About those "Visions of the Lord"...

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by Sydney Morning Herald
Feeling peaky

Glad tidings of great joy: there could be a straightforward medical explanation for at least three of the world's major religions.

Moses, Mohammad, and Jesus all experienced revelations on mountains, but they were probably just suffering a form of altitude sickness, say a group of Swiss and Israeli neurologists, casting doubt in the process on the very existence of God.

All three felt, heard or saw a presence, experienced lights and felt afraid, say the brain scientists from Lausanne, Geneva and Jerusalem. But so have contemporary mountaineers who are more interested in ice picks and thermal undies than anything mystical - suggesting the dizzy heights may have the effect of turning ordinary mortals into prophets.

"Different functions relying on brain areas such as the temporo-parietal junction and the prefrontal cortex have been suggested to be altered in altitude," they write in the marvelous journal Medical Hypotheses, which is positively boastful about giving a run to bright new ideas that haven't been through the usual discouraging process of scientific peer review.

"Moreover, acute and chronic hypoxia significantly affect the temporo-parietal junction and the prefrontal cortex and both areas have also been linked to altered own body perceptions and mystical experiences."

Especially if the prophets went yomping through the hills alone, they might be vulnerable to such mind-bending experiences and be uninhibited about expressing them.

As if to illustrate his own point, one of the doctors - Shahar Arzy - features a picture of himself astride a mountain on his university web page.

Neurologists could assist in the interpretation of sacred texts, they said - but equally a spot of bible study might help doctors understand "the mechanisms of corporeal awareness and self consciousness."

http://blogs.smh.com.au/dissection/archive...ng_peaky_1.html (http://blogs.smh.com.au/dissection/archives/2006/02/feeling_peaky_1.html)

The full text of this article, as interesting as it would be to read, costs $30.00...outrageous! :angry:

A delightful hypothesis...though I think it unlikely that there are any mountains in the Middle East high enough to cause altitude sickness in normal people.

Still, it may be that those "holy men" were not physically normal. :D

http://www.websmileys.com/sm/cool/223.gif

[ComradeOm]

Whoah... let's not jump to any conclusions here. Perhaps these researchers actually heard the word of god! That would certainly make more sense than this so called "altitude sickness". The idea of getting dizzy and seeing lights without divine intervention is so stupid as to... well you'd get higher odds on rising from the dead.

[Lord Testicles]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27 2006, 03:06 PM
Whoah... let's not jump to any conclusions here. Perhaps these researchers actually heard the word of god! That would certainly make more sense than this so called "altitude sickness". The idea of getting dizzy and seeing lights without divine intervention is so stupid as to... well you'd get higher odds on rising from the dead.
I dont know altitude sickness can cause people to pass out, so why not get dizzy, and anyone who has been to the middle east will tell you its hot, so combine altitude sickness and heat storke, bam, all of a sudden there are lights you cant quite make out and some godly figure is shouting at you. :lol:

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

Quite an interesting suggestion. One more scientific journal to chip away and religious ideologies.

[Hegemonicretribution]

Originally posted by [email protected] 27 2006, 02:38 PM


A delightful hypothesis...though I think it unlikely that there are any mountains in the Middle East high enough to cause altitude sickness in normal people.

Still, it may be that those "holy men" were not physically normal. :D
Actually, weren't people in general much shorter back then? Perhaps the mountains seemed bigger to people just 5 ft tall? :lol:

[Sentinel]

Actually, weren't people in general much shorter back then? Perhaps the mountains seemed bigger to people just 5 ft tall? :lol:

:lol: :lol:

Seriously, I think it's more likely that fasting caused their hallucinations, if they ever had such and didn't just make everything up.

A month in a hot desert without food and perhaps not enough of water and sleep propably does wonders to you. :D

There must be something into the religious claim about fasting making you feel more 'spiritual', or 'in touch with god' (spiritual=deluded in sane-tongue).

[ComradeOm]

Originally posted by The [email protected] 28 2006, 04:55 PM
A month in a hot desert without food and perhaps not enough of water and sleep does wonders to you. :D
Its the mushrooms ;)

[Don't Change Your Name]

Actually, I can already imagine the herd claiming that "God did it that way so that He could communicate with Jesus/Moses/Mohammed easily". <_<

[Jaden]

Originally posted by El Infiltr(A)[email protected] 28 2006, 01:33 PM
Actually, I can already imagine the herd claiming that "God did it that way so that He could communicate with Jesus/Moses/Mohammed easily". <_<
:lol: Actually, I would be more convinced of a god&#39;s existance if it came right down to me while I was sober, in the most subtly elaborate way possible. Oh say, clouds parting, two trumpets, instead of ten thousand, bright beam of light and BAM, there they stand before me in their badass shades, stupid grin and rockstar attitude. "Indeed I do exist&#33;" "OK...now get off the hood of my car, please." Then proceed with vicious questioning.

[Goatse]

Originally posted by Hegemonicretribution+Mar 27 2006, 11:34 PM--> (Hegemonicretribution @ Mar 27 2006, 11:34 PM)
[email protected] 27 2006, 02:38 PM


A delightful hypothesis...though I think it unlikely that there are any mountains in the Middle East high enough to cause altitude sickness in normal people.

Still, it may be that those "holy men" were not physically normal. :D
Actually, weren&#39;t people in general much shorter back then? Perhaps the mountains seemed bigger to people just 5 ft tall? :lol: [/b]
You bastard, I&#39;m 5ft.

[Hegemonicretribution]

Originally posted by [email protected] 29 2006, 04:50 PM
You bastard, I&#39;m 5ft.
Appologies, I myself am no giant, but seriously though things do seem bigger when you are shorter. When I returned to my childhood cottage it was tiny :D