dave32 Posted May 28, 2010 Report Share Posted May 28, 2010 Snips from the article. Link Jesus, Jesus, Jesus In the late 1950s, three men who identified as the Son of God were forced to live together in a mental hospital. What happened? In the late 1950s, psychologist Milton Rokeach was gripped by an eccentric plan. He gathered three psychiatric patients, each with the delusion that they were Jesus Christ, to live together for two years in Ypsilanti State Hospital to see if their beliefs would change. The early meetings were stormy. "You oughta worship me, I'll tell you that!" one of the Christs yelled. "I will not worship you! You're a creature! You better live your own life and wake up to the facts!" another snapped back. "No two men are Jesus Christs. … I am the Good Lord!" the third interjected, barely concealing his anger... -- In fact, very little seems to shift the identities of the self-appointed Messiahs. They debate, argue, at one point come to blows, but show few signs that their beliefs have become any less intense. Only Leon seems to waver, eventually asking to be addressed as "Dr Righteous Idealed Dung" instead of his previous moniker of "Dr Domino dominorum et Rex rexarum, Simplis Christianus Puer Mentalis Doctor, reincarnation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth." Rokeach interprets this more as an attempt to avoid conflict than a reflection of any genuine identity change. The Christs explain one another's claims to divinity in predictably idiosyncratic ways: Clyde, an elderly gentleman, declares that his companions are, in fact, dead, and that it is the "machines" inside them that produce their false claims, while the other two explain the contradiction by noting that their companions are "crazy" or "duped" or that they don't really mean what they say... -- Although we take little from it scientifically, the book remains a rare and eccentric journey into the madness of not three, but four men in an asylum. It is, in that sense, an unexpected tribute to human folly, and one that works best as a meditation on our own misplaced self-confidence. Whether scientist or psychiatric patient, we assume others are more likely to be biased or misled than we are, and we take for granted that our own beliefs are based on sound reasoning and observation. This may be the nearest we can get to revelationâ€â€the understanding that our most cherished beliefs could be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drogon Posted May 28, 2010 Report Share Posted May 28, 2010 Nice one, thank you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted May 28, 2010 Report Share Posted May 28, 2010 This Forum has more loonies than Ypsilanti State Hospital Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nervous God Posted May 28, 2010 Report Share Posted May 28, 2010 <<"Dr Righteous Idealed Dung" instead of his previous moniker of "Dr Domino dominorum et Rex rexarum, Simplis Christianus Puer Mentalis Doctor, reincarnation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.">> But Ysilanti had better nick's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unit731 Posted May 28, 2010 Report Share Posted May 28, 2010 This Forum has more loonies than Ypsilanti State Hospital Jesus Christ ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redbaron Posted May 28, 2010 Report Share Posted May 28, 2010 reincarnation of Jesus Christ Do chritians believe in reincarnation? Sounds like Industrial Disease to me... "two men say they're jesus, one of them must be wrong" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shygye Posted May 29, 2010 Report Share Posted May 29, 2010 They are imbued with the holy ghost. b8ugQlsuzB8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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