Frame for an interdisciplinary discussion on Trance

Discussion organisée par Philippe Rochat, psychologue du développement, chercheur en résidence d'écriture.

Fermée au public

Présentation

The cultivation and search for “displacement, mental distraction, astonishment and some sort of trance state” is part of human nature. It is worthwhile to ask what may be the foundations of such motives. What do humans try to displace and distract themselves from? Why all human cultures, with no exception, offer its members ritualized ways for mental distraction, various options for individuals to get displaced and reach ecstatic states of mind? These options are multiple and varied, collective or individual such as spectator sports, movie viewing and theater, collective rapture in festivities like carnivals and celebrations, group dance like Tarantella in Southern Italy, Techno Raves around the world, of the praying in the twirling of Dervish Turners,  rituals of trance and possession such as the those documented by Jean Rouch in his seminal “Maitres fous”, shamanic  rituals from Siberia and Mongolia, but also individual in various meditation techniques,  the production of hypnotic trance, the cultivation of rapture by listening and playing music, notwithstanding the systematic and deliberate worldwide propensity to produce altered states through a wide panoply of self-administered drugs cultivated around the world for millennia, often becoming a central existential focus for addicted individuals.

What is trance and the quest for so-called “altered states of consciousness”? How is it thought out across various disciplines, from anthropology, to clinical psychology, philosophy, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, art, or the current neurosciences? What may be the common denominator across these various approaches and should it be considered as a uniquely human phenomenon? Are we the only one in nature to benefit, cultivate and use “half-conscious” states of mind? What underlies our universal quest toward states of rapture and ecstasy? What is ecstasy?

The idea is to invite representatives of these various disciplines to share their views and approaches on the topic in an open and informal afternoon discussion

Liste des participants

François Bertrand, éditeur et chercheur

Rina Sherman, anthropologue

Raphael Julliard, anthropologue et artiste

Joelle Proust, philosophe et spécialiste de la métacognition

Mériam Korichi, écrivaine, philosophe, metteure en scène de théâtre

Victor Pitron, psychiatre

Lucie Berkovitch, philosophe

Fabienne Audeoud, artiste, musicienne

Aude Bertrand, anthropologue

Lisa Ouss, psychiatre et psychanalyste

Jean-Marc Benhaiem, psychiatre et hypnothérapeute

Jérôme Dokic, philosophe