Charles Bonnet Syndrome, seeing demons, and the Talmud

Earlier this week, I posted about Charles Bonnet Syndrome, a disease where mentally healthy people have very strange and vivid hallucinations. It seems to be tied to visual impairments from old age or eye damage. Over at Omphalos, Aharon Varady considers the possible relationship between Charles Bonnet Syndrome and a Talmudic method for seeing Mazikin (harmful spirits, ie. demons). The magickal technique involves putting ash into the eye. From Aharon's fascinating post, titled "Reality and Hallucination: Towards a Talmudic Ontology of Consensus (by way of demons)":

Mazikin are a class of sheydim (animistic spirits) that pervaded the natural world in the Rabbinic Jewish worldview of late antiquity. From ת×œ×ž×•×“ ×‘×‘×œ×™ ×‘×¨×›×•ת ×• א (Talmud Bavli Tractate Berakhot, 6a):

Raba says: The crushing in the Kallah lectures comes from them. Fatigue in the knees comes from them. The wearing out of the clothes of the scholars is due to their rubbing against them. The bruising of the feet comes from them. If one wants to discover them, let him take sifted ashes and sprinkle around his bed, and in the morning he will see something like the footprints of a rooster. If one wishes to see them, let him take the placenta of a black she-cat [that is] the offspring of a black she-cat [that is] the first-born of a first-born, let him roast it [the placenta] in fire and grind it to powder, and then let him put some into his eye, and he will see them. Let him also pour it into an iron tube and seal it with an iron signet that they [the demons] should not steal it from him. Let him also close his mouth, lest he come to harm.

R. Bibi b. Abaye did so, saw them and came to harm. The scholars, however, prayed for him and he recovered.

Could Raba’s magic recipe for perceiving demons by placing ash in one’s eye create a condition like Charles Bonnet Syndrome? Could Rav Huna’s 10:1 ratio of ubiquitous albeit invisible demons indicate a left-brained dominance when perceiving/hallucinating these creatures? Curious minds wish to know the answer to these arcane questions.

"Reality and Hallucination: Towards a Talmudic Ontology of Consensus (by way of demons)"

Previously:

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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gollux

[quote] The wearing out of the clothes of the scholars is due to their rubbing against them. [/quote]

I can think of some other rubbing that would cause that, in addition to normal wear and tear.

Most of the visions and dreams were brought on by “poor mans drugs”. If you starve yourself down in relative isolation and then exert yourself, you can have some pretty wild low-blood sugar induced trips. The floaty feeling can make you think you aren’t touching the ground when you walk.

Add to that some old guys with eye problems and you too can invent and codify a whole new religion.
Snig

I once came across a Talmudic quote something like:
“If a man could ever see all the invisible demons that ever existed around him he would go mad.”

Which I thought would make a great opening line for a microscopy or microbiology text.
Ultan

Answers: no and no. Believing in ridiculous things may cause hallucinations. Do not opeate heavy machinery while under the influence of
Talmudic “scholarship” (especially on Saturdays).
Shrdlu

I know there are kosher-certified eye drops, so if cats are not kosher….
Falcon_Seven

I’m a little unclear on this. Is the ‘sifted ash’ that you spread around the bed the same ash that you rub in your eye -the ‘she-cat’ placenta ash- or is it just any old ‘ash’?
minTphresh

of course she-cat placenta is a bit redundant, but the important thing is that it be from a BLACK cat. any old ash? pshaw!
thickdot

Ok, looks like none of you turkey’s is willing to step up so…I’ll try it.
thickdot

hmmm turkeys even or turkies or turducklings.
Art

@#2.

No. I’LL get the propane. YOU get the black cat afterbirth.
spaceling

Snig: That great quote is from Abba Binyamin (Tractate Berakhot, folio 6, side a) and you can find it in the reference I cite in my post. –aharon
spaceling

A question to boingboing readers: does anyone know of a student-taught class at Harvard or MIT many years ago on how to hallucinate through non-drug methods like pressing one’s fingers against their eyeballs (or eyelids… i’m not certain — don’t try this at home!)? I remember hearing about this over the years and tried to find a story about it before I posted the article David linked to above. — aharon
David Pescovitz

SPACELING @17, Funnily enough, there’s a paragraph about that in BB pal Doug Rushkoff’s very first book, titled “Free Rides: How To Get High Without Drugs.” And yes, you press very gently on your eyelids. I don’t know the MIT reference though.
spaceling

DAVID PESCOVITZ @18, Is that the same as his book, “Stoned Free: How to Get High Without Drugs”… but with a different cover and title?
David Pescovitz

Indeed it is! The bit about the “eyelid pressure” hallucination is literally just a few sentences though.
spaceling

Falcon Seven: Great question. I really should have been more clear in my commentary distinguishing between the magic powder to put in the eye, from any regular ash that one might spread around one’s bed. — aharon
IamInnocent

Talking of Bibi and other clown-named would be prime ministers: they should be screened for the syndrome and disqualified if present. Even this won’t help if they keep their heads shoved into their asses (as a replacement for ashes?)

All right, I’ve crossed the line and deserved disemvowlment. Still felt good to say it though.
Joel Johnson

I love you.
minTphresh

i’ll go get the propane, you go get the black cat afterbirth!
David Pescovitz

Fantastic, right? I wish I knew enough about mystical traditions to draw links like that. IMO, it doesn’t matter if the tales are “true” or the magick is “real.” I just think the discussion and history of this stuff is really intriguing when presented in the manner that Aharon has done it in this case.
Tonky

If there is any connection, I would say the demons and hallucinations were not a product of the actual administration of ash

Rather the old confused rabbi already had the condition and was practicing witchcraft as a way of codifying the bizarre experience into his existing belief structure.

Boo!!!!

-Tonky