Yawn, stretch, I am awake ridiculously early for a Saturday.
I have been thinking about David Shyler and come to three conclusions:
1) He has a mental illness or a severe personality disorder
2) We have no idea what the MI5 and MI6 are capable of and they may have wrecked havoc on his mind
3) He might be, or truly believes he might be, the messiah
Madness is such a fragile concept. Throughout history, the innovators, the pioneers and the geniuses have been labelled mad at one point or another. Madness can come with an explosive, fearsome energy, an almost superhuman drive. And there is the crash into terrible depression that follows.
King George the III, for example, is known in British history as being mad. However, there was a much more organic cause of his madness. It did not start in the mind, as madness does. He had porphyria, a rare blood disorder that turns urine blue and affects the nervous system, inducing all the symptoms of mental illness such as depression, hallucinations, paranoia. So, if say the disorder was treated, would he be mad still?
Madness is an overused word. A murderer will be described as “a madman”, even though they had no symptoms of mental illness. Most murderers are not mentally ill, but they are “madmen”.
The thing about madness is that with it there is lack of insight. So even if someone like David Shayler seems to be losing it, he doesn’t think so and could argue his corner.
I’m not at all spiritual so I am naturally skeptical of any claims of being a religious figure. But what this particular case reminds me off is when I believed I was an important disciple stroke Jesus figure and I was certainly unwell.
I rely too much on science and the inexact instruments of psychiatry. I think that the brain can do beautiful and wonderful things but also extremely frightening things. It brings me back again to someone with frontal lobe damage from, say, an accident. Huge parts of their personality can be destroyed (commonly, ability to emphasise or love). So I don’t believe that all mental illness is caused by external circumstance. I think if you get an injury to a brain that can wreck you like that, then it’s perfectly possible that mental illness arises out of faulty wiring.
So when someone says they’re the Messiah, then I naturally assume they’re ill. But there’s more to the mind than psychiatry. There are different belief structures, different cultures, so, if someone says they’re the messiah, who am I to not believe them?
Stumble It!
you’re spot on, of course. i mean, let’s face it, if jesus were around today he’d probably be in broadmoor or something.
speaking of such things, there is a book i’m reading that you might find interesting (or you might not). it’s by Sebastian Faulks, and it’s called “human traces” – it’s about the early development of psychiatry/neurology/psychology, between approx 1870s and WWI – it’s a novel and it moves along at a good pace, but having studied this period in psych history i’m finding it doubly interesting – both as a novel and as a history reminder. it’s well written, decent characters who you actually care about, and a good setting too, in a medical/psych sense because it was a time of real change. also, i mean, i’m only very much an amateur in this because studying it at BA level is hardly the be all and end all but from my limited knowledge mr faulks has really done his homework – he’s been pretty good at getting the right people and developments and so on in.
Of course a quick scan of history shows that the genuinely mentally ill were often held in awe and reverence and accorded ruling positions. I think a persons statement that they are the messiah carries more weight than those who would deny it. What basis is the denial based on? Still, I’d like to ask
David Shyler if he could change my liter of bottled water into a pinot noir. Not that this would prove anything, but at least I’d have a bottle of pinot noir!
[...] comments: I have been thinking about David Shayler and come to three [...]
GOD is either complex or simple,basic study.If there is no belief in God the tendency will be to start believing in anything that feels like God and hence belong to the DOG raceas the reverse of GOD is DOG.I AM NOT A FIRM BELIEVER IN GOD MYSELF but i believe that we r all particles of one big entity.Like when the sun shines we get the rays of the sun everywhere hence it is needless to point at the sun to indicate the SUN.Gods pervades every where in the same way.In everybody spirit mind and heart.Common comeradeshipis equivalent to believing in God