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Somebody should have told the hallucinating Paul and whomever the wackadoo was that wrote Revelation.
I always thought Revelation had to be the result of some sort of hallucinogenic. My priest thinks it's a creative euphemism for the Roman Empire at the time. Perhaps it's both.
And yes, Revelations was most certainly some drug induced vision, OR the writings of a schizophrenic.
Many Christians will deny this, but rather than approaching it from a theological perspective, we must approach it from a psychological perspective. In that light, the book becomes more a writing of someone with drug induced hallucinations, if not outright psychotic hallucinations.
People would love to claim that the early Christian writers were a group of inspired prophets and teachers, but the evidence shows that they were somewhat delusional, (I hate to use the word "Crazy") and lived on the fringe on acceptable society. They seemed to possess and altered sense of reality, which religious followers will claim as Divine, but logic shows it to be nothing more than maladaptive behavior / mental illness.
And yes, Revelations was most certainly some drug induced vision, OR the writings of a schizophrenic.
Not impossible, but I wouldn't slap "most certainly" on it.
All that would really be required would be a good imagination.
The author praised and critiqued various churches around the Mediterranean region and then proceeded to warn them of events to come. In principle it's no different than the guy who delivered a message from Jesus to me yesterday elsewhere on this site, saying that human suffering is because we don't respect the environment. If you have an agenda to push a point of view "because I said so" you simply redirect it to "because god said so".
Normally we would take such a person in for observation but not if they're religious. Then it would be religious persecution.
Not impossible, but I wouldn't slap "most certainly" on it.
All that would really be required would be a good imagination.
The author praised and critiqued various churches around the Mediterranean region and then proceeded to warn them of events to come. In principle it's no different than the guy who delivered a message from Jesus to me yesterday elsewhere on this site, saying that human suffering is because we don't respect the environment. If you have an agenda to push a point of view "because I said so" you simply redirect it to "because god said so".
Normally we would take such a person in for observation but not if they're religious. Then it would be religious persecution.
That reminds me of the Otherkin trend. An Otherkin is someone who claims to have the soul of something that's usually nonhuman, like dragons and unicorns. Someone might say "I'm a unicornkin" which means they have the soul of a unicorn.
I once heard of someone who claimed to be a ghostkin, which meant they had the soul of a ghost. I never really understood how that worked.
People's imaginations seem to get carried away frequently.
That reminds me of the Otherkin trend. An Otherkin is someone who claims to have the soul of something that's usually nonhuman, like dragons and unicorns. Someone might say "I'm a unicornkin" which means they have the soul of a unicorn.
I once heard of someone who claimed to be a ghostkin, which meant they had the soul of a ghost. I never really understood how that worked.
People's imaginations seem to get carried away frequently.
Wow, I had not heard of this before. There appears to be no end to the human capacity for eager self-deception.
I have been told I am an old soul and I have always "felt" old and probably act that way and thus the appellation. I also am often told that I look and act like Tom Hanks although neither I nor my wife see more than a the most passing resemblance. These are just examples of how the human brain is optimized to look for patterns and the eagerness with which it seizes upon them. I think the otherkin thing must be partly related to that and partly related to people's desire to be special snowflakes.
And yes, Revelations was most certainly some drug induced vision, OR the writings of a schizophrenic.
Many Christians will deny this, but rather than approaching it from a theological perspective, we must approach it from a psychological perspective. In that light, the book becomes more a writing of someone with drug induced hallucinations, if not outright psychotic hallucinations.
People would love to claim that the early Christian writers were a group of inspired prophets and teachers, but the evidence shows that they were somewhat delusional, (I hate to use the word "Crazy") and lived on the fringe on acceptable society. They seemed to possess and altered sense of reality, which religious followers will claim as Divine, but logic shows it to be nothing more than maladaptive behavior / mental illness.
There are other explanations too that wouldn't necessarily render a person delusional or mentally ill. Temporal Lobe Epilepsy can cause hallucinations of the religious variety.
One of the branches of neuroscience that has a lot of controversy associated with is neurotheology, or the neuroscience of religion and religious experiences. Many people feel that explaining such phenomena reduces their value or that it is disrespectful, but research into the field is not attempting to demean religion. Rather, the aim is to help us better understand the brain processes that makes up these remarkable experiences and is common to all of us. Temporal lobe epilepsy is strongly associated with radical spiritual events including visions of figures, vivid memories, auditory hallucinations, intense feelings of religious conviction, and in many cases conversion or return to specific faiths. In fact, many scientists and historians have speculated that St. Paul of Christianity might have suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy.
I have experienced sleep paralysis and when that happens it is nearly impossible to separate what happens during those episodes from reality. The brain is aware but you are dreaming so it registers as real. Also, it is common to have auditory or visual hallucinations with this either right before falling asleep or waking up. To hear someone describe what happens you would swear you were listening to a mentally ill person but, no, it's just something that happens to people. Not knowing what is going on might drive someone to the edge.
Even synchronicity(pattern making to distraction) got Jung.
If you grow up in a culture were the accepted definition is the supernatural I don't think interpreting these events as such is all that strange.
AHHHHHH I posted before I followed your link. Better link than mine.
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Many of them WERE mentally ill.
Better link than mine.
