Possible explanation of supernatural religious visitations

[Confused Ape]

Muhammad's revelations have often been attributed to epilepsy.

There's many historical references to it apparently going back to the 8th century.

I found more about this on wikipedia which is always a good place to start for anything. Criticism of Muhammed - Psychological and medical condition .

God On The Brain includes temporal lobe epilepsy which can result in religious visions.

RUDI: I thought that I had died and I had gone to hell.

He was an atheist when he had his vision of the Christian Hell and he remained an atheist afterwards.

Finally, there's a fairly new book questioning whether the Muhammad portrayed by Islam actually existed. Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry into Islam's Obscure Origins The stories about him foaming at the mouth etc. not appearing until the 8th century indicates that they were later additions to the fabricated biography. They wouldn't have appeared at all, though, if people hadn't believed that epilepsy was the result of religious visions, soothsaying or demonic possession.

I think in every religious leaders case though there is more to it than just sleep paralysis or epilepsy, if you look at modern day cult leaders it takes more than this for their groups to form and flourish.

I find the Heaven's Gate cult particularly interesting in this respect.

Heaven's Gate was an American UFO religious Millenarian group based in San Diego, California, founded in the early 1970s and led by Marshall Applewhite (1931–1997) and Bonnie Nettles (1927–1985).[1] On March 26, 1997, police discovered the bodies of 39 members of the group who had committed mass suicide[2] in order to reach what they believed was an alien space craft following the Comet Hale–Bopp, which was then at its brightest.[3]

Marshall Applewhite's biography suggests that he was barking mad. Yes, he was a control freak, but it seems that he was only interested in having followers who were equally barking mad.

Applewhite and Nettles arranged their followers' lifestyles as a boot camp that would prepare them for the Next Level. Referring to their house as a "craft", they regimented the lives of their disciples to the minute.[96] Students who were not committed to this lifestyle were encouraged to leave; departing members were given financial assistance.[96] Lifton states that Applewhite wanted "quality over quantity" in his followers, although he occasionally spoke about gaining many converts.[103]

Quantum Mysticism is a New Age belief system but it's not organised into a cult as such. It's possible that it will end up as an organised religion in the future but, at the moment, it seems that the leaders for want of a better word, associate with each other as and when they want to.