InvestigateTruth
Well-Known Member
You are (again) equating delusion with insanity. That is not only demeaning to people who hold mistaken beliefs, it is demeaning to people who suffer psychotic delusional episodes. They are not insane, they are deluded. By delusional I don't mean insane, I mean contrary to reality or reason. Any belief that is held despite superior contrary evidence is delusional - geocentrism was not a delusion before we had compelling evidence for heliocentrism - but it would be delusional to hold that view now.
Beliefs should be assayed by weighing the available evidence to determine whether the belief is likely to be true or not. Is it more likely to be true that an otherwise relatively insignificant 18th century Persian merchant really was "the essence of God and his Being" (as the Bab described himself) or is it more likely that he was having a grandiose delusion of the religious kind?
Being delusional is used in two different ways by people.
On one hand it means having a false belief, which is not as a result of mental illness. For instance if one believes that there are Unicorns, and if in reality there are no unicorns, this would be a false belief, but it is not due to mental illness. It is delusion coming from false belief.
Another example is, if indeed there is a God, but people are unable to recognize Him, it is due to their own false beliefs and delusions. In the same way that if there is no God, the people who believe in God would be delusional. I quote Baha'ullah:
"For the people are wandering in the paths of delusion, bereft of discernment to see God with their own eyes, or hear His Melody with their own ears. Thus have We found them, as thou also dost witness.
Thus have their superstitions become veils between them and their own hearts and kept them from the path of God, the Exalted, the Great."
Now, mental illnesses cause delusions but not simply having false beliefs, but causing seeing things or hearing things which are not real. So, if someone believes he is actually seeing unicorns or hearing voices, which are not real, then this is a mental illness. It is the same as seeing people around or hearing voices which are not there. In such cases, it is related to brain dysfunction. It is a mental illness. Such people would also show dysfunctions with regards to their daily actions, and usually are incapable of doing simple tasks. They are often speaking irrationally, because their brain is dysfunctional.
Now think about Muhammad, Jesus or the Bab. Muhammad claimed He is communicating with an angel. In another words, if His belief is a delusion, then this falls into the second type of delusion, which is mental illness, as He would be actually seeing something that is not there. The Bab also, believed He was the Mahdi that Muhammad spoke of, and that God had created all things through the Bab. Such beliefs if wrong, they are not just a simple false belief. They would be due to a mental illness. In another words, if one attributes delusion to these Messengers of God, it can only be a delusion due to insanity, as these Messengers claimed that they actually hear the voice of Holy Spirit, or that they had seen a Maiden of Heaven as Baha'ullah claimed. It is identical with someone who sees people around, when there is no one around. It is a false image or voice that brain percepts, due to dysfunctionality.
So far, this is just to show that the possibility of Messengers of God, having delusions without mental illness is impossible.
Next I show, that the Messengers could not have mental illness with delusions. Based on science, people who have mental illness with delusions would also be dysfunctional in doing many other actions. For instance they would be unable to make right decisions to accomplish tasks. They would be unable to communicate with others properly, or provide rational arguments. However, it is evident from the Writings of Messengers and their history, they have been very capable. There is no indication of having mental illness.
So, then there remains only two other possibilities:
Either they were lying about their claims, or they were indeed who they claimed they are. But to say they had delusions, to me is not logical for the reasons i mentioned above.
It may also be said, that there are many healthy people who had mystical experiences. Then I would ask, how do you know they had delusions?
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