Samuel Widmer (24 December 1948 – 18 January 2017)Menge, Oliver
"«Kirschblüten»-Guru Samuel Widmer gestorben"
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Aargauer Zeitung ''Aargauer Zeitung'' (English: ''Aargauer Newspaper'') is a Swiss German-language daily newspaper, published by AZ Medien Gruppe, Aarau, Aargau. History and operations ''Aagauer Zeitung'' was created in 1996 through the merger of the '' Aarga ...

'', January 18 2017 was a controversial Swiss

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry, the branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, study, and treatment of mental disorders. Psychiatrists are physicians and evaluate patients to determine whether their sy ...

psychotherapist Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of psychological methods, particularly when based on regular personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase happiness, and overcome pro ...

and author, who used psycholytic substances in therapy and harbored liberal opinions about

polygamy Crimes Polygamy (from Late Greek (') "state of marriage to many spouses") is the practice of marrying multiple spouses. When a man is married to more than one wife at the same time, sociologists call this polygyny. When a woman is married ...

and other forms of

free love Free love is a social movement that accepts all forms of love. The movement's initial goal was to separate the state from sexual and romantic matters such as marriage, birth control, and adultery. It stated that such issues were the concern ...

. Widmer was a medical specialist in psychiatry and psychotherapy FMH ( Foederatio Medicorum Helveticorum), employed in his own medical practice. He lived and worked in

Lüsslingen Lüsslingen is a former municipality in the district of Bucheggberg, in the canton of Solothurn, Switzerland. On 1 January 2013, Lüsslingen and Nennigkofen merged to form Lüsslingen-Nennigkofen.Solothurn Solothurn ( , ; french: Soleure ; it, Soletta ; rm, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the Capital (political), capital of the canton of Solothurn in Switzerland. It is located in the n ...

(

Schweiz ; rm, citad federala, links=no). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzon ...

). He was a specialist in

Psychedelic psychotherapy Psychedelic therapy (or psychedelic-assisted therapy) refers to the proposed use of psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, and ayahuasca, to treat mental disorders. As of 2021, psychedelic drugs are controlled substances in most countri ...

and had special permission from the BAG (Eidgenössisches Bundesamt für Gesundheitswesen), to use

MDMA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly seen in Tablet (pharmacy), tablet form (ecstasy) and crystal form (molly or mandy), is a potent empathogen–entactogen with stimulant properties primarily used for Recreational dru ...

and

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), also known colloquially as acid, is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, vi ...

in psycholytic psychotherapy from 1988 to 1994. Along with

Peter Baumann Peter Baumann (born 29 January 1953) is a German musician. He formed the core line-up of the pioneering German electronic group Tangerine Dream with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke in 1971. Baumann composed his first solo album in 1976, whi ...

, he was one of the founders of the ECBS (Europäisches Collegium für Bewußtseinsstudien) and the SÄPT – "Schweizerische Ärztegesellschaft für Psycholytische Psychotherapie“. Widmer spoke during the Basel Psychotherapy Days (Basler Psychotherapietage). He led spiritual workshops, seminars in

meditation Meditation is a practice in which an individual uses a technique – such as mindfulness, or focusing the mind on a particular object, thought, or activity – to train attention and awareness, and achieve a mentally clear and emotionally cal ...

and

Tantra Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...

and meditation-voyages. Among the spiritual teachers he was inspired by were

Jiddu Krishnamurti Jiddu Krishnamurti (; 11 May 1895 – 17 February 1986) was a philosopher, speaker and writer. In his early life, he was groomed to be the new World Teacher, an advanced spiritual position in the theosophical tradition, but later rejected thi ...

and

Carlos Castaneda Carlos Castañeda (December 25, 1925 – April 27, 1998) was an American writer. Starting with '' The Teachings of Don Juan'' in 1968, Castaneda wrote a series of books that purport to describe training in shamanism that he received under the ...

. Widmer lived with two women and had children with both. A huge group of followers grew around Widmer and his wife Danièle Nicolet, including 80 adults and 55 children. Because of that, Widmer was suspected to be the leader of a cult or sect by the media.

The Core–shell model (Kern-Schalen-Modell)

The basic assumptions of this theory is, that during a man’s development, “emotional layers” grow around the “essential core” of his mind. This model shall be imagined as an onion, whose core is the source of our zest for life. Around this core, a layer of pain and dolor grows throughout development, because of experienced and not worked up injuries. Because these feelings often are felt insufferable, another layer is built, the layer of defending emotions like anger, aggression, rage and defiance. For that, the child is often penalized with deprivation of love – another layer gets built, again: The layer of adaption, whose characteristics are boredom, weariness, senselessness and depression. If a person wants to regain his ability to be happy or be happier, he had to work his way through these layers. Widmer used legal psycholytic substances to support this way to the inner core.

Works (A selection)

* ''Aus der Stille. Short cuts to enlightenment''. Basic Edition, Basel 1997, * ''Ecstasy. Die User-Fibel''. Edition Heuwinkel, Geneva 1996, * ''Die Einsamkeit auf dem Weg. Meditationen''. Edition Heuwinkel, Geneva 1995, * ''Essenz schauen. Vom Ruhen im Urgrund allen Seins''. Basic Edition, Basel 1998, * ''Heute wurde uns eine Tochter geboren'' (with Danièle Nicolet) * ''Im Irrgarten der Lust. Abschied von der Abhängigkeit; die Geburt der Freude''. Edition Heuwinkel, Geneva 1997, * ''Ins Herz der Dinge lauschen. Vom Erwachen der Liebe; über MDMA und LSD; die unerwünschte Therapie''. Nachtschatten-Verlag, Solothurn 2002, * ''Des Kaisers Nacktheit, des Kaisers Dummheit. Von Freundschaften und Feindschaften''. Basic Edition, Gerolfingen 2003, * ''Perlen auf dem Weg'' * ''Stell dir vor, du wärst ein Stück Natur''. Edition Heuwinkel, Geneva 1995, OCLC: 75708003 # ''Von der unerlösten Liebe zwischen Vater und Tochter. Vom Inzesttabu und seinen Folgen'' # ''Stell Dir vor, Du wärst ein Stück Natur'' * ''Vom Allerinnersten'' (2005)

References

External links

www.samuel-widmer.ch

www.kirschbaumbluete.ch

the Core-Shell-Model, explained more detailed

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Widmer, Samuel Psychotherapists Swiss psychiatrists Swiss writers People from Bucheggberg District 1948 births 2017 deaths