more voices...

This week, in Muses, Madmen and Prophets, Smith divulges into the world of religion and the effect it has on the voices people are stricken with. Many of the cases he studies, or interviews, believe the voices that they hear inside their heads is God’s voice and they are a prophet or a Messiah or some religious miracle. Most patients suffering from the “religious” voices, occasionally diagnosed as Messiah Complex, refuse to seek help or when a doctor tries to explain that the voices aren’t real, they become violent.
But how is one to know if it really is God speaking to them, ponders Smith as he consults many doctors and patients alike. Could it be that all these quasi insane people are really just misunderstood? Perhaps, it is God.
The majority of the voices heard in this ‘religious’ experience are not pleasant. It usually consists of “God” or a saint or religious figure, quoting the Bible or Book of Mormon, and ranting at the person for their sins. This will usually led to the victim experiencing the voices to dive deep into their religion and try to free themselves from their sins and earthly pleasures.
This chapter reminded me of the book I read for quarter one, Devil in the Details, about the woman with “scruples”, as she called them, who had incredibly severe religious OCD. She never heard voices, but because of her obsessive compulsiveness, she would pray and wash and worship and read the Bible multiple times per day. In both books, patients suffer intense religious feeling, brought on by a mental disorder.