Enlightment from Lemmerz’s Hypnosis


During our trip to Beijing, we were quite impressed by the exhibition called Hypnosis created by German sculptor Christian Lemmerz.

Entering the exhibition hall, we were stunned by hundreds of yellow resin skulls hanging from the ceiling. The skulls are neatly arranged in rows at eye-level, and they revolve slowly. Viewers are each guided to stand in front of a skull, and a slow-speaking voice urges them to think about their lives and death.


Lemmerz uses hypnosis accompanied by a powerful voice recording:

Please stand in front of one of the skulls.
Only one person for every skull.
Never more than one person for every skull.
Please relax without losing your straight posture.
Your arms are gently hanging from your shoulders.
You feel your feet slightly touching the ground.
You are breathing slowly in and out.
It is easy for you to breath in and out.
You are enjoying breathing in and out.
With every breath you take, you feel more and more calm.
You are standing totally relaxed in front of your skull.
It is nice to stand in front of your skull.
Look at the skull slowly turning in front of you.
Look at its form, its color, its texture.
Enjoy the smooth turning of your skull.
Think about the vanity of life.
It is natural to think about the vanity of life.
Think about the inevitability of death.
It is natural to think about the inevitability of death.
You do not feel frightened.
You feel calm and joyful.
You feel calm and joyful about the idea of death.
You think about the utterly meaninglessness of your life.
You feel the desire of not wanting to live anymore.
You want to be free from every thought and feeling.
You understand now that being free is being free from life.
You never felt more calmness than in this very moment.
You want this very moment to last forever.
Now listen.
Now listen very carefully.
I will count down from ten to zero.
When I reach zero, your heart will stop beating.
10   9   8   7   6   5   4   3   2   1   0

Indeed, when it reaches 0, it seems that we can let go of everything voluntarily and enter the other world peacefully.

What an incredible display. Lemmerz makes a considerable effort to install this impressive exhibition. He hopes that viewers will be able to face and embrace the death through hypnosis and then they can come out of the fear of death.

I appreciate that Lemmerz gives us a way to deal with the most dreadful fear-death. If one could take an action at this very moment to wipe out this apprehension, nothing else will hinder him from going forward.

Looking at the skull, I understood the concept of “the sensory world is an illusion.” Not only is beauty fleeting, all the senses of the world, power, wealth, status …. will become nothing in the end. The material world will be of the past. The most notable thing about our existence on earth is whether we remember what we should learn here.
Beijing 798 Art District-Lemmerz’s Hypnosis(My son shot this video during our trip there.)

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