MT4.2

If a person’s unusual behavior is thought of as a disease, it is something that can be cured. If a person’s unusual behavior is thought of as a spiritual problem, it can’t necessarily be cured or fixed in the same way. With a disease, for the most part, people know what it is and how to treat it. If they don’t then they can research it and at least find more information about it to help out people that may be afflicted with it in the future. If someone is being possessed by the devil, spirits or something of that nature, it is not a problem that is so easily remedied. You can’t just give a person some pills and say takes one ever 5 hours and the devil will be out of your system within a week. This is partly because these problems are all based on beliefs. Illness is based on facts and figures while spiritual possession is based on what religion or ideology that one goes by. So I see it as a difficult thing to remedy. If you don’t believe in a devil or the same kind of devil as someone else, then how do you know what is afflicting you? How can you be helped if you don’t believe in the problem? If a Muslim is possessed by the devil can a priest save his soul?

Metaphors are used to describe things that we can’t describe with our regular vocabulary. That is why we have to use examples that people can more easily understand. I think that both of these scenarios are things that people don’t fully understand. I think religion is an obvious thing that not everyone understands because religion isn’t about understanding. Religion is about believing. You are taught to have faith and believe. With a medical problem, such as a disease, there is more proof and factual information to back it up, but there is still that cloud of mystery. We only know what is wrong because some doctor tells us so. So in a way isn’t that the same as some priest or other holy figure telling us to believe in what they say?