Jerusalem Syndrome

Humans are weird:

"There is an actual medical condition called Jerusalem Syndrome. Each year, it afflicts hundreds of people when they go to Israel and are so religiously moved that they become convinced God is speaking to them, and that they are the Messiah. There is a dedicated wing in the psychiatric ward at a hospital in Jerusalem that deals with these people. I met a psychiatrist who works there, and asked her what the treatment is.

"It is easiest if there is more than one patient in the clinic at a time," she told me. "The best way to snap them out of it is usually to introduce them to each other."

I love that image - the guy who is sure he's the Messiah meeting another guy who is sure he's the Messiah, and immediately going, "Oh. Well, that guy sounds crazy. Never mind."

- Kristin Newman, What I Was Doing While You Were Breeding