Abbé Faria (Abbé José Custódio de Faria), (30 May 1746 - 20 September 1819), was a colourful Goan Catholic monk who was one of the pioneers of the scientific study of hypnotism, following on from the work of Franz Anton Mesmer.
Unlike Mesmer, who claimed that hypnosis was mediated by "animal magnetism", Faria understood that it worked purely by the power of suggestion. In the early 19th century, Abbé Faria introduced oriental hypnosis to Paris.
He was one of the first to depart from the theory of the "magnetic fluid," to place in relief the importance of suggestion, and to demonstrate the existence of "autosuggestion"; he also established that what he termed nervous sleep belongs to the natural order. From his earliest magnetizing séances, in 1814, he boldly developed his doctrine. Nothing comes from the magnetizer; everything comes from the subject and takes place in his imagination (cf. the Indian concept Sammohan Bhavana shakti); generated from within the mind. Magnetism is only a form of sleep. Although of the moral order, the magnetic action is often aided by physical, or rather by physiological, means - fixedness of look and cerebral fatigue.
Faria changed the terminology of mesmerism. Previously focus was on the "concentration" of the subject. In Faria's terminology the operator became "the concentrator" and somnambulism was viewed as a lucid sleep. The Indian method of hypnosis used by Faria is command, following expectancy.The theory of Abbe Faria is now known as Fariism
After-years Ambroise-Auguste Liébeault (1864-1904), the founder of the Nancy School, and Emile Coué (1857-1926) father of applied conditioning, developed the theory of suggestion and autosuggestion and made them therapeutic tools. Afterwards Johannes Schultz developed these theories as Autogenic training.
Origins
José Custódio de Faria was born in Candolim, District of Bardez in Goa, Portuguese India, on May 31, 1746. He was the son of Caetano Vitorino de Faria, a Goan Saraswat Brahmin Christian of Colvale village, and Rosa Maria de Sousa of Candolim village, and had an adopted sister, Catarina, an orphan. Caetano was in turn a descendent of Antu Shenoy of Colvale, a Hindu Saraswat Brahmin who converted to Christianity in the 16th century.
Since his parents had irreconcilable differences, they decided to separate and obtained the Church's dispensation. Caetaro Vitorino joined the seminary to complete his studies for the priesthood (which he had interrupted to get married), and Rosa Maria became a nun, joining the St. Monica convent in Old Goa, where she rose to the position of prioress.
Lisbon
The father had great ambition for himself and his son. Hence, Faria reached Lisbon on 23 December 1771 with his father at the age of 25. After a year they managed to convince the King of Portugal, Joseph I, to send them to Rome for Faria Sr. to earn a doctorate in theology, and the son to pursue his studies for the priesthood.
Eventually, the son too earned his doctorate, dedicating his doctoral thesis to the Portuguese Queen, Mary I of Portugal, and another study, on the Holy Spirit to the Pope. Apparently His Holiness was sufficiently impressed to invite José Custódio to preach a sermon in the Sistine Chapel, which he himself attended.
On his return to Lisbon, the Queen was informed by the Nuncio of the Pope's honour to Faria Jr. So, she too invited the young priest to preach to her as well, in her chapel. But Faria, climbing the pulpit, and seeing the august assembly felt tongue tied. At that moment his father, who sat below the pulpit, whispered to him in Konkani: Hi sogli baji; cator re baji (they are all vegetables, cut the vegetables). Jolted, the son lost his fear and preached fluently.
Faria Jr., from then on, often wondered how a mere phrase from his father could alter his state of mind so radically as to wipe off his stage fright in a second. The question would have far reaching consequences in his life.
Participation in conspiracy
He was implicated in the Conspiracy Of The Pintos during 1787, and left for France in 1788. He stayed in Paris residing at Rue de Ponceau.
France
In Paris, he became a leader of one of the revolutionary battalions in 1795, taking command of one of the sections of the infamous 10 of the Vendémiaire, which attacked the French Convention, taking an active part in its fall. As a result, he established links with individuals like Chateaubriand, the Marquise of Coustine. He was also a friend of Armand-Marie-Jacques de Chastenet, Marques of Puységur (a disciple of Franz Anton Mesmer), to whom he dedicated his book Causas do Sono Lúcido ("On the Causes of Lucid Sleep").
In 1797 he was arrested in Marseille for unknown reasons, and sent by a law court to the infamous Chateau d'If in a barred police carriage. He was shut up in solitary confinement in the Chateau. While imprisoned he steadily trained himself using techniques of self-suggestion.
After a long stint in the Chateau, Faria was released and returned to Paris.
In 1811, he was appointed Professor of Philosophy at the University of France at Nîmes, and was elected member of the Société Medicale de Marseille at Marseille.
In 1813 Abbé Faria, realising that animal magnetism was gaining importance in Paris, returned to Paris and started promoting a new doctrine. He provoked unending controversies with his work Da Causa do Sono Lúcido no Estudo da Natureza do Homem (On the cause of Lucid Sleep in the Study of Nature of Man), published in Paris in 1819 and was soon accused of being a charlatan.
He retired as chaplain to an obscure religious establishment, and died of a stroke in Paris on September 30, 1819. He left behind no addresses and his grave remains unmarked and unknown, somewhere in Montmartre.
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