Voices in the Head

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as I see it there are three categories of voices in your head, two of which definitely exist and one may or may not exist (but prolly doesn't):

1. Your own thoughts

2. Another type of voice different from 1., which only exists if you are suffering from mental illness, e.g. paranoid schizophrenia

3. The voice of God

I would say that ppl who claim to hear 3. are actually hearing either 1. or 2. What do you think?

― MarkH (MarkH), Monday, 21 February 2005 19:06 (twenty years ago)

Nietchzetastiche!

― Sven Bastard (blueski), Monday, 21 February 2005 19:09 (twenty years ago)

Sting to thread.

― Fish fingers all in a line (kenan), Monday, 21 February 2005 19:10 (twenty years ago)

There's been a lot of work done in neurotheology -- or just cog sci if you don't want that particular term -- in the past couple decades that suggests either a #4 or an alternate explanation for #3, but I've only been reading the material for a little less than a year, and it's vast, with a lot of noise. But it's an interesting thing to keep an eye on.

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 21 February 2005 19:12 (twenty years ago)

I think most people claiming to hear 3 are just lying.

― Dan I., Monday, 21 February 2005 19:13 (twenty years ago)

surely telepathy shd get its own number? (momentarily)

― mark s (mark s), Monday, 21 February 2005 19:20 (twenty years ago)

(Looking at the google results for "neurotheology," I think the word has unfortunately become useless, at least on the internet. So substitute, in my post, "the study of the physical and especially neurological bases for 'spiritual experiences.'" This is a reasonable Newsweek article, although an old one.)

― Tep (ktepi), Monday, 21 February 2005 19:25 (twenty years ago)

I like to think that there might be a physically explainable phenomena somewhat close to the notion of a 'collective unconscious' that these "word of God" folks are misinterpretting rather than them being simply deranged. I guess I'm just an optimist like that.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Monday, 21 February 2005 19:29 (twenty years ago)

Julian Jaynes wrote about the idea that in an earlier phase of human consciousness we had not yet developed the concept of #1 so everyone went around acting as though all instances of #1 were in fact #3. I may be summarizing somewhat loosely or incorrectly but I think that's the gist of his argument.

― walter kranz (walterkranz), Monday, 21 February 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

If God was walking in the garden in the cool of the morning and he fell, would he make a noise?

― Aimless (Aimless), Tuesday, 22 February 2005 01:09 (twenty years ago)

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