Seizures of a Spirit-Seer?
Reuben Bell, M.S., M.Div., D.O.*
There is an old joke that is germane to any discussion of spiritual
revelation:
Prayer is when you talk to God. But when He answers, it's called
schizophrenia.
Old jokes are good jokes, because within them is often some
subtle cultural or ideological bias, the absurdity of which becomes
glaringly apparent in the light of day. In the question of Emanuel Swedenborg's mental status, a certain rationalistic bias can be seen peeking
through several psychological studies, published over many years, purporting
to diagnose the "Swedish Seer" with a variety of
disorders.1 The necessity, for one who subscribes to this bias, is to explain the comprehensive,
other-worldly nature of Swedenborg's thirty-volume theological corpus in
terms suitable for consumption in a modern (or now
post-modern) age. Since all revelation, in this materialistic mind-set, is "schizophrenia," then
schizophrenia it must be. But there are questions here, begging to be
asked, about how this definition came to be so universally accepted, and
who decides such things.
*Dr. Bell is a physician,
and minister in the General Church of the New Jerusalem.
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