. Zeig): "Erickson: The Natural Master of Hypnotism." Translated by Chen Houkai

Jiang Dandan: "Body, Imagination and Hypnosis: The Thought Dialogue between Bi Laide and Zhuangzi", edited by He Ba: "If Zhuangzi Speaks French", pp. 87-121

Liu Guoying: "Merleau-Ponty's Phenomenology of the Physical Subject and Its Philosophical Implications", Traces of French Phenomenology: From Sartre to Derrida, pp. 173-220

Chen Kangning: "Discussing the Ethical Connotation of "Zhuangzi" under the Dialectic of "Disconnection" and "Unification" from the Perspective of "Subject", National Taiwan University Chinese Literature Journal, No. 61, pp. 1-48