Vexen Crabtree's Insane Journal

8:38pm: Night Terrors
I just came across (again: I'd forgot!) the fact that Night Terrors are non-REM sleep, occurring in Stage 3 and Stage 4 sleep (like sleep walking/talking).

5:14pm: St Paul Was Converted to Christianity by a Seizure
New text on St. Paul: St Paul Was Converted to Christianity by a Seizure:

“Saint Paul certainly had once an epileptoid, if not an epileptic seizure” - "The Varieties of Religious Experience" by William James, p35.

William James, the well-known psychologist and author on the history of religion, is convinced that St Paul's vision of Christ (his only "contact" with Jesus, ever) was a seizure (ref: Acts 9:3-9). His claim is scientifically likely and has been made by scientists and doctors many times in history₄. The prominent book on brain neurology, Neuroscience states that some people have a once-in-a-life seizure that can include visual hallucinations. In the general (non-epileptic) population, it occurs in 7 to 10 percent of people's lives₅.

(References exist on the page linked)

2:25pm: Limbic System & Depression
I've added the following text to "The Limbic System: Seat of Consciousness and Emotions in the Human Brain" by Vexen Crabtree (1998):

Over-activation of the limbic system can result in depression as well as religious phenomenon. In the case of depression, symptoms can be removed by medicating with drugs that affect certain parts of the limbic system, in particular through quantitively altering the action of certain neurotransmitters.

“Because of its relevance to the so-called vegetative symptoms of depression, such as disturbances in appetite and sleep, the hypothalamic - pituitary - adrenocortical axis is thought to be overactive in depression. Various findings support this proposition.”
"Abnormal Psychology" by Davison & Neale, p242


On the same subject but on a different page, I've also added the following to "The Soul and Emotions (The Biological Basis of Our Emotions): Depression and Mood Disorders" by Vexen Crabtree (1999):


Serotonin and norepinephrine are both related to our mood, and their flow causes changes in mood. So, antidepressants such as tricyclics and monoamine oxidase inhibitors increase the effect of certain neurotransmitters, and thereby raise the mood. Panic and mood disorders are inheritable6. This means, before a person is even conscious, they are predisposed to a neurotransmitter dysfunction that causes certain moods and even some mental disorders. When these symptoms become serious, depression can be lifted by the correct medication. All this shows that if there is a soul, it is unnecessary for the feelings of happiness, sadness, depress, etc, and that these things can even be beyond our control at all.

“Three major categories of antidepressant drugs:
Tricyclics, such as imipramine (Tofranil) and amitriptyline (Elavil);
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, such as fluoxetine (Prozac); and
Monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors, such as Parnate. [...]
Tricyclic drugs are a group of antidepressant medications [that] prevent some of the reuptake of both norepinephrine and serotonin by the presynaptic neuron after it has fired, leaving more of the neurotransmitter in the synapse so that transmission of the next nerve impulse is made easier. [...]

All three types of drugs are believed to work by facilitating neural transmission. [...] People with the mood swings of bipolar disorder are often helped by carefully monitored dosages of lithium, an element, taken in a salt form, lithium carbonate.”
"Abnormal Psychology" by Davison & Neale, p240, 246-7

11:21am: Prof. Charles Catania says that physical problems with eyes can cause effects like seeing blood run up walls, dust storms, clouds and haloes that are not real.

A slight bleed near the retina can cause the appearance of blood running upwards (up a wall, up a road), etc, depending on what the person is looking at. (It runs upwards because our eyes invert what we see, abd as the blood runs down in the eye, it looks like it is running upwards). A smaller bleed can look like blood appearing in the air, and moving upwards in a line. (Covering one eye, then the other, will reveal which eye the bleed is in.)

Also, dried particles of blood (perhaps resulting from a small bleed into the eye) or other debris or particles can create an appearance of a mystical cloud, a dust cloud, or a wide variety of strange (unreal) phenomenon. This might occur only sometimes - when running, bouncing, driving, etc, depending on what stirs the particles.

Many other effects can result from damage to the eye, even when the damage doesn't hurt, wasn't noticed, and symptoms only occur sometimes. It can be very difficult to put down some of these random hallucinations and effects to physiological causes unless you are familiar with ophthalology, so many people would naturally assume they're real.

This was reported in The Skeptical Inquirer, 2007 Jan/Feb (Vol 31, Issue 1), p49. Charles Catania is a professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Country.

A brief sentence based on this report appears on "Phsyiological causes of strange experiences" by Vexen Crabtree (2002).

4:39pm: I've added the following quote to "Cultural Religion Versus Scholarly Religion" by Vexen Crabtree (2005):

“The religious professionals in each religion will usually look down upon the manifestations of popular religion. They will often refer to them as a corruption of the true religion or as evidence of the ignorance or sinfulness of the mass of the people. The truth is somewhat more complex than this. Popular religious practices fill some of the needs felt by ordinary people - needs that the official religion ignores. Thus, for example, most varieties of official religion disapprove of, or even forbid, recourse to talismans, spells, charms and other forms of magic. They are also against necromancy, astrology and other occult practices. Yet, in almost every society, these elements can be found in popular religion. [...] People regard these popular elements as an integral part of the religion and they are thought to derive their power and efficacy through the spiritual forces of the religion. For example, in most Muslim countries, amulets are worn as a magical protection against danger. These amulets usually contain verses from the Qur'an, which is considered to be the source of their power. Such practices persist despite the prohibition against them in the official religion.”

"The Phenomenon Of Religion" by M. Momen [Book Review], p387-389</p>

And added another short paragraph of my own:

"Theologians will tend to take the side of the 'professionals', and stick to the more formal, written, codified forms of religion. They will consider other elements, not discussed in literature, to be anomolies, sinful, and mistaken. Anthropologists will, more usefully, examine the actual practices of the people on the ground, and will therefore sometimes report that a religion of a local area is one thing, while theologians say it is another."

10:55am: Memory Impairment of Clive Wearing
I've added a quote from Gross to my Clive Wearing text on emotions and the soul:

“Clive Wearing [...] lives in a snapshot of time, constantly believing that he has just awoken from years of unconsciousness. For example, when his wife, Deborah, enters his hospital room for the third time in a single morning, he embraces her as if they had been parted for years, saying, 'I'm conscious for the first time' and 'It's the the first time I've seen anybody at all'.”
"Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behaviour" by Richard Gross

Deborah Wearing, Clive's wife, says that "even if I just leave the room, he doesn't know if he's seen me just 10 minutes ago or 10 years ago". He is capable of showing all the emotions of any person, including his strong emotions for his wife, who he constantly misses. The brain damage that he suffered has caused all this, what are the implications for those that study the soul? Clive Wearing shows us that there is no 'soul' which is responsible for our emotions; or, if there is a soul, it is completely overridden by physical biochemistry. If damage to the brain effects Clive's emotions and experience of life in such a profound way, it is clear that no 'soul' plays a part in determining those emotions: life is purely biological.

Emotions are Biological: There is no Soul