The View...P-U!

The View is possessed by a demonic presence, and the diabolic spirit that once spoke through the mouth of Rosie has moved on to the other hosts.

I am, of course, referring to Joy Behar's deranged ramble that the saints were all crazy people (via FoxNews).

Obviously, I'm using the terminology of possession in a purely metaphorical sense...or maybe not..

Is everyone who claims to have had a supernatural vision really a divine prophet? No.
Is everyone who claims to have had a supernatural vision really just mentally unstable? Maybe.
Is it possible that some people who claim to have had supernatural visions really did? Why not?

There is one major flaw in Behar's perhaps jocular logic. She assumes that people who had visions were all mentally handicapped. Now, she argues, we put such people on medication so they stop having visions (and we no longer believe their visions were true revelation because we can control them with chemicals).

That being said, why is it that people seek psychiatric help when they are susceptible to hallucinations or "voices?" It seems to me that they are really only a problem when they are misleading you into harmful acts, to yourself or another. If your dog is telling you to kill your next door neighbors, you really should confer with a mental health professional.

If your dog is telling you that you should feed the homeless, I'm not sure that it's quite as much of a threat to society.

The visionary saints were not lead to murder their families.
Their voices and visions led them to love more greatly.
If the saints were all the victims of mental disorders, I would wish there were more such victims...and I hardly think we'd feel the need to medicate people who ran around being charitable just because a voice in their head told them to be charitable.

That being said, I see no reason to dismiss every supernatural event as a merely benevolent mental disorder. Plus, I think it is far more plausible that the average medieval visionary would strike the average American as far more even-keeled and sane than any of the people on The View.

If a person wants to take a scientific approach to the supernatural, they will never be satisfied. Science depends on the ability to reproduce phenomena. Miracles have a nasty habit of not being reproducible, even when they are observable.

Comments

[Matt]

Re talking dog:
http://www.adultswim.com/video/?episodeID=e4e0510032430cb5d73a700b4611ba1d
Venture Bros. parody of Scooby Doo...the levels of reference are priceless. Sonny of Sam hahaha. Sorry that my whole comedic reference world revolves around Adult Swim.

[Lindsay]

I had never thought about visions in terms of the results they evoke. It does make sense that harmless or benevolent visions should be left alone, and only the malicious ones quelled. That said, if I ever start having visions of anything, you'll be on my short list for notifications.

[PeterTerp]

Lindsay -- I'm not that kind of doctor!

[Lindsay]

I never thought you were, just that in that situation, you should get the blogging scoop. :)

Also, I ran across an article by James Martin, SJ (of "My Life with the Saints") in BustedHalo on this same topic: http://tinyurl.com/369yjd He agrees with you.