Hubert benoit and gurdjieff wikipedia

His special interest and contribution lay in developing a pioneering form of psychotherapy which integrated a psychoanalytic perspective with insights derived from Eastern spiritual disciplines, in particular from Zen Buddhism. He stressed the part played by the spiritual ignorance of Western culture in the emergence and persistence of much underlying distress.

He used concepts derived from psychoanalysis to explain the defences against this fundamental unease. He demonstrated parallels between aspects of Zen training and the experience of psychoanalysis. He constructed an account in contemporary psychological terms of the crucial Zen concept of satori and its emergence in the individual. Biographical Details Dr Benoit's life and work have left relatively few traces in the public domain, although his major works, "The Supreme Doctrine" and "The Inner Realisation" remain in print.

A short obituary is available at the selfdiscoveryportal and this is the source for most of the biographical details supplied below. Benoit's attitude to authorship may have played a part in his subsequent obscurity. It was consistent with what he taught: 'Claiming authorship of any idea is irrational: the impulse to do so comes from an egotistical belief in our own divinity which lurks in the depths of our psyche, maintaining that we are the First Cause of the Universe.

No individual ever really creates anything: creativity is anonymous and universal, a manifestation of the Principle. In wiser times, no artist, scholar or preacher would have dreamed of attaching their huberts benoit and gurdjieff wikipedia to the works that had come into being through them'. Benoit,p. Medical Training and Career as a Surgeon He trained as a doctor in Paris, where he qualified in and subsequently specialised in surgery until He underwent several operations over the next four years, but was left with a partially paralysed right hand and could no longer work as a surgeon.

Interest in Psychoanalysis and Zen Buddhism During his long convalescence he extended his pre-existing interest in psychoanalysis and in Oriental spirituality. I came to realise that there is an impersonal and non-individual kind of truth which exists beyond the systems of thought produced by individual philosophers. It became clear to me that each one of us had to re-discover this truth as a concrete, lived reality, and that this was to be achieved through inner work.

This was work which the individual alone could carry out'. Benoit's studies led him to the Vedanta and Taoism as well as Zen Buddhism. He was also acquainted with the work of Gurdjieff. Benoit began his work in Paris as a psychotherapist in Suzuki had played a leading role in introducing Zen Buddhism to the anglophone world from the late s, but was not well known in France [ 11 ].

Despite this association with Zen Buddhism, Benoit preferred to speak of Ch'an [ 10 ] rather than Zen Buddhism, considering that the original Chinese version presented a purer form of the teaching. Benoitp. In his work he stressed the significance of establishing a metaphysical framework within which an intellectual understanding of the human predicament could develop.

He wrote:. But my impression is that enlightenment for the Westerner does require some intellectual input, though kept within strict limits. The ultimate viewpoint, that of reality, is clearly inexpressible; and the teacher would harm the pupil if he let him forget that the whole problem is precisely one of leaping the gap which separates verbal truth from real knowledge.

But rational explanation is needed to coax Westerners to the edge of this gap. Zen says, for example,: "There is nothing complicated to do: seeing directly into one's nature is enough. Four of Benoit's books were translated into English between andthe first of these being The Supreme Doctrine. The first English version was published in Pierson [ 12 ] precedes his account of Benoit's approach with the following comment: " Benoit was brought to the attention of the English-speaking world by Aldous Huxleya leading exponent of the Perennial Philosophy in the middle decades of the 20th century.

He also provided the preface to the first edition of Benoit's best known book, The Supreme Doctrineconcluding:. When Huxley's library was destroyed by fire inThe Supreme Doctrine was among the books that he singled out for replacement [ 13 ]. Huxley promoted Benoit's pioneering attempt to integrate Zen and other Eastern teachings into a Western frame of reference, and others followed suit.

While Huxley promoted The Supreme Doctrine for its discussion of Zen Buddhism from a Western psychological perspective, others highlighted concepts of particular interest. For Robert Powell, a contemporary of Huxley, it was Benoit's approach to existential anxiety. Benoit considered this to be a near-universal, fundamental component of human personality, likening it to an '"inner lawsuit" which is continually being enacted in our subconscious mind.

Hubert benoit and gurdjieff wikipedia

Both summarised Benoit's ideas. Hart, author of Modern Eclectic Psychotherapypresented Benoit's work as a contribution to the philosophy of science that humanistic and transpersonal psychologists were attempting to develop. About: Hubert Benoit psychotherapist. Property Value dbo: abstract Hubert Benoit — was a 20th-century French psychotherapist whose work foreshadowed subsequent developments in integral psychology and integral spirituality.

He used concepts derived from psychoanalysis to explain the defences against this fundamental unease, and emphasised the importance of an analytic, preparatory phase, while warning against what he regarded as the psychoanalytic overemphasis on specific causal precursors of symptomatology. Theoria to Rheory. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology.

Categories : Psychologists Buddhism and psychology.