Bernard Werber uses regressive hypnosis for creativity, loves to explore past lives, and yearns for originality in literature. One of the most popular French writers is not losing ground in Russia, where his books are translated with minimal delay. The last novel in Russian to date is Pandora's Box, where a history teacher studies his past incarnations and tries to save Atlantis. Izvestia spoke with a prose writer about hypnosis, music and Alejandro Jodorovsky.
Doctor's career in St. Petersburg
You travel a lot. Are your readers in different countries very different from each other, judging by their questions and interests?
- Everywhere I am asked about the same questions. And these are good questions, there is nothing wrong with them. In any country, readers come up to me who say they are mediums and talk about their past lives. Or they start talking about their cats. Because I write about all these things. I am always asked what local authors I read. This is where interviews often begin. Then they usually ask if I am going to write a book about the country where I am. But, as a rule, I have something to answer. In my books there are quite a few characters of various nationalities, including Russians.
You once told how, on one of your visits to Russia, you were taken to a psychic woman who told you that in one of your past lives you were a doctor in St. Petersburg. Her name wasn't Juna?
- I don't remember very well this particular medium, like no, not Jun. In fact, I have met many mediums in different countries, and they all told me about the same thing. Some time ago, I stopped such meetings, because now I use the practice of self-hypnosis. As for my career as a doctor in St. Petersburg, I heard about it more than once and researched this life in detail. And I must admit, it was a rather boring life.
In general, in most of my past lives, I have been bored. Even when I was an archer in England, it was not nearly as fun as it might seem. The most interesting activity was dice for money, and there is nothing more to remember. I didn't have a family, I didn't have a sex life. I could not even drink as much as I wanted, otherwise they could rob me. And then there were no banks, I carried all the money with me, and the loss of my wallet meant death.
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The luxury of hygiene
How much do you trust hypnosis sessions? What if it's just a game of the subconscious?
- For me it is just an instrument of knowledge, without any mysticism. I just close my eyes and a story happens to me. I don’t even wonder if it really happened to me or not. And I don’t think there is a correct answer, and I’m not interested in looking for it. Another question is important: what I feel after these sessions, what I learn, what I can learn from this experience for other people and my books.
What is great about regressive hypnosis is that you can feel something from the inside. When you just read a book or watch a TV report that military operations are taking place somewhere in Afghanistan, these are external impressions. It is quite different if you yourself go to Afghanistan and bombs will go off next to you. Hypnosis kind of helps you experience emotions that you didn't even know about.
The past teaches, among other things, to appreciate the present. It is snowing outside, but we are warm and not cold. Don't be afraid that tomorrow you will have nothing to eat. And what a luxury it is - the opportunity to take a shower every day. When I was a soldier in one of my past lives, I itched all the time. And now we do not fully appreciate the happiness of being clean.
How did you get carried away with regressive hypnosis?
- About 20 years ago my friends told me: there is one person who practices regressive hypnosis, you should try. Then I worked as a journalist and already wrote articles on hypnosis, was engaged in accompanied meditation and lucid dreaming - that is, I had some idea of these practices. In general, this is a good writing skill - images easily arise in my mind, and I rather quickly dive into such things.
And so I was asked to relax, close my eyes and return to life, where I found my main love. And suddenly I was on the beach. In the body of a man who was throwing stones into the water. The man had a skirt, he was very old (he was 821), but he felt great and was absolutely happy. In that life I was married, I had children, I healed people by the laying on of hands. And then I died when a huge wave hit us all. When I returned, I did my research and suggested that it was probably Atlantis. But I can't confirm this in any way, so I just wrote a novel (laughs).
No deck anywhere
You regularly publish a new book every one or two years. However, at the end of Pandora's Box, I was surprised to read that this novel had 12 versions. How do you manage?
- The fact is that I have a 10-finger method and type very quickly. For me, writing is like speaking out loud. I also do performances, and in my case it is almost the same experience - I go on stage and tell something to people in the hall. I don’t like beautiful phrases, I don’t try to make high literature, so the writing process itself is easy for me. I just tell stories as if I were telling them to children.
Photo: Press Service of the Eksmo Publishing House.
When I finish the first version, then I go through the text again and even then I try to make it more beautiful, more literary. Allegorically speaking, first I build a house, and only then I choose carpets and tapestries, which guests - readers - pay attention to first of all. Unfortunately, all the literary critics and the award experts are more interested in tapestries and carpets than the walls.
- One Russian writer, Boris Akunin, said that he has a whole audio library - one track for each emotion he has to describe. Does music play a big role in your creative process?
- Yes, I also actively use it. In the book I have listed the tracks that inspired me while working. In general, I am very sensitive to music. I love that it is a very powerful conductor of emotions. If in a movie you show a sunset against a dramatic soundtrack, the viewer already knows that something terrible is happening. Music in this sense is stronger than words. She easily gets to the bottom of things. I listen to Prokofiev a lot, because he is rich in shades and very diverse. Beethoven or Mozart have about one emotion, while Prokofiev has many.
- In the book you bring gratitude to the writer-director Alejandro Jodorowsky - for what he showed you the hypnosis with the projection in the imaginary worlds and learned to read tarot cards. How did you meet?
- Quite a long time ago, thanks to mutual friends. And it was a very important meeting in my life. I also do tarot cards, but, of course, not as well as he. I always take a deck with me on the road, and now the one that he gave me is traveling with me. For me, Jodorowski is a great master, my real teacher. Usually, those who are seriously interested in spiritual practices take themselves too seriously. But not him. Jodorowski says very important things, smiling, joking.
What is the most interesting thing happening in French literature right now?
- Nothing, in general. Everything that is so actively discussed in the press today is a copy of old things. There is a lot of historical literature published, many imitations of Dan Brown, a whole stream of books in the spirit of "50 shades of gray". The old rich talk about their egos, believing themselves to be very smart. This is about our choice. What is so good about Jodorowski is that he created a completely new world. But there are almost no people like him.
But it suits me very much, because the more uninteresting literature, the more readers I have (laughs). Of course this is a joke. I would like to see original authors who like to take risks and write about more than ordinary things. It seems to me that publishers are not ready to publish something that differs from the general mass. Everyone is so calmer. Therefore, there is no particular movement.
Author: Nikolay Kornatsky
