The Mind Possessed: A Physiology of Possession, Mysticism and Faith Healing PDF
Preview The Mind Possessed: A Physiology of Possession, Mysticism and Faith Healing
The Mind Possessed DrWilliamSargantwasborninHighgate,London,in 1907 andeducatedat LeysSchoolandStJohn'sCollege, Cambridge. Upto 1972hewasPhysicianinChargeoftheDepartmentof Psychological MedicineatSt Thomas'sHospital, London. Hehasbeen AssociateSecretaryoftheWorldPsychiatric Association andon the staffofthe MaudsleyHospital, London formanyyears. He wasalso Registrarofthe Royal Medica PsychologicalAssociation, RockefellerFellowat Harvard UniversityandVisiting Professorat Duke University. He isthe authorofBattlefortheMind, TheUnquietMindand,with Eliot Slater,PhysicalMetlwdsofTreatmentinPsychiatry. Alsoby William Sargantin Pan Battlefor the Mind William Sargant The Mind Possessed A Physiology ofPossession, Mysticism and Faith Healing PanBooks London and Sydney Firstpublishedin.GreatBritain 1973byWilliam HeinemannLtd Thiseditionpublished 1976byPanBooksLtd, Cavaye Place, London 9WIO9PO !ClWilliamSargant1973 IIl!lN0 330243470 PrintedinGreatBritainby RichardClay(TheChaucerPress) Ltd Bungay,Suffolk Thisbook isBoldsubjecttothe conditionthatitshallnot,byway oftradeor otherwise,belent,re-sold.hiredout orotherwisecirculatedwithoutthe publisher'spriorconsentinanyformofbinding orcoverotherthanthatinwhich itispublished andwithoutasimilarconditionincluding thiscondition being imposedonthesubsequentpurchaser Contents List ofIllustrations 6 Preface 9 Part One I Themindunderstress 13 2 Mesmerismandincreasedsuggestibility 31 3 Hypnosisandpossession 48 4 Statesofpossession 61 5 Moreaboutpossession 77 6 Mystical possession 93 7 Sexandpossession 109 8 Drugs,magicandpossession 123 PartTwo 9 African experiences 139 10 Tribal Sudan 148 JJ Expellingspirits 152 12 Experiencesin Zambia 161 13 Zarpossession 166 14 Castingoutdevils 171 15 NigeriaandDahomey 176 16 MacumbainBrazil 182 17 Experiencesin Trinidad 190 18 Experiencesin]amaicaandBarbados 201 19 Voodoo in Haiti 208 20 Revivalsin theUnitedStatesofAmerica 220 21 General conclusions 234 Bibliography 242 Index 246 List ofDlustratioDS PossessionbyDionysius500BO Dancingto tranceamongthe nomadicSamburutribein Kenya ThegodOgoun Theexpulsionofa possessingspiritinZambia Castingoutpossessingspiritsin Kenyaand Zambiaby drumming VoodoopossessioninHaiti PossessedbyanIndianspiritduringMacumbaceremony inBrazil PossessedbyJosephthe carpenterinTrinidad InducingpossessionbytheHolyGhost, ClayCounty, Kentucky Voodoopossessionin Haiti PossessionbytheHolyGhost;snake handling,North Carolina Collapsephase,WestCarolina •Andsomethingmovedin]ohn'sbody,whichwas not]ohn.Hewasinvaded,setatnought,possessed. This power had struck]ohn ... in a moment, wholly, filling himwith an anguish he couldneverin hislife have imagined, thathe surelycouldnotendure, thateven now he couldnotbelieve hadrippedhimandfelled him in a moment,sothat]ohn layhere, now, helpless, screaming, at the very bottom ofdarkness. Then]ohn saw the Lord - for a moment only; and the darkness, fora momentonly, was filled withalighthe could not bear. Then, in a moment, he was set free ... hisheart,like a fountain ofwaters, burst. Yes, the nighthad passed, the powersofdarkness had beenbeatenback. Hemovedamongthesaints...he scarcely knew how he moved, for his hands were new, andhisfeetwere new, andhe movedin a newand Heaven-bright air.' lamesBaldwin Go Tell It ontheMountain MichaelJoseph 1954 Preface Broughtup in a large middle-class Methodistfamily, itwas still possible,whenyoung, tomeetthose, includingmembers ofmy own family, who had been suddenly and spiritually changed, as it were in the twinkling ofan eye. Their whole life had been altered and the changewas permanentrather than transitory. Such happenings were thought to be due to the intervention ofthe Holy Ghost. Thesealterationsofthoughtandbehaviourwereforgotten duringmy medicalandpsychiatrictraining,andmy interest was only re-aroused later on when I started to see what seemedto me to be basicallysimilarsorts ofphenomenaina non-religious settingwith the introductionofthe new shock treatmentsin psychiatry, and particularlyduring the inten sive use of the emotionally arousing drug abreactive tech niques in the SecondWorld War. In 1957 in Battlefor theMind,l I tried to link abreactive and shock treatments with the physiology of sudden relig ious conversionand brainwashing.This book has had very large and continuing sales, and an acceptance which has encouraged me to continue this research, alongside my mainwork ofteachingmedicalstudents, and tryingto learn better how to help patients, mostly along the new physical and mechanistic lines. I have fortunately been able to travel frequently and in manypartsoftheworld, studying, photographingandfilm ing examples of religious and non-religious possession, healing and trance. Despite their tremendous importance - for a man'swholelife can be soeasilychanged when such thingshappento him- suchinvestigationsearnednoofficial
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