"Ian Watson - The FireWorm" - читать интересную книгу автора (Watson Ian)

On the one hand I was John Cunningham, psychiatrist, specializing in what is known as тАЬpast-life
therapyтАЭ or тАЬreincarnation therapyтАЭ. My other persona was Jack Cannon, author of horror novels, my
secret pseudonym.

Until I met Tony, I had always kept my two identities quite separate. This wasnтАЩt difficult. Patients being
treated by past-life therapy didnтАЩt тАФ oughtnтАЩt to тАФ produce horror motifs. They drew upon the brainтАЩs
warehouse of memory (of cinema, TV, or books long forgotten by the conscious mind) to invent another
life in the remote or recent past. This previous life would expose and explore the problems of their real
life now. Thus they were into тАЬhistoricalтАЭ fiction, not horror.

LetтАЩs let Jack interview me тАж

JACK: тАЬSo how does PLT work? This Past-Life Therapy of yours?тАЭ

JOHN: тАЬA psychological blockage brings a patient to my consulting room. An anguish, a pattern of
failure. So then тАФтАЭ

JACK: тАЬYou hypnotize him or her, and tell them they can remember a previous life.тАЭ

JOHN: тАЬRight. So they experience a previous epoch. TheyтАЩre convinced they lived then. They populate it
with characters symbolizing the people theyтАЩve known in reality. They fill it with events representing the
suppressed traumas of their actual life, so that these can at last be confronted and overcome.тАЭ

JACK: тАЬYet so far as youтАЩre concerned, itтАЩs all invention on their part. You donтАЩt believe in
reincarnation, do you? How can you honestly practise PLT?тАЭ

JOHN: тАЬWhile IтАЩm engaged in therapy, perhaps I believe тАФ in the sense that a novelist believes in what
heтАЩs writing while heтАЩs busy writing it.тАЭ

JACK: тАЬYou donтАЩt help them make up their story?тАЭ

JOHN: тАЬOh no. Their own creativity wells up from within. The past lives they recount are often the
greatest exercise of artistic creation during their whole lifetime. Sometimes the only such exercise. ThatтАЩs
why this form of therapy is usually so positive and life-enhancing, even if the subject matter consists of
misery and tragedy. ItтАЩs like dreaming aloud, in a lucid way. My role is to offer a stage for this, using
hypnosis. Then I help them interpret their past life.тАЭ

JACK: тАЬWithout blowing the gaff. You leave them believing in reincarnation.тАЭ

JOHN: тАЬWell, IтАЩd have to, wouldnтАЩt I? IтАЩd like to emphasize that PLT often works dramatically well in
cases where orthodox psychiatry has failed. Ultimately any type of analysis is a fiction, you see. ItтАЩs one
possible construction out of many. Freudianism might be ideal to repair the damaged psyche of patient A.
ItтАЩs no use for patient B, who has different problems. The Jungian approach might be fine for B; or
useless. No school of therapy has a monopoly on the truth. Consequently:if it works ,use it . Suppose
Freudian or Jungian or Adlerian analysis has led to a big brick wall, then roll on PLT.тАЭ

JACK: тАЬBut you still programme your patients with a new belief system: reincarnation, multiple lives.тАЭ

JOHN: тАЬIt rarely comes as a shock, let me tell you. Deep down, most people believe theyтАЩre immortal in