Occlumency: Relax or resist?

[nrenka]

No: HPFGUIDX 117539


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, SongBird3411 at a... wrote:
<snip>

>> Carol wrote:
>> I think we know a great deal about how Occlumency works, and we can
>> see when and why Harry fails or gets it right. Before the first
>> lesson, Snape tells him what he needs to do--*not* relax but to
>> *resist*--to protect his mind from intrusion as he did with the
>> Imperius Curse (534). 
> 
> Now me, Mindy:  I wanted to thank Carol for bringing up this idea.  
> For around a year now, I have heard people say that Harry needed to 
> relax to learn Occlumency and it always bothered me.  I too got the 
> impression that Snape was telling Harry to focus on resisting.  As 
> he did with the Imperius Curse.  Harry had to clear his mind to 
> deflect that curse too.  Clear it in order to focus on deflecting, 
> really.  That does seem remarkably similar to what he was supposed 
> to do with Occlumency.  Stop letting emotion get in the way and 
> focus on resisting.  I thought Carol did quite a nice job in using 
> canon quotes to support this idea.  

Let me combine postage and work through this:

Since I started the martial arts metaphors, let me explain to make 
myself really clear what I think is going on here.

To start: when I say 'relax', this *does not* mean 'give up fighting 
and roll over'.  Think of it this way: there are two extremes, one of 
complete stiffness (which makes it impossible to resist effectively, 
since stiff things are easily broken), and complete limpness (where 
the person is not taking control of themself and is easily 
manipulated).  True relaxation is the midpoint, where the person is 
alive and has feeling and power and control, but is not tight.  This 
is the most desirable condition to be in, because it's when anyone is 
most fully functional.

I am perfectly happy to take as canon that Occlumency requires 
resistance.  My contention is that to really, truly be able to 
resist, in a general sense (both mentally and physically, in my 
experience), one must partake of some part of this state of 
relaxation.

I'm applying an interpretive framework *to* the canon references, 
trying to get at what it would take to resist, and what that means.

Carol wrote (117268):
>> Snape tells Harry to use his wand or any other means he can think 
>> of to defend himself because he's about to break into Harry's 
>> mind. He then advises Harry to "*brace yourself*"--the exact 
>> opposite of relaxation (OoP Am. ed. 534). 

Actually, no.  To really brace yourself, you have to be relaxed, in 
my experience, both physically and mentally.  When I've worked with 
beginners, doing some basic push-and-resist exercises, either 
physical or mental tightness means I can push them over with ease. A 
senior student who inhabits that middle state, aware but not tight, 
feels like a rock, utterly braced and immovable.  It's rather like 
how an extremely tight grip is often not the strongest (exerting lots 
of effort), but how a baby's grip (very relaxed) is naturally very 
strong (for its size, of course!)

Carol wrote (117268):
>> Snape tells him to clear his mind--not the same as relaxing 
>> because it requires effort and "discipline" to "focus" (Snape's 
>> words, 535). 

Snape is certainly correct that Harry's anger is undoing him.  Anger 
is something that clouds the mind, but it is also the absolute 
opposite of relaxation.  Mental focusing is this odd thing wherein 
you have to concentrate, but too hard and you become tight and things 
don't work.  This obtains in a number of realms, not just martial 
arts.  Playing piano hops to mind as something that demands mental 
relaxation too...think too hard about each note and you'll lose the 
track of a complex fugue very quickly.

I do think that Snape is trying, but my contention would be that 
Snape's teaching is not helping Harry to get into a state where he is 
really able to resist.  Harry's successes strike me-the-reader as one-
offs, obtained through force instead of a solid understanding of 
technique and the feeling necessary for repeating it on a reliable 
basis.

With the Imperius Curse, Harry listens to the inner voice in his 
head, and reaches an 'agreement' of sorts with that voice, not to 
jump.  He does not flail, he does not 'struggle', he does not shoot 
off curses that he doesn't realize.  Harry being able to reach the 
voice (his true self, perhaps, which knows it does not want to obey 
the curse) is like a coordination of all of his self into one purpose-
-classic result/goal of meditation and other relaxation forms.  (I 
always feel *more* awake and sharp and alive after some meditation--
zoning off is not what it's about, IMHO.)

It's hard to do that sort of thing reliably without someone helping 
you learn how to do it, and it's really hard to learn it when you're 
in pain and not understanding what's going on.

<snip>

> Mindy:
> Doesn't sound like facing the Boggart was any less traumatic than 
> facing Legilimens Snape.

I don't think they're quite the same thing.  Both require the drawing 
upon of personal resources (the happy memory for a Patronus), and 
both are drawing up memories, but the Patronus is an externalized 
thing--you're summoning up your memories to send them *out* and 
conquer the dementor, and Occlumency is internal--you're trying to 
defend your own mind with a shield.  One of these is by far more 
accomplishable with a great deal of stress as a motivator, as we see 
Harry summon Prongs when he absolutely must, while Occlumency does 
not seem particularly attainable under stress--it's not the kind of 
thing that kicking out in a panic can get you.  All evidence points 
to Occlumency requiring getting down with your own mind, and I 
respectfully submit that that's *hard*.

I know that these are analogies, but a lot of these are principles 
that, to be somewhat contrary about it, are very true, in my 
experience.  I don't know if they apply fully to Occlumency--they may 
well not, and we may get confirmation of that.

But I argue steadfastly from my and many others' experiences that if 
resistance is the aim, relaxation (in this true way, not the common 
perception) is a necessary component.  This explains for me, anyways, 
part of why Harry was having such difficulties--there was something 
missing that is very hard to teach.

My two cents.

-Nora is happy to try to explain anything else confusing, natch