Demonic Explanation: Disservice to Those With Epilepsy

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A scholar spotted the long-overlooked image (its horns and face are at left, its legs on the right) while conducting research at a Berlin museum. (Courtesy of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin - Vorderasiatisches Museum, Olaf M. Teßmer)

Health Editor’s Note: There are many causes for epilepsy which is simply misfiring/malfunction of the neurons (brain cells) in the brain. The brain works by electrical impulses moving to the next neuron and the disorder/disease of epilepsy results from abnormal electrical activity of the brain and is not a specific disease but a group of symptoms that present with over stimulation of the neurons. Epilepsy is relatively common with about 0.5% of the population being affected. 

Epilepsy is classified as to its origin (idiopathic-genetic) or symptoms (acquired or organic) with having a physical cause such as injury to the brain at birth or later, brain tumor, or endocrine disorder.  Seizures may be barely noticeable, maybe experienced with someone pausing when he or she is speaking.  Seizures may be very noticeable as someone can loose control of motor function (can involuntarily urinate and move limbs in an exaggerated fashion), have severe tremors, inability to swallow, become unconscious and be in a very helpless/vulnerable state. 

Whatever the cause for seizures, the seizures are due to a physical reason (s) and not someone being cursed by some demon or another person for any actions he or she might have taken. No one does anything evil to be given epilepsy. Seizures are not a sign that someone is possessed or going to harm anyone else. 

As is the case with many ancient/and not so ancient explanations of scientific data, when you cannot see or understand what is really happening, then the unexplainable/that which is not understood, takes on a sign that something awful, which cannot be seen, has caused the process. Because of the nature of how seizures may manifest and how this appears to an onlooker, someone with seizures were said to be possessed as they did not really have conscious control over his or her movements during the time of the seizure. This article is just proof of how seizures and demons came to be linked to each other. While it would appear that the link between seizures and demons was an idea from ancient times, I would think that there are certain people who continue to believe the falsehood that those who have seizures should/will be thought of in a maleficent light……Carol   



This Demon, Immortalized in 2,700-Year-Old Assyrian Tablet, Was Thought to Cause Epilepsy

By Theresa Machemer/Smithsonianmag.com

A demonic figure with curved horns, a forked tongue, a tail and a reptilian eye has long lurked unobserved on the back of a 2,700-year-old clay tablet housed at Berlin’s Vorderasiatisches Museum, a new study published in Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes suggests.

University of Copenhagen Assyriologist Troels Pank Arbøll discovered the rare illustration while studying the cuneiform text five years ago. Researchers have known of the artifact’s existence for decades, but as Arbøll tells Live Science’s Tom Metcalfe, he was the first to notice the creature’s damaged outline. The writing on the tablet suggests its creator viewed the demon as the cause of convulsions and other involuntary movements then called bennu but now understood as epilepsy.

Per the study, the anthropomorphic figure measures around 2.5 inches tall and one inch wide. Its neck is long, and its body appears to be covered in scales or hair. Although the majority of the demon’s torso has been effaced over the centuries, its claw-like hands and feet remain partially visible.

Magic and medicine were intertwined in ancient Assyria. According to a University of Copenhagen statement, the Assyrians believed diseases were caused by gods, demons or witchcraft. To treat these afflictions, healers turned to…..Read More:

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2 COMMENTS

  1. Carol, I’m sure Gordon has informed you that demons really do exist, as he learned from a C*A memo and heard from Malachi Martin. As for the neurophysiology of the demonic, the two most interesting sources I’ve seen are Felicitas Goodman’s “How About Demons,” which shows that a special kind of trance with its own brainwave signature occurs when people are in contact with the interdimensional; and “Science, Sense, and Soul” by physicist Casey Blood, which exposes the underlying mechanism: synapse connections are so thin that the brain’s functioning is governed by quantum not classical physics, meaning that non-physical mind governs the physical brain’s neurological activity. “Demons” (or djinn/shayateen as we Muslims call them) interface with our physical reality mostly through the realm of non-physical mind. In general it is a good idea to avoid these entities and instead interact with the angelic realm. Prayer and meditation can get you there. (Some say the ayahuasca-tourism shamans in Peru are almost entirely dealing with the djinn/demonic level, whereas there are a few, mostly in Columbia, who interface with the angelic; as for me, I’ll just stick with prayer and meditation.)

    • Kevin Barrett, But Demons do not cause epilepsy. There is a purely physical reason for seizures and to link demons to seizures is a very harmful practice for those who have epilepsy. That was the point I was making by putting up this article.

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