Reality-Induced Mania

I don't often like to dwell on the "how" of Nevuah as I think that the process by which man attains such a state is very much a "black box." Nobody knows exactly how a mind works when it creates or imagines or thinks. None can say exactly how Einstein's mind worked or how it differed from the minds of other men. Nobody can clearly delineate the precise process of thought, creativity, analysis, etc. went into the theories of a genius. Were one to know the precise measure and mix of such things, genius would be an obviously simple and reproducible phenomenon.

No, I don't think one can classify the mental faculties of Shmuel as compared to Moshe as compared to Yehoshua. The mechanisms of their minds which resulted in prophetic vision/insight/knowledge by understanding the will of reality are eternally unknowable to any humans other than them.

But despite the inherent unknowns surrounding the "how" of prophecy, there are surprisingly many examples of the "habits" of neviim. The Rambam describes shaking, spasming, sleeping, dreaming, etc. Beyond the curious physical actions, the Rambam also describes the Navi as driven - singularly focused upon fulfilling the ratzon hashem (save the notable exception of Jonah).

This behavior is not very dissimilar to the common psychological diagnosis of Mania. I would hardly be the first to suggest that the descriptions of prophecy appear to modern eyes as the acts of madmen. That their visions seem as a psychotic break. There have been numerous papers written, often in attack of the Torah, considering the whole legend of prophecy to be ancient records of mental disorders.

Yet, we have maintained for millennia that there was a method to their "madness." That the apparent psychotic episodes were in fact great instances of communing with the divine. How can we reconcile these two data points?

I wonder how different the singular focus the Rambam describes is from a politician who works late drafting a bill to protect the children of his community. "How does he have the energy?" everyone wonders. "He has worked for days with only 4 hours a night and he is far from young." Such instances make sense to us because the politician is not beyond our conception of what is possible - simply not what we would expect him to be capable of. And we imagine that the politician must care for the children - that that is partly where he gets his strength. That his fear for the safety of the children, his sense of duty to help them in whatever way he can - perhaps that gives him strength.

Prophecy has sometimes been described as a religiously-induced mania. And I think that that definition is proper. But imagine a religion whose sole focus was upon reality. A religion which feared systems of lies. A religion which accepted reality as True and under the direction of One singular Designer.

Could we not say that such men might have focused all of their energy upon accepting the harshest of truths about reality? That such men might have studied the just/merciful/mysterious/unknowable Truth of reality?

What would happen to such men? What would they see? Would they see a beautiful world that God had granted to man? Would they see the marvels of nature and the beautiful design of reality?

What would they see when they narrowed their focus onto the affairs of man? This one creation which is somehow inherently distinctive from the animals which surround it. What would such men think of theft? of murder? of lies?

What if a civilization was making a mistake - an obvious mistake. Why, anyone looking could see that a city like Sdom would have to fall. If we are to believe that the philosophy of Sdom was to be cruel to foreigners, should we be surprised that doing so may enrage neighboring cities? Could such a trait avoid a most obvious war eventually? You don't need to be a navi to know that such a system of justice would lead to destruction eventually.

Is it possible to foresee even better? To know with certainty that reality itself is against such a system? That perhaps a purely astronomical event could be the cause of the destruction which is obvious on its face?

Hard to say.

Records suggest yes. But it's hard for the mind to reckon with predicting such accuracy, yet knowing that the destruction of Sdom must occur is closer than accepting the middos Sdom as "just the way it is."

I wonder if a religion focused upon reality could cause a Reality-Induced Mania. Much like the politician, if a cause is true, it gives us strength. What effect would it have on a man to devote himself completely to the good? How would such a man feel to see imminent destruction which the world could avoid were men to change their ways? Could such a man ignore the call? Could he do nothing?

What kind of compulsion would this man feel to speak, to act? To beg his fellow men to change their ways for their own good? I think that in some measure those who seek to change the world feel this way. That they have a vision for a better world if only they could carefully guide its path. Barack Obama was a man and a politician, but I think that some measure of him sensed the momentousness of guiding the path of America for a short time. He must have felt some need to make the world a better way in his conception of the good. I'd imagine he drew some strength from it.

I think that, at times, such energy is beyond the normal ways of man. I think it could be described as Reality-Induced Mania.

*Special thanks to those three from brunch.