Table of Contents
Subject: re: Schizophrenic/Epileptic Christians
Date: 8/31/2005 8:06:41 P.M. Pacific Standard Time
From:
Reply To:
To: JCnot4me@aol.com
Hello Mark,
I was traipsing through the internet today and came across your article
explaining that Schizophrenia and Temporal Lobe Epilepsy would be the 'Occum's
Razor' explanation for all the religious visions experienced by the Christian
prophets and other madmen (http://www.jcnot4me.com/Items/Misc%20Topics/schizophrenia_and_personal_revelations.htm).
Quite interesting...
Before I attempt add to your theory, I think I should stress at this point that
I am not a fundamentalist Christian and I do find any organised religion to be
one of the more destructive forces known to Mankind. I have, however, read an
awful lot about religion and spirituality and I do believe, in the wise words of
Willy Shakespeare, that "...there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
than are dreamt of in our philosophies .." (Do you mind if I call you Horatio?)
Another way of saying this is that I have come to believe (and I'll acknowledge
I have no more proof than you do for your own sceptical/materialist stance) that
all things are symbols of something and not of nothing.
I agree generally that all religious visions can be classified as schizophrenic
episodes. It was the first thing I thought when I read about that 'Mad-dog',
Paul the Apostle and his dogmatic presentation of the teachings of Jesus, (I'm
sure you know about Gnosticism already, so I won't bother to preach that there
are alternative versions of the Bible in circulation which suggest that Jesus'
main lesson was that the truth is in yourself and that everyone knows what is
right if they listen to/observe themselves closely enough - He never taught that
the only way to Heaven was through a blind-faith worship of himself...this
message was modified later to mean something completely different for the
practical purposes of controlling the populace, at the time and forever
more....but I digress.)
Similarly, all schizophrenic episodes could be classified as religious visions
or daemonic possessions. As no one really knows how or why schizophrenia occurs,
it matters little to me whether you choose to describe it in scientific or
religious terminology. It is simply a question of semantics. However, as far as
I know, diagnosed schizophrenics suffer from an extreme form of a mental
function which occurs naturally in all humans, not just those that can safely be
labelled as 'Schizophrenic'. The same description can also be applied to types
of Autism. Every person is more or less susceptible to one of these conditions
or the other, unless they are aware of these influences in themselves or have
naturally retained a balance between the two (which I guess would be the closest
thing to classifying someone as 'sane'.)
There is an interesting contrast between these two brain dysfunctions that I
hope you are aware of already. Schizophrenia regularly incites religious
tendencies in those who suffer from an extremely imbalanced version of what
would otherwise be a useful mental function (in that it is linked to the part of
our brain that creates symbols from observed data and allows us to make valid
connections between various data). Autism, on the other hand, always produces
staunch literalism (also a useful trait, if not taken to it's extreme,), who
will almost always side with an atheistic/sceptical perspective, namely that
that which cannot be observed/measured does not exist.
I believe Schizophrenia and Autism are both versions of insanity, but they are
both on opposite sides of the same coin. I would postulate that most people who
are considered mentally stable have learnt to balance these conditions against
each other, so that they are neither wacko religious hallucinatories nor
literalists to the extreme point that they cannot fathom the intuitive
complexities of human behaviour (our behaviour is illogical and senseless to an
extreme autistic.)
Interestingly, recent studies have shown that both Schizophrenia and Autism are
on the rise, meaning that more and more members of our society are tending
towards one extreme or another and losing that sense of balance which I choose
classify as sanity. It would seem that everyone is trying to pick one side of
the fence over another...This is a mistake, obviously.
I propose the following viewpoint...
A failure to recognise this postulated connection between Autism and
Schizophrenia could be the result of a mild tendency towards Autism...ergo,
people with atheistic/sceptical tendencies can be classified as mildly
autistic....
Furthermore, a tendency to indulge too much in the activity of forming
connections between mental disorders, that have not yet been verified by
experimental proofs could be the result of a mild form of Schizophrenia....
I would suggest that your attitude indicates that you are more of an autistic/sceptical/materialist
than a schizophrenic/faithful/idealist, but you are probably fairly balanced in
both faculties of human consciousness...I myself must acknowledge that I lean
towards the idealist/schizo perspective more readily, although I appreciate the
practical usefulness of literalism in what it has provided the Human race. I
believe the soundest concept of our reality can only be derived by implementing
both of these mental faculties together and not to discount either.
Scepticism can be a form of dogmatism...Listen to yourself.
Regards,
TIM SCOLTOCK.
Mark Smith here} Hello Tim. Good points. I didn't know that about Autism. I guess that good old saying about "moderation in all things" is still good.
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05-30-03
Dear Sir or Madam:
Mark Smith gives such a simplistic argument against anyone having godly visions and revelations. He omits the fact that God can reveal Himself to some. The main difficulty with this spiritual experience, however, is, as you know, not everyone can handle this experience.
I invite you to visit my prophecy website, where you will discover that it is possible to know which scriptural verse(s)--in this case John 10.10--can confirm visions and revelations about the events of 9-11-01.
Please go to www.awakenedtodoprophecy.com and let me know what you think and what questions you may have, by participating in Worldwide Prophecy Exchange. Don't miss the book thread, which also defeats Mark Smith's simplistic argument, because the book discusses how the 2000 election (NOTE: Carolyn wants the word "election" changed to "recount") could have been predicted and which Biblical designs represent important Biblical subjects--also confirmed by the first seal of Revelation, which is opened in the book.
Thank you for your consideration. Enjoy!
Sincerely,
Carolyn Jane Siino
Email:
Web Page: http://www.awakenedtodoprophecy.com
Mark Smith here} I really don't know where to start. I went to Carolyn's web site- it verges on the edge of being incoherent babbling. I think her email and web site are good examples of exactly what my entire web site is talking about- Christianity Causes Brain Death.
Does any one besides me notice that in her email she says absolutely nothing about anything in my essay? She doesn't even try to reason or discuss. This again is so typical of the emails I get. Religionists are oft times beyond any semblance of rationality or logic. Sad, so sad. "Mark Smith gives such a simplistic argument" Why? Why is it "simplistic"? What are your REASONS? What are your COUNTER-ARGUMENTS??? Got none. Just the usual Christian response which boils down to "Mark is wrong because he is wrong. Mark is a poo poo head" crap.
The reason xtians GIVE no reasons is because they HAVE no reason. They really are this empty and vapid. There really is no substance to their beliefs- it is ALL smoke and mirrors. The longer I've been out of that damn religion, the more I am convinced of this.