"If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia"

[The Straight Story]

Szasz wrote: "If you talk to God, you are praying; If God talks to you, you have schizophrenia. If the dead talk to you, you are a spiritualist; If you talk to the dead, you are a schizophrenic."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Szasz

Food for thought :)

[JonQ]

1. I thought Dr. House said that

;-)

[HughMoran]

2. Unless you're me - I think religious people who claim to talk to God are insane

:D

[donco6]

7. Only if you think God really hears you.

Otherwise, you're just "eccentric."

[imdjh]

11. I've only known one person who was considered eccentric

What he actually was was a highly disciplined alcoholic who was misfiring from 8 am to 5 pm, amusing from 5 PM until 8 PM, and obnoxious from 8PM until midnight. You might have guessed that he was my employer.

[Double T]

3. Bottom Line: If YOU believe in the 'second coming' YOU'RE crazy.

[northofdenali]

4. Nah, Faith can be beautiful.

It's only when you decide YOUR type of faith is the ONLY type of faith that you're certifiable.

[frogcycle]

5. I guess I'm not hungry n/t

[havocmom]

6. I met God once, on a field trip to Camarillo State Hospital. He was sweeping a day room in a ward.

He seemed to have a pretty good grasp of all the residents there and his knowledge was somewhat comforting to me. I thought he was the janitor. After chatting for about 10 minutes, he confessed that he was, indeed, the all-mighty. He said he liked me and to demonstrate his affection, he would send the sun to shine on my back yard the next day.

Holy shit if it didn't happen just like he promised. What worried me was this one nagging question: How did he know my backyard was on the east side of the house?

Anyway, I stopped looking for God after that, and just started paying more attention to my surroundings. God doesn't call anymore. I have since become a pantheist with a fondness for brooms and floor sweeping.

[The River]

9. Wouldn't That Be A

Dustpantheist?

[havocmom]

10. Nope; I leave THAT for the

pandustbunnians

[konnichi wa]

8. And if you communicate with a dead god, you're having an excellent LSD voyage.

:D

[imdjh]

12. I've always thought that LSD was over rated.

And I did plenty of research.

[konnichi wa]

13. Agreed, although I never was quite sure the object of my scientific experiment

was actually the real thing. ;-)

[Old and In the Way]

14. Amen.... nt