sunlover,
we percieve mental illness as a chemical imbalance, but only by defining what is balanced. Certainly their brains should be expected to be in some way abnormal to reflect whatever is going on beyond the material. I don't mean if they fail. I mean prophets, like Isaiah, Elijah, Ezekiel, etc. THat's not to say they were all mentally ill. There were all sorts of prophets. Maybe Ezekiel was doing drugs or involved in something particularly esoteric. A mysticism did exist based around his vision and it may have preceded it.
Dauer
The one thing that nobody on this thread has yet mentioned is that the conditions of mental impairment and divine inspiration are not necessarily mutually exclusive. A person may be considered a raving lunatic by his peers (and justifyably so), yet have a spiritual insight lacking in the 'normal' people around him. "A prophet is without honor in his own country" is an adage so often quoted that it has become well nigh axiomatic. Prophesy, in the sense of a direct and personal relationship to a higher power, may well be a form of mental illness. That does not make the conclusions reached by the sufferer any less valid.
Merry,
That's sorta the point I've been trying to make. That's why I've been trying to brush away references to the current understanding of mental illness, which are biased by our focus on "normative" mental health.
Dauer
I would like to quickly warn of the fallacy that since all eggs have shells, then all things with shells are eggs. Legitimate prophets may be labeled "crazy" by the world, but not all crazy people are prophets. In fact, a short visit to any asylum in America and you will be very cautious to revere any such men as profound religious sages. (Though you may find an exception now and again).
Very true, mrmcplad. But, who ever said that all crazy people are prophets?
Excuse me.
Do you guys think you might take the trouble to address what I raised in the launch - namely, who do you believe the prophets were? Who were Jesus, Mohammad, Buddha, Bahai-u-la(sp?), etc? Were they madmen? Were they just deluded? Were they people who actually thought they heard the voice of God, or just master manipulators? Did they do good works?
snood,
I think your question is far too general because these were all very different people. It looks more like a Bahai'iistic attempt to lump all religions together.
First: What is a prophet?
Then: Who qualifies for this definition?
Dauer
Well, if anyone has any interest in responding to my question, they can just limit themselves to the several prophets I named. Besides, this wasn't an attempt on my part to take a poll about all the prophets who've lived. I simply wanted people's thoughts on what they thought was the nature of the men - divine or otherwise, supernatural or charlatan, leaders or hucksters.
Who qualifies for the position of "prophet?"
This kind of question is a little tough to answer, especially when I think it is the "spirit" in us that "qualifies." Flesh is just flesh, animated by spirit, that part of us that either is literally "God" or communes with God. We are all one tiny spark of God. Some of us (the spirit in us!) accomplish what we came here to accomplish, while most think they are these little fishies in this big ocean and nothing else.
Jesus did say it was "the father within" him who did the work. He also said "the Kingdom of Heaven" is within us. Actually, there is nowhere this father is not.
Jeremiah 31:31 predicts, describes how and why this phenomenon would happen. Much later Jesus, of course, gave birth to "God" or love, in man. Seems to me the entire bible is based on "God" speaking through people, writing through people, healing through people. An advanced spirit can appear in any form, anywhere, anytime.
I dunno much about "Jesus" but most of what he is said to have done sounds like he had a passion to help and educate. That's a good thing right. So even if he wasn't the son of god his intentions were genuine and helpful to everyone. But he also made a lot of enemies for being such a visionary.
