Robin Baker
New
Hi All,
I recently came across some information that I found most surprising. Apparently around 10% of people hear voices and are not necessarily insane!
My understanding has always been that if you hear voices, by this I mean disembodied voices, you were essentially insane. I am not alone in this because this is apparently generally accepted as a strong indication of underlying schizophrenia. However there is now a growing international movement of "People Who Hear Voices".
Mostly when people hear voices they quickly learn not to reveal it to others for fear of the potential horror of being committed as a mad person. These voices are not necessarily bad and voice hearers become accustomed to hosting a convention of disembodied 'spirits' all chattering away in their heads. They hear the voices through the auditory systems in their brains so they seem to be like actual conversations not like internal thoughts. Really amazing stuff.
There are audio clips on the net that demonstrate what this must be like using actor's voices.
It seems that hearing voices is a different manifestation of the spiritual experience in the same sort of way that near death experiences, out of the body experiences and alien abduction experiences are.
It turns out voice hearers can lead productive lives while hosting large numbers of apparently different personalities living inside their heads and conversing with each other on a regular basis.
Many historical figures were / are voice hearers. Joan of Ark, Socrates, the old testament in the bible is full of them. More recently apparently Winston Churchill heard voices and most astonishingly George Bush once claimed to have heard "The Voice of God".
There is some fascinating stuff on the net and particularly on a web site called - wait for it . . . .www.madnessradio.net
The show's host is a guy called Will Hall who is himself a voice hearer. He is both erudite and knowledgeable and would, I believe, be a most interesting guest on skeptiko. Alex I hope you are listening - to my posting not just to the voices inside your head - ha ha.
Since apparent around 10% of people hear voices at one time or another during their lives there are probably a number active on this forum. If so do yourselves a favour and have a look and listen at madness radio.
Best regards and good listening
Robin
I recently came across some information that I found most surprising. Apparently around 10% of people hear voices and are not necessarily insane!
My understanding has always been that if you hear voices, by this I mean disembodied voices, you were essentially insane. I am not alone in this because this is apparently generally accepted as a strong indication of underlying schizophrenia. However there is now a growing international movement of "People Who Hear Voices".
Mostly when people hear voices they quickly learn not to reveal it to others for fear of the potential horror of being committed as a mad person. These voices are not necessarily bad and voice hearers become accustomed to hosting a convention of disembodied 'spirits' all chattering away in their heads. They hear the voices through the auditory systems in their brains so they seem to be like actual conversations not like internal thoughts. Really amazing stuff.
There are audio clips on the net that demonstrate what this must be like using actor's voices.
It seems that hearing voices is a different manifestation of the spiritual experience in the same sort of way that near death experiences, out of the body experiences and alien abduction experiences are.
It turns out voice hearers can lead productive lives while hosting large numbers of apparently different personalities living inside their heads and conversing with each other on a regular basis.
Many historical figures were / are voice hearers. Joan of Ark, Socrates, the old testament in the bible is full of them. More recently apparently Winston Churchill heard voices and most astonishingly George Bush once claimed to have heard "The Voice of God".
There is some fascinating stuff on the net and particularly on a web site called - wait for it . . . .www.madnessradio.net
The show's host is a guy called Will Hall who is himself a voice hearer. He is both erudite and knowledgeable and would, I believe, be a most interesting guest on skeptiko. Alex I hope you are listening - to my posting not just to the voices inside your head - ha ha.
Since apparent around 10% of people hear voices at one time or another during their lives there are probably a number active on this forum. If so do yourselves a favour and have a look and listen at madness radio.
Best regards and good listening
Robin