I find the non permeable nature of some theological realities deeply challenging. In a way, I see recondite yet consumptive belief systems as faith based confirmation bias–and that applies to Atlas’s belief structure as well.
I’m not saying that the core of Atlas’s beliefs are fundamentally incorrect, disprovable, or outside the realm of possibility. But, as their favorite in house skeptic, I’m naturally disinclined to certain rhetorical devices that I see employed by my friend. I draw a line between concepts that occupy their world view, and those bent to fit the general shape–it’s the latter that I’m deconstructing today.
These things, like almost everything else, don’t really exist on a binary, or on any particular scale.
An example that has bothered me lately: religious seizures.
Throughout biblical literature, prophets suffer from convulsions, hyper religiosity, manic writing (as exemplified by some of the Old Testament’s prophetic texts which have vexed biblical scholars with lengthy and impenetrable manic diatribes)—but it’s not that easy. In the Gospel of Matthew, epileptic symptomotology isn’t treated as evidence of divine interaction. Instead, similar symptoms justify an exorcism and grant Jesus credentials as God’s anthropomorphic cross-section.
That presents an interesting shift: signs of temporal lobe epilepsy moves from a prophet-legitimizing quality in the Old Testament, to a symptom of the devil in the new. Moreover, however, the new testament positions Jesus as a figure who eradicates signs of the old prophets. That which appears symptomatic of divine connection becomes something to cure by the new faith system.
According to Rocio Garcia-Santibanez, and Harini Sarva in their article:
“Isolated Hyperreligiosity in a Patient with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy,” they write about “...a group of traits in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy consisting of hyperreligiosity, hypergraphia, altered sexual behavior, aggressiveness, preoccupation with details, and circumstantiality. The incidence of religious experiences ranges from 0.3 to 3.1 percent in patients with epilepsy.” (1)
These behaviors, therefore, appear consistent with a neurological condition occurring in the logical hub of the human brain.
“Epilepsy was associated with behavioral changes and religious fervor since the time of Hippocrates. Since ancient times, seizures were thought to be due to demonic or divine influences. In fact, some believed that the visions and deep spiritual experiences of several famous prophets, including Ezekiel, Buddha, Mohammed, and Joan of Arc, were in fact epileptic in origin.” (1)
This contextualizes religious seizures as neurologically explainable experiences, though it doesn’t necessarily remove the mystical qualities Atlas describes. The authors go on to explain ictal, interictal, or postical hyperreligiosity that produce different effects on the patient.
“Hyperreligiosity may be an ictal, an interictal, or a postictal phenomenology. Ictal religiosity is a type of ecstatic seizure, such as feelings of joy or pleasure. Different examples of ictal religious experiences include intense emotions of God's presence, hallucinations of God's voice, clairvoyance, or even telepathy. A religious aura for hours or days preceding ictal events in epileptics was also described. Postictal hyperreligiosity is usually manifested as prolonged intense religiosity lasting hours to days; multiple reports have been published in which subjects had religious conversions after having a seizure. Interictal religiosity presents as a heightened state of religious conviction with personality changes…” (1)
It would appear, based on the description above, that Atlas most likely suffers from ictal or postical religiosity due to the seemingly divine attributes described.
Again, finding credence in biblical scholarship, Ezekiel emerges. According to Stephen Bates for The Guardian, neuro-scientist Doctor Eric Altschuler “...claims that the prophet probably had a case of temporal lobe epilepsy. He suggests that Ezekiel's symptoms included frequent fainting spells, episodes of being unable to speak, aggression, delusions and pedantry” (2). Again, another prolific biblical prophet whose neuro divergency beams from the text, demonstrating the ever expansive spectrum of human diversity painfully present in such an ancient text.
From a literary perspective, the diagnosis of any figure hardly matters, since the “truth” of a story has little to do with the subject’s “real” character. Instead, literary scholars pinpoint the methodology engaged in a piece of art that relates to itself and its cultural context. These complications create a cumulative understanding that generates the acme comprehensive gestalt that we simply refer to as "an interpretation."
With that being said, I have to respect the consistency between Elijah and Ezekiel, and their ability to generate enough skeptic validation for an interpretation of biblical “fact.” Pretty impressive for the behaviors of figures that are thousands of years old.
But this assumption plays into my primary concern with some of the rhetoric employed by my friend. The temptation to attribute every cognitive experience to a new found philosophical and theological scaffolding seems to grant the system credence.
For example, Atlas once explained their ability to hack the limbic system of humans and animals to facilitate empathetic and social connections that feel spiritually significant. Acknowledging Atlas's hyper-aware, neuro-divergent intelligence, I assumed Atlas named limbic hacking as a means of describing communication and connection that was impenetrable while masking. After pulling the mask away through complete self liberation, the sudden clarity must have felt supernatural.
In some conversations, “limbic hacking” appears to diffuse tension and engender comprehensive signals for emotional / cognitive cues otherwise obfuscated by a universal disconnect between like individuals. When they left their home, Atlas traveled to North Bay as a homeless vagrant. There, the ability to connect with others granted access to resources, comfort, and safety. It was the difference between a warm bed, or the cold concrete of a street run off tunnel. It was the difference between a meal, or going hungry.
Much like limbic hacking, I can’t help but wonder if the seizures from which Atlas suffers have been attributed to their belief system, rather than explainable neurological events. To Atlas, seizures are the “angels” that give information—information ranging from the collapse of the U.S economy, to assurance that my personal depressive episodes aren’t lethal, and everything in between.
But is there anything external or supernatural interacting with my friend? Or has Atlas undergone several cognitively dissimilar experiences that shook their otherwise masked intuition?
Though removing the phenomena from the spiritual realm, it still begs questions such as: why is it that this particular condition elicits such a specific behavioral response? Does that actually matter, or is this just another way to express shifts in theology through a similar set of symptoms?
At what point do these things become literary devices instead of literal diagnosis?
I’m not sure about the answers to any of these questions. I see the manipulation of medical and neurological conditions into religious schematics as justification for or against any given dogma. It’s dangerous water to tread, since it skirts accusations of authorial intent (which, as a literature person, is effectively blasphemous rhetoric).
I have no idea. But here’s to going forward, since there’s no where else to turn. Cheers,
XO
-C
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