By Vaughan BellPosted Wednesday, May 26, 2010, at 11:59 AM ET

In the late 1950s, psychologist Milton Rokeach was gripped by an eccentric plan. He gathered three psychiatric patients, each with the delusion that they were Jesus Christ, to live together for two years in Ypsilanti State Hospital to see if their beliefs would change. The early meetings were stormy. “You oughta worship me, I’ll tell you that!” one of the Christs yelled. “I will not worship you! You’re a creature! You better live your own life and wake up to the facts!” another snapped back. “No two men are Jesus Christs. … I am the Good Lord!” the third interjected, barely concealing his anger.

Frustrated by psychology’s focus on what he considered to be peripheral beliefs, like political opinions and social attitudes, Rokeach wanted to probe the limits of identity. He had been intrigued by stories of Secret Service agents who felt they had lost contact with their original identities, and wondered if a man’s sense of self might be challenged in a controlled setting. Unusually for a psychologist, he found his answer in the Bible. There is only one Son of God, says the good book, so anyone who believed himself to be Jesus would suffer a psychological affront by the very existence of another like him. This was the revelation that led Rokeach to orchestrate his meeting of the Messiahs and document their encounter in the extraordinary (and out-of-print) book from 1964, The Three Christs of Ypsilanti.

Although by no means common, Christ conventions have an unexpectedly long history. In his commentary to Cesare Beccaria’s essay “Crimes and Punishments,” Voltaire recounted the tale of the “unfortunate madman” Simon Morin who was burnt at the stake in 1663 for claiming to be Jesus. Unfortunate it seems, because Morin was originally committed to a madhouse where he met another who claimed to be God the Father, and “was so struck with the folly of his companion that he acknowledged his own, and appeared, for a time, to have recovered his senses.” The lucid period did not last, however, and it seems the authorities lost patience with his blasphemy. Another account of a meeting of the Messiahs comes from Sidney Rosen’s book My Voice Will Go With You: The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson. The renowned psychiatrist apparently set two delusional Christs in his ward arguing only for one to gain insight into his madness, miraculously, after seeing something of himself in his companion. (“I’m saying the same things as that crazy fool is saying,” said one of the patients. “That must mean I’m crazy too.”)

These tales are surprising because delusions, in the medical sense, are not simply a case of being mistaken. They are considered to be pathological beliefs, reflecting a warped or broken understanding that is not, by definition, amenable to being reshaped by reality. One of most striking examples is the Cotard delusion, under which a patient believes she is dead; surely there can be no clearer demonstration that simple and constant contradiction offers no lasting remedy. Rokeach, aware of this, did not expect a miraculous cure. Instead, he was drawing a parallel between the baseless nature of delusion and the flimsy foundations we use to construct our own identities. If tomorrow everyone treats me as if I have an electronic device in my head, there are ways and means I could use to demonstrate they are wrong and establish the facts of the matter—a visit to the hospital perhaps. But what if everyone treats me as if my core self were fundamentally different than I believed it to be? Let’s say they thought I was an undercover agent—what could I show them to prove otherwise? From my perspective, the best evidence is the strength of my conviction. My belief is my identity.

In one sense, Rokeach’s book reflects a remarkably humane approach for its era. We are asked to see ourselves in the psychiatric patients, at a time when such people were regularly locked away and treated as incomprehensible objects of pity rather than individuals worthy of empathy. Rokeach’s constant attempts to explain the delusions as understandable reactions to life events require us to accept that the Christs have not “lost contact” with reality, even if their interpretations are more than a little uncommon.

But the book makes for starkly uncomfortable reading as it recounts how the researchers blithely and unethically manipulated the lives of Leon, Joseph, and Clyde in the service of academic curiosity. In one of the most bizarre sections, the researchers begin colluding with the men’s delusions in a deceptive attempt to change their beliefs from within their own frame of reference. The youngest patient, Leon, starts receiving letters from the character he believes to be his wife, “Madame Yeti Woman,” in which she professes her love and suggests minor changes to his routine. Then Joseph, a French Canadian native, starts receiving faked letters from the hospital boss advising certain changes in routine that might benefit his recovery. Despite an initially engaging correspondence, both the delusional spouse and the illusory boss begin to challenge the Christs’ beliefs more than is comfortable, and contact is quickly broken off.

In fact, very little seems to shift the identities of the self-appointed Messiahs. They debate, argue, at one point come to blows, but show few signs that their beliefs have become any less intense. Only Leon seems to waver, eventually asking to be addressed as “Dr Righteous Idealed Dung” instead of his previous moniker of “Dr Domino dominorum et Rex rexarum, Simplis Christianus Puer Mentalis Doctor, reincarnation of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.” Rokeach interprets this more as an attempt to avoid conflict than a reflection of any genuine identity change. The Christs explain one another’s claims to divinity in predictably idiosyncratic ways: Clyde, an elderly gentleman, declares that his companions are, in fact, dead, and that it is the “machines” inside them that produce their false claims, while the other two explain the contradiction by noting that their companions are “crazy” or “duped” or that they don’t really mean what they say.

In hindsight, the Three Christs study looks less like a promising experiment than the absurd plan of a psychologist who suffered the triumph of passion over good sense. The men’s delusions barely shifted over the two years, and from an academic perspective, Rokeach did not make any grand discoveries concerning the psychology of identity and belief. Instead, his conclusions revolve around the personal lives of three particular (and particularly unfortunate) men. He falls back—rather meekly, perhaps—on the Freudian suggestion that their delusions were sparked by confusion over sexual identity, and attempts to end on a flourish by noting that we all “seek ways to live with one another in peace,” even in the face of the most fundamental disagreements. As for the ethics of the study, Rokeach eventually realized its manipulative nature and apologized in an afterword to the 1984 edition: “I really had no right, even in the name of science, to play God and interfere round the clock with their daily lives.”

Although we take little from it scientifically, the book remains a rare and eccentric journey into the madness of not three, but four men in an asylum. It is, in that sense, an unexpected tribute to human folly, and one that works best as a meditation on our own misplaced self-confidence. Whether scientist or psychiatric patient, we assume others are more likely to be biased or misled than we are, and we take for granted that our own beliefs are based on sound reasoning and observation. This may be the nearest we can get to revelation—the understanding that our most cherished beliefs could be wrong.

Originally Posted On:  http://www.slate.com/id/2255105/

This first holy communion is very important and nothing is left to chance when planning out the religious ceremony and the celebration that follows.  If you are of the Catholic faith it is considered a great honor to receive one of the first communion invitations.  It means the family would like you to witness one of the most important spiritual events in their childs life.

When preparing for the communion the parents of the child must make sure that the girl or boy have the proper clothes.  For the young girl it will be a first communion dress along with one of the “famous” first communion veils that we have all seen.  For a boy it will be a dark communion suit.

Only people who are “without sin” can receive communion.  For most of us that would be pretty hard to pull off.  But don’t fret because there is a way for the young kids awaiting their first communion to become sinless.

What happens is that before the communion the child will make their first confession to a priest.  The priest will give the child a penance (a prayer to repeat) and that will  absolve the child of their sins.  They are now ready to receive their first communion.

To the parents sending out the first holy communion invitations it is the beginning of what they will hope is a proud and glorious day for them and their child.  A belief in God and all that he offers is what is really being delivered on this special day.

So the next time first communion invitations show up in the mail, you should really consider being a witness at the ceremony.  It means a lot to some people and they thought highly enough about you to want you there.

If you were to look at the occasion of the First Holy Communion with the reverence it deserves, then you would certainly understand why the parents of these children would want everything involved in  the celebration to be as perfect as possible.

Not only are there first communion party favors that need to be decided on, but just about everything under the sun will need to be looked at and assembled so that the first communion ceremony and the first communion party goes off without a hitch.

Some Of The Items Needed For A First Class First Communion

• First Communion Dresses
• First Communion Invitations
• First Communion Gifts
• First Communion Prayers
• First Communion Rosary
• First Communion Book

Really the list goes on and on.  But no matter what goes on the list, you should never forget the significance behind the religious ceremony.

The Catholic First Holy Communion is a ceremony that seeks to show that a child has received the Sacrament, which is the body and blood of Jesus Christ.

Most Catholic kids will receive their First Communion before they turn 9 years old but no younger than 7 years old.  At this young age Catholic children are considered at an age of reason. 

If a person did not receive their First Communion at an early age they can receive it at any time as long as they have met all of the conditions outlined by the church.

While first communion party favors might not be the most important aspect of the ceremony, it certainly helps to create at atmosphere of love and warmth towards all the friends and family of the child.

Most people exist not totally realizing that external forces only have control over us to the extent that we let them. What does have total and complete control over our lives is our belief system and what our belief system believes about ourselves. It is your belief about yourself is what influences your world. There are many ways of saying this, but what you believe really is true.

It is easy to fall prey to all of the negativity around you. What normally happens is that after you keep hearing and reading negative things you start repeating these things to yourself. Once that occurs then you begin to believe that the negative talk is what your life is about. If the TV news keeps blaring that the economy is bad, it is impossible to get a job, that the world is falling apart, and you start internalizing all of the negative information and believing it, then you will start acting as though there is no hope. Once you believe there is no hope then you start seeing yourself and your life as being hopeless, without any real value, and with no chance of ever doing better.

The truth is that what so many people believe about themselves is “paper thin”.  By “paper thin” I mean that it just as easy to start thinking that with your skills and talents obtaining a job, even in a down economy, won’t be too difficult.  Once you believe that you become a more positive person and then, almost magically, you get a new job.  You would be so much better off not listening to negative people.  No matter how positive you are, negative people seem to be able to seep into your head like water through a crack in a rock.  It is easy to change your self image.

You created the negative self image….So you can just as easily create a positive self image of yourself. And it is really that easy. Wake up in the morning and believe you are going to conquer the world and you will…At least you will make headway. If you wake up and think that you’ll be lucky to get through the day then you are going to see your day dreadful and you can bet your bottom dollar that nothing positive is going to happen.

Although it sounds like a running joke when people say you should think and say positive things about yourself, the truth is that doing these things would be good for you. A weak self image, a negative outlook on life, or an acceptance that life is not going to get any better all came about by you saying and thinking these types of things thousands of times. Imagine if you were to think, say, and act as if your self image is very attractive to people. That you felt like anything was possible! And pretend for just a moment you did this thousands and thousands of times. Do you think that your self image would start getting better? Do you think you would have a better outlook on life? What you believe is true. Believe good and positive things about yourself and that will become your truth!

Much too often the people that we keep close to us might be doing us the greatest amount of harm when it comes to our self image. If your mom, dad, wife, brother, friend, or boss keeps telling you that you are average, then guess what? You will start believing that and remain average. You won’t even attempt to stretch beyond the “average” comfort zone.

Now imagine that you surrounded yourself with people who were encouraging and upbeat about you! Everyday you would wake up and hear your wife say something like this, “Have a good day honey. I just know that your going to accomplish great things today”. Or your friends would always tell you that they wish they could be more like you because it is obvious that you know what your doing and you are so confident doing it. I am telling you it will make a big difference on how you see yourself and what you believe about yourself.

We all seem to have plenty of time and energy to build up a negative self image. But in a way that is good news! Because if we somehow found the time and energy to build up a negative self image that means we already have the time and energy available to build up a positive self image. All we have to change is what we believe.

If what you believe is true, then you might as well believe positive things. It makes no sense to believe negative things about yourself. It makes no sense to force yourself into believing your bad, or lazy, or hopeless. Choose positive! Believe in yourself….you should because you really can accomplish anything with a positive attitude and hard work.