Insanity And Divinity Vol One

First Book in Insanity & Divinity SeriesFrom the Blog Book of Throes. An exploration of ideas, from Philosophy, Psychology, Art, Religion, Mysticism & Life. Guaranteed to amuse, bemuse and abuse, your senses, intellect, feelings & intuition. But with the best of intentions!!! Be warned this vol, is not an easy read, but if you heed the call, then it will reveal more than conceal. Enjoy.

From the Blog Book of Throes. An exploration of ideas, from Philosophy, Psychology, Art, Religion, Mysticism & Life. Guaranteed to amuse, bemuse and abuse, your senses, intellect, feelings & intuition. But with the best of intentions. Be warned this vol, is not an easy read, but if you heed the call, then it will reveal more than conceal. Enjoy.

This is my First book, and I must say it has been a bit of an adventure. Sometimes I felt like Ulysses and other times I felt like Dante. I was privy to all manner of insights and secrets that I tried to capture over the better part of ten years.Although the journey really began for me in March 1990, when I had an experience, that left me shattered and broken, enlightened and reborn.I don't say this lightly or in jest, it was what it was, an awakening and a call from a force I knew was outer worldly.But as this is a book of musings, observations and insights. It is rather disjointed, but gives a flavor of the process from innocence and naivety to understanding and acceptance.Not so much from the world, but from myself and my divine feminine.I leave it to you Gentle Reader, to make do what you will of these musings. But I hope that you can come away with a little knowledge a little entertainment and a little awareness, of just how wonderful Life is.I remain forever, your faithful servant

How close is spirituality to psychosis? Covering the interrelation of psychosis and spirituality from a number of angles, Insanity and Divinity will generate dialogue and discussion, aid critical reflection and stimulate creative approaches to clinical work for those interested in the connections between religious studies, psychoanalysis, anthropology and hagiography. Bringing together an international range of contributors and covering many different types of religious experience, this book presents its theme in three parts: Psychoanalysis, belief and mysticism Anthropology, history and hagiography Psychology, psychosis and religious experience. Each section includes discussion of the hinterland between madness and religious experience from the perspective of a number of religions, autobiographical accounts of those who have experienced a psychosis in which spirituality played a key part and a comprehensive review of the position of psychology research into the meaning and function of spirituality in relation to the psychoses. Insightful, enlightening and wide-ranging, Insanity and Divinity is ideal for clinicians, academics and chaplains working in clinical settings.

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay. The subjects of Mackay's debunking include witchcraft, alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetizers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Contents: Volume 1: National Delusions: The Mississippi Scheme The South Sea Bubble The Tulipomania Relics Modern Prophecies Popular Admiration for Great Thieves Influence of Politics and Religion on the Hair and Beard Duels and Ordeals The Love of the Marvellous and the Disbelief of the True Popular Follies in Great Cities Old Price Riots The Thugs, or Phansigars Volume 2: Peculiar Follies: The Crusades The Witch Mania The Slow Poisoners Haunted Houses Volume 3: Philosophical Delusions : The Alchemysts Fortune Telling The Magnetisers

Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds is a study of crowd psychology by Scottish journalist Charles Mackay. The subjects of Mackay's debunking include witchcraft, alchemy, crusades, duels, economic bubbles, fortune-telling, haunted houses, the Drummer of Tedworth, the influence of politics and religion on the shapes of beards and hair, magnetizers (influence of imagination in curing disease), murder through poisoning, prophecies, popular admiration of great thieves, popular follies of great cities, and relics. Contents: Volume 1: National Delusions: The Mississippi Scheme The South Sea Bubble The Tulipomania Relics Modern Prophecies Popular Admiration for Great Thieves Influence of Politics and Religion on the Hair and Beard Duels and Ordeals The Love of the Marvellous and the Disbelief of the True Popular Follies in Great Cities Old Price Riots The Thugs, or Phansigars Volume 2: Peculiar Follies: The Crusades The Witch Mania The Slow Poisoners Haunted Houses Volume 3: Philosophical Delusions : The Alchemysts Fortune Telling The Magnetisers

Vols. for 1871-76, 1913-14 include an extra number, The Christmas bookseller, separately paged and not included in the consecutive numbering of the regular series.

In the mid-1800s, a utopian movement to rehabilitate the insane resulted in a wave of publicly funded asylums—many of which became unexpected centers of cultural activity. Housed in magnificent structures with lush grounds, patients participated in theatrical programs, debating societies, literary journals, schools, and religious services. Theaters of Madness explores both the culture these rich offerings fomented and the asylum’s place in the fabric of nineteenth-century life, reanimating a time when the treatment of the insane was a central topic in debates over democracy, freedom, and modernity. Benjamin Reiss explores the creative lives of patients and the cultural demands of their doctors. Their frequently clashing views turned practically all of American culture—from blackface minstrel shows to the works of William Shakespeare—into a battlefield in the war on insanity. Reiss also shows how asylums touched the lives and shaped the writing of key figures, such as Emerson and Poe, who viewed the system alternately as the fulfillment of a democratic ideal and as a kind of medical enslavement. Without neglecting this troubling contradiction, Theaters of Madness prompts us to reflect on what our society can learn from a generation that urgently and creatively tried to solve the problem of mental illness.