Jerusalem Syndrome: Real or Not?

[@sudocatsda1guy390]

When I was in Jerusalem, I saw some of those people. Poor, delusional folks. I felt sorry for them. Then I realised I could actually help them, because I am the messiah

[@jimslickens2325]

They had us in the first half, not gonna lie

[@truewarrior3646]

😀😀😆😆😉😉 oh Snap.

[@darkwolve]

How are you the messiah when I'm the messiah!? Wait... Are we twinsiahs!? 😆

[@jomun0z912]

😭

[@georgem7502]

You’re not the Messiah.... 🤣

[@GeneticallyModifiedSkeptic]

Religious studies and mental health discussed in the same video hits the sweet spot for me. I had never heard of this specific phenomenon, so thanks for teaching me something! Your videos are always an instant watch for me.

[@ReligionForBreakfast]

Awesome. Cognitive science is huge in religious studies right now. Some of my favorite research in this field.

[@pansepot1490]

A while ago I watched a whole course (on youtube) by Prof Robert Sapolsky on evolution and neuroscience and he mentioned the Jerusalem syndrome somewhere in one of the lectures. If I remember correctly he said cases are not uncommon and first aid responders and doctors have learnt to recognise them quickly and treat them effectively. He spoke of short duration and complete remission once the subject is back home so I don't know if these mild cases make it into the statistics or Prof Sapolsky was talking on anecdotal evidence.

[@IAmAlgolei]

I've been intrigued by Jerusalem syndrome and Paris syndrome for a while now. They're usually considered to be "transient mental disorders" and severe forms of culture shock. The part I find most interesting is that Paris syndrome is particularly associated with Japanese visitors. It should be noted, however, that only around 20 Japanese visitors are reported to have been affected by it per year. Apparently the reality of Paris does not match up to most Japanese tourists' over-romanticised expectations.

[@jd2981]

Genetically Modified Skeptic I see you everywhere

[@jake.britton]

@Andro mache the God of the Bible is not believed to be a personal butler who will give you whatever you want if you pray hard enough for it. So no, cutting off your hand and praying it will grow back does not disprove the existence of the Biblical God. That is a ridiculous argument.

[@bigkkm]

The concept of "sacred spaces" tends to trigger some believers. Jerusalem is sacred spaces on steroids, so this is not surprising. Once again, a very thoughtful exercise. Thank you!

[@thecannaviking]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/rHe4aal5fb91mMU

[@disposablebasterd]

When I was in 3rd grade my Elementry school principal went to Jerusalem and came back all super religious fro the rest of the year.

[@RexoryByzaboo]

Woah, how did he act?

[@RobMacKendrick]

At least he seems to have gotten over it. Some people are incurable.

[@flopimus]

Was he ever the same after rocking the super religious fro?!

[@stevehurl298]

Well-said, well-paced, beautiful backdrop for your essay, and no annoying, over-loud music track. Way to go.

[@Leggett1994]

I think we all want to be the main character in this life.

[@tbishop4961]

You can't though. If you wind up in Oklahoma, I'll let you play an extra assuming you have an amusing skill

[@alspezial2747]

every one is the main character of their own live (except people who see their children as more important than themselves)

[@Ant42Lee]

There's actually a psychological bias that everyone has which makes people assume that they are more important to whatever's going on around them than they actually are

[@mightymadrid]

We are

[@ghostgate82]

I’d rather be the best supporting actor to the main Protagonist.

[@Monosekist]

I would imagine that going to the world's biggest Evangelion theme park makes a few people go insane every once in a while.

[@fafo867]

man imagine an actual Evangelion theme park. i can allready hear: Shinji, start bullying the offended catholics!

[@Amoebacity]

My favorite ride is the Childhood Traumanator

[@bellalugosisrightnipple3719]

@@giuseppelogiurato5718 disney doesn't have anywhere near the same magnetism that religion has , I guarantee a handful of people a day think they're the second coming of jesus lol

[@Grmario85]

Well the first time i entered the gates of Jerusalem in 2013, my knees became weak and i got goosebumps. Couldn't believe where i was. That is the closest i got to the Jerusalem syndrome.

[@xtscarfacem8255]

This channel is becoming one of my favorite. As an atheist that wants to keep learning I find it informative and he doesn't seem to take sides. Great channel!

[@greggeverman5578]

Catholic here who also appreciates it. Hope this isn't scandalous but...

[@xtscarfacem8255]

@@greggeverman5578 why would it be scandalous.? Im here to learn. I also question and take it as a guide to do research on my own.

[@hasanmuttaqin464]

@@greggeverman5578 but what? spit it out.

[@GhostRanger5060]

I saw this manifest one time. A big boy from Alabama who went into a catatonic state after about three days in Israel. We weren't even in Jerusalem but at an Army base not too far from the airport in Joppa. When he wasn't in a catatonic state he was jabbering about spiritual things and seeing "visions." It was an overnight personality change. We were not on a religious tour nor were we in a spiritual environment at the time. He was put in a taxi and sent off to the US Embassy but got out of the cab and disappeared. Call it what you want -- possession, mental illness, or hyped up emotionalism but it's a real thing. Despite the somewhat skeptical tone of this video.

[@Crossword131]

Imma guess you are military. And I believe you 100%

[@jaygon8656]

What's up with the thumbnail? Is there something you'd like to tell us? Lol

[@midnightswim34]

Yeah I thought the same thing...odd thumbnail choice.

[@hermask815]

2nd coming.

[@samuelmartinez493]

In the video he's talking about a condition where people have the illusion that they are the messiah (or think they know the future) so the picture is a parallel of that. It makes sense

[@heronofheaven]

His psychosis made him to believe he was the Messiah

[@aos757]

He’s got a rocking profile view and he knows it lol

[@chrisrowl]

The lack of sacred space and action in (modern) daily life further contributes to this phenomena. Life has become largely profane, so people have little connection to true sacred experience in any part of life.

[@eclipsesolar8345]

Spot on !

[@adamplentl5588]

"True sacred experience." Can you elaborate on what exactly constitutes one of those?

[@imperiumoccidentis7351]

@@adamplentl5588 And here's the smarmy fedora atheist coming out swinging to destroy everyone with facts and logic.

[@BeOtterMyFriend]

@@imperiumoccidentis7351 Not everyone. You cannot destroy the factual und logical with facts and logic. If facts and logic are a threat of destruction for something that is quite telling about the nature of that thing. Wouldn't you agree?

[@imperiumoccidentis7351]

​@@BeOtterMyFriend Except "facts and logic" are not the be-all and end-all of the human experience, nor of life in general. Things like procreation, love, morality, emotions or the need for meaning have no basis in facts or logic.

[@alspezial2747]

when i was in a steel factory at the place where they blow oxygen into the molten metal and giant flames comes out of it, i was so amazed that my jaw dropped and i was frozen in place.

[@greggeverman5578]

REALLY appreciated and learned from the unbiased opinions. You dah man.

[@tommythecat4961]

I have to say, I'm a secular and progressive (very secular, very progressive) Italian Jew, from a family of proudly secular progressive Italian Jews. But the first time I went to the Wailing Wall, when I was 18 or 19, I could feel all the weight of History crushing me. This was the place where it all began thousands of years ago, the place we prayed to see again every Pesach, the place every religious Jew faces when he prays. I would lie if I said I wasn't full of emotion, I've seen many ancient wonders in my life (I'm from Italy after all) but this spoke to me differently. I'm still very much non religious, but it was a unique experience. I can imagine for people who really believe, whether they're Christians, Muslims or Jews, it must be intense!

[@daddyleon]

I'm getting a Dirk of Vertarasium vibe here, tone of voice, cadence, casual yet informative, even the way of walking... it all works!

[@greggeverman5578]

The raw power his brain is emitting is palpable!

[@aaronpaterson1615]

Considering you are walking around talking, you are doing a decent job as it appears to be talking off the top of yiur head and that's pretty amazing. Now where did I leave my prozac this morning?

[@johnkilmartin5101]

I may be off base here but my understanding was the point of a pilgrimage was to have a religious experience at the site. There is an Irish poem from the ninth century I think that says something to the effect if you don't bring him whom you seek with you then you will not find him there (referring to a pilgrimage to Rome).

[@ReligionForBreakfast]

I think there were many motivations. In the early Byzantine period (my area of study), many people went on pilgrimages to obtain magical souvenirs from the site. An amulet with a picture of St. Symeon on it for example.

[@howtubeable]

John Kilmartin Exactly. A pilgrimage is not a vacation resort. Practice spiritual disciplines, and you should arrive expecting some kind of spiritual drama to unfold. If God is everywhere equally, then you might as well spend your time at Disneyland.

[@RobMacKendrick]

Said Robert Pirsig: "The only Zen you find on mountaintops is the Zen you bring up there." (I'm a Zen monk, and not an unreserved fan of Pirsig's Zen musings, but here and there he nails it.)

[@Ant42Lee]

If anyone needs a chuckle, I recommend the song "Jerusalem" by Dan Bern about a guy going through an episode of Jerusalem syndrome

[@brighteyesandstardust]

i love that song. had no idea jerusalem syndrome was a thing until i saw this video but that song has been in my library for years

[@user-di5fq4vu1q]

I sat at a booth the signed the wall of in corpus

[@StallionFernando]

That guy is a walmart version of Bob Dylan.

[@RobMacKendrick]

@@StallionFernando Bob Dylan, yes. Walmart, no.

[@sh3lieMa3]

That cloudless sky and buildings in the background looks so beautiful

[@dj-kq4fz]

What's Paris syndrome like? Refusal to speak english while being overwhelmed with ennui and constantly wishing for a baguette? I do love Paris by the way.

[@RobMacKendrick]

I suspect Paris Syndrome is being snotty and rude to random people. (I'm from Marseille, by the way.)

[@bradhartliep879]

Paris Syndrome is when you run into a German and automatically raise your hands in surrender ..

[@bearcb]

I’ve read that it happens mainly with Japanese tourists who have an idealized vision of the city, and have a mental colapse when confronted with reality (some dirty places, traffic, beggars, tourist traps etc). Being more realistic, I think it’s a great city, even with those annoyances.

[@mikeharrison1868]

I lived in Jerusalem / Il Kuds for six months in 2000. It had been 15 years since I deprogrammed myself, but it was still a powerful experience. I can understand how someone who was mentally unstable could lose it.

[@jonahs92]

It's called Jerusalem.

[@mikeharrison1868]

@@jonahs92 I don't have Hebrew fonts installed, but in Hebrew it's soemthing like Yerush'layim. In English, Jerusalem. In Arabic (once again, I don't have the fonts installed), it's Il Kuds. Best wishes.

[@jonahs92]

@@mikeharrison1868 And considering that the original name is Yerushalayim/Jerusalem, that's the name that should be used. Not the name given to it by colonizers.

[@mikeharrison1868]

@@jonahs92 Tricky. The history of that area is complex. In Britain, the Anglo-Saxons sort of pushed the original Britons to the margins at around the same time that Byzantine culture in the area was being conquered by the Muslim forces. But in fact, it was the Romans who largely removed the Jewish population from the area after the Bar Kokhba revolt in 135 CE. Though a small amount of Jewish settlement remained. Persecution of Jewish people through the centuries (including BCE) has been a stain on humankind. I think of 1492 when the last of the Muslims and Jews were expelled from Andalusia by the Christian Reconquista. I think of the pogroms in Russia which gave huge impetus for the need of Jewish people to escape persecution, and to get a homeland of their own (just as peoples within e.g. the Austro-Hungarian empire were agitating for their homelands. But the Muslim population of the area had been stable-ish through the various conquests and reconquests from Syria, Baghdad, Cairo and Istanbul. In the 1870s, the Jewish population of Il Kuds was tiny. Then, because of the pogroms, waves of Jewish immigration to Palestine began occurring. 6% of the land of Israel was legitimately purchased, much from absentee landlords in e.g. Lebanon. Otherwise, as was the case in my native New Zealand, land was simply taken over by incomers who used the land in a different way that disrupted local lifestyles, leading to hostility. I think it's a bit simplistic to refer to Muslims as colonisers. If Welsh people suddenly turned up in London and started taking over there, English people would have grounds to think that the Welsh were colonisers. It's a tricky situation. Best wishes.

[@YAHSHUA-KINGOFGLORY]

@@mikeharrison1868 The Book of Ephesians describes this very well. This is a "principality" called “IMPOSTOR” over Ancient Palestine whom is what the Book of Revelation 2:9 & 3:9 calls IT the Synagogue of Satan WHO SAY THEY ARE JEWS BUT INDEED LIE. IS=ISHTAR, RA=AMUN-RA, EL=the principal deity “sun” god. The REAL YERÛWSHÂLAYIM is located in a land filled with milk and honey but raped from its truth over the centuries to fulfill prophecy UNTIL…the Last Days! *Numbers 12 Maranatha!

[@howardcurtis9138]

An Israeli ex-pat friend of mine asked me if I wanted to visit Israel with him. While we were there his relative asked me, "You're a Christian, aren't you?" I explained that I was raised Christian but no longer consider myself one. He said that nevertheless I should visit the shrines of my (former) religion while I was in Israel. When my friend and I went to Nazareth, he asked me if I wanted to go to the Basilica of the Annunciation. "Why not?" I figured. We went inside, walked up to what looked like a communion rail and knelt down. Below, we could see the ruin of the porch of a house with a pillar. Suddenly in my mind's eye I could see the Virgin Mary and the Angel, and in my mind's ear hear the Gospel narrative. I began trembling and sobbing uncontrollably. My "rational" mind said, "What the f. is happening to me? I don't even believe in this religion!" My friend asked if I wanted to leave and we left immediately. I wonder to this day what that was all about. Jerusalem syndrome? Or scratch a so-called 'recovering Catholic' and find out he isn't so 'recovered" after all?

[@justsipi]

my sister got into a manic episode after she visited jerusalem. that's how we discovered she is bipolar. also you say especially for christian but my sister's jewish. and i know some other jews that this happened to them as well

[@jan_Masewin]

Reminds me how people will hear mysterious sounds and feel an aura of dread when falsely told that the previous owner of a house was murdered. Humans are pretty good at constructing value and awe.

[@DJ5780]

True, I use to hallucinate my fears when I was a child.

[@GargamelGold]

ReligionForBreakfast, Speaking of religion and mental illness, its a big pet peeve of mine where some anti theists insist that religion is a mental illness. maybe you could do a video debunking that claim.

[@ReligionForBreakfast]

Yeah that really annoys me too. Basically people are just trying to be trolls when they say that.

[@GargamelGold]

ReligionForBreakfast, I think that some of them are actually serious through, which is the biggest reason I think you or someone else should consider making a video discrediting that argument. I've actually heard some people try to use it as a legitimate argument against religion when they weren't just trolling.

[@atomicb8222]

GargamelGold Jordan Peterson

[@pansepot1490]

GargamelGold, I don't believe religion is a mental illness but there are extreme manifestations inside religion such as demonic possession, mystic visions, or hearing of voices, that can be caused by mental health problems. Do you think these cases call for debunking too? Or do you think they all must have a supernatural origin?

[@colinp2238]

ReligionForBreakfast You are most likely correct about the trolling but there must be cases throughout history where the mentality of some are deeply affected by religion (in all forms including the so called new age beliefs).

[@mandrutwarrior]

Hey man, really like your work, an introduction to judaism would be amazingly helpful, I mean, if you plan to do one :)

[@ReligionForBreakfast]

I would love to. Currently working on an Intro to Sikhism first, but Judaism is on the list.

[@mandrutwarrior]

ReligionForBreakfast Well thank you a lot and keep the good work going, you're doing great :D

[@blakewright575]

Ummm... I just discovered your channel, and I have to tell you... I LOVE IT! Thank you! PS I’m post LDS and I initially was interested in the deep theology, which led me to study the history, which has led me to my interest in the psychology of religion.

[@ReligionForBreakfast]

Glad you found the channel! The psychology of religion is one of my favorite aspects of this field.

[@justarandomgal2683]

Never heard of this. Interesting. I'm not religious, but it would still be interesting to go to these sights from a historical and archeological standpoint.

[@Carlos-ln8fd]

Reminded of how Malcom X had such a powerful experience when he visited Mecca that it influenced him to change many of his political beliefs.

[@yazyo07]

Woow! Super interesting! Would like to learn more about it.

[@christianschloth8656]

good to have ya back

[@drpigglesnuudelworte5209]

I can kinda understand it because when I read about history I try to think about how these people must’ve lived, loved, thought, and what they yearned for and I often create characters and become attached to them, maybe even exploring what everyday life would’ve been like by imagining I’m them. And with obsession to cleanliness, well Christians are taught that we’re sinful and unworthy of the holiness of god, so to be in the Holy Land and see these locations you hold to be so sacred-you might feel inadequate or unworthy to be in this presence

[@drpigglesnuudelworte5209]

With the people thinking that they’re biblical figures, I definitely think it’s a type of religious delusion

[@Iamthebigcheeze]

Can you do a video on the evolution of purity laws within the judeo-Christian-Islam faith. Where do these purity ideas like Mikva, baptism, kosher, circumcision originate-beyond the sacred texts-anthropological sense. Also perhaps talk about the evolution on how the concept of “purity” and “purification” and dirt fit into today and historical

[@ReligionForBreakfast]

Great idea. I have a video coming out soon on the pre-Christian origins of baptism. So that is related to your question.

[@TreespeakerOfTheLand]

Purity and dirt? I smell me some Durkheimian sacred and profane... Don't you disappoint me, Andrew :P

[@TorianTammas]

drnemer - In a sentence - One possible explanation: The purity laws about women come from insecure man. They had a problem with all the goddesses and the power they saw as well in women and tried to control them in such a way. They are the result of insecurity of men.

[@Iamthebigcheeze]

TorianTammas very true. I majored in anthropology in college and my professor did a course that focused on the concepts and purity and dirt. But it was mostly focused in Indian/Bengali traditions. However I very much thought it could be applied to Judaism and Christianity as well

[@Iamthebigcheeze]

ReligionForBreakfast that would be great. Maybe you can touch upon the Mikvah as well. I always thought baptism related to that

[@colinp2238]

I visited Jerusalem and the only thing that affected me was that I had the worst cup of coffee ever. The things that you describe are exactly the same when people visit notorious "haunted" places. They always result feeling a prescence of other phenomena but if they had not been told in advance that the place is haunted there would be no such reactions. It's all in the mind probably due to expectancy.

[@ReligionForBreakfast]

Yeah no offense to Jerusalem, but the coffee here is bad. So much instant coffee.

[@jonahs92]

@@paradisecityX0 It is! Israeli honey is always great. I can't speak for the coffee, though, since I don't drink it...

[@Trp44]

Great Post...Thank You

[@evelynlamoy8483]

I honestly get it. I was an ashiest most of my life Discovered a obscure form of spirituality and now my compulsion to go to holy places and touch various objects with reverence and awe has never been higher.

[@pursuingpeas8236]

These people are already disturbed I completely agree with your conclusion Thanks for sharing this phenomenon I am a Christian and also studied psychology so this is exactly what I needed to learn about I always said that if I saw a spirit or something I would get myself into a psych eval

[@dr.zoidberg5096]

How can you be a Christian and not believe in the incorporial, the mention of it is strewn through scripture?

[@tommythecat4961]

@@dr.zoidberg5096 believing in spiritual things does not (nor should it) exclude knowledge and belief in psychological phenomena and mental issues. You may believe that Jesus is the Saviour or that Allah is the one true God, but if they spoke to you tomorrow, the sensible thing to do would be to get a check up, because it could also (much more likely) be a tumor, schizophrenia or many more things.

[@dr.zoidberg5096]

@@tommythecat4961 thats such a foolish thing to say. So all who proclaim that Jesus is Lord or Allah is Lord are more likely to have mental health issues, and you base this statement on what i might ask? on the contrary one might say that the atheist who has an "ultimate doom" out look on life might be the ones with manic functional depression. But, thats just as rash as your previous statement and with some real thought, can be thrown aside.

[@lostecho4394]

​@@dr.zoidberg5096Are you unable to read or something? They aren't saying the belief makes you likely to be schizophrenic or anything, but that if you are literally being directly spoken to by the voice of God, its likely that you have some mental health issues that needs checking up on.

[@scottwarthin1528]

"-seeing a classic case of correlation proving causation-" is an example of why I watch & like most ReligionForBreakfast.

[@AngeloNasios]

Very good analysis. Thanks

[@earlystrings1]

I've sometimes wondered if these travel syndromes, in Americans in particular, are triggered by language differences. Americans are not used to being a minority surrounded by non-English speakers, and I've heard many accounts of travelers who were overwhelmed, even in Western Europe, and had to take to their beds for a day or two. I lived in Germany for several years and wound up learning the language pretty fluently, but I well remember the complete and overwhelming disorientation of the first few weeks.

[@TheAngelicRider]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Being well informed is important! I wanted to share a thought though and it is not backed by any peer review (that I know of), but I sometimes wonder if Yeshua himself was suffering by similar psychotic issues like those who suffer from Jerusalem Syndrome.

[@timothyblack2495]

Once he explained how there is no statistical spike in such behavior in ANY city (including Jerusalem) that's it. You are done, brother. Good job.

[@terrytzaneros8007]

we can do with a little Jerusalem Syndrome in the secularist morass many of us live in.

[@ezzthetick]

When I first heard about Jerusalem Syndrome years ago, it was explained that if often took the form of people absconding from their hotel rooms draped in sheets they’d stolen from their bedrooms, and wandering the streets ranting like Old Testament prophets. There was even a dedicated ward in the psychiatric hospital to cope with the influx. Even worse, it was noted that the main types who were prone to it were individuals who were not known to be religious. Later I heard that the whole thing had been exaggerated, and while religious paranoia might be a thing, it wasn’t especially unusual.

[@GargamelGold]

ReligionForBreakfast I'd also be somewhat skeptical because what exactly would it be about Jerusalem that would trigger this, and clearly the vast majority of people who have been to Jerusalem have never been afflicted by it, including the people who belong to one of the three major Abrahamic faiths.

[@exillens]

Because it only happens to people who are already believers is how we know it's psychotic in nature

[@johntaylor9381]

Does it say anything about growing a beard?

[@michaeldriggers7681]

I'd be curious to see if any Muslims occasionally experience any similar symptoms in Mecca when on pilgrimage.

[@yasminqureshi5224]

MUHAM-MAD was lunatic

[@drewdent6852]

I will never cease to be amazed by your vast vocabulary and speaking quality. Another fantastic video, as usual.

[@gadda01]

How about: people with preexisting conditions visit sites and have a mental breakdown of sorts, people then interpret that as being a correlation, when the reality is that they’re just having a break down they would have otherwise had in a different location

[@xamazingxethanx]

When I went to NYC I was really disappointed by Time Square. I guess hype can be a powerful tool

[@Trp44]

This subject is good to discuss🐚

[@wanderingquestions7501]

People are weird aren't they.

[@traposucio2944]

As someone with bipolar who actually knows what a psychotic episode looks like, let me tell you, you meant delirium; not hallucination. Not the same thing at all. Anyway, interesting video. I actually think that the delirium bit of psychosis is not far from 'sane' magical and religious thinking, many times. Science still has to evolve a big deal on regards with this. As you sort of point out, a pilgrimage and mania are not that different. After my 'pilgrimage' I could bet many prophets where just nuts. The thing is that bipolar disorder is not generally understood. The psicosis can be as hardcore as when having schizophrenia. The thing is that you overcome it soon after. Without modern culture, you'd probably believe your experiences were real and carry on with your highly functional life (being probably a highly intelligent and emphatic individual). Actually, the chances are that if you don't believe the experience was real you'll go depressed, which is what your brain tries to avoid when it starts reshaping reality to your eye. That's a dangerous combination that could start many a religion, philosophy, theory and so on. It's no coincidence many artists, mostly in narrative, suffered (or where blessed 🤷) with the condition. A video talking about mental health in general Vs religion would be invaluable.

[@jonesthemoblin1400]

I don't even know why it would be considered a disorder. I would expect strong reactions from people believing they are visiting sacred spots - some moreso than others, even to the point off seeming psychopathy. I mean people sometimes have strong reactions to their weekly worship service it seems to me that being in a location they consider to be sacred would only magnify that reaction. What surprised me is the idea that locations like Paris create similar reactions.

[@annalisette5897]

If you haven't already, please listen to Dr. Robert Sapolsky's lectures on religion, and other topics of the physiology of human behaviour. These are available on the Stanford University channel. Sapolsky has some real interesting insights into the physiology behind religions and religious experiences. It is both simple and complicated so I think it is best to recommend his easy to follow lectures.

[@exillens]

The fact it only happens to people who are already believers proves it's psychosomatic at best

[@exillens]

@TinyTinTeeth Yup. Especially if one of those delusional religious nuts are your parents and you're a 5yr old kid totally at their mercy

[@HeatherSpoonheim]

I was raised in a very religious environment - I still have a lot of verses stuck in my head. I had those stories drilled into my head from a very early age, with a lot of emphasis that they occurred thousands of years ago - so physically walking down one of those paths, in real life, that I had only ever known from verses memorized in childhood (and the trauma that caused) would at the very least make me a little emotional - even though I'm now an Atheist. For the 'true believer' (no one scares me more than the 'true believers'), I can't imagine how overwhelming the experience would be.

[@1993smiller]

People are so wicked they call walking with Jesus a psychosis.

[@foxface04]

I tend to get sarcastic around religious dudes, Bu you seem like a nice guy

[@Single.White.Female]

Awesome video...very fact driven, moreso than biased. I could see myself fitting into Jerusalem just fine 👌✝️ I'll be watching more of your content. ✌️

[@pato2200]

This is inaccurate. A salient feature of Jerusalem syndrome is that it manifests typically in people with no history of mental illness.

[@destoker]

Realy love the backgrounds by the way! All that barbed wire, broken glass bottles glued on top of the walls, looks realy nice, friendly a oh so "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself " and all!

[@copperdaylight]

Millions of teens going crazy on a beiber concert: it's normal. A select few tourist's getting crazy in jerusalem: it is religion related.

[@Will2Wisdom]

There Is a spirit world that affects people in many ways. The worst you can do in these cases is maintain ignorance of this reality or seek an explanation from the limits of psychology/science.

[@JBrooksNYS]

These people subconsciously decided they were going to react like this before they even got on the plane.

[@mikeyseo]

Romans 1:22 “Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” King James Version (KJV)

[@mikeyseo]

@@vottoduder sounds like you know everything about religious ppl

[@mikeyseo]

@@vottoduder so. do you know what a "God" is so as to say that answer is unacceptable?

[@mikeyseo]

@@vottoduder cool so if its under the assumption that "God" is defined as whatever is "responsible for everything." Then you ask what is responsible for this. "God did it." Seems like the most apt answer in the absence of a better one. Further, having not really defined God outside of being "responsible for anything." i dont think anyone can say, God does not exist, less you say everything does not exist as well. So logically speaking, i don't see any problems with that answer.

[@starfed64]

Concise reporting... wow. Thanks.

[@gigignash6596]

I wonder if the cities where phenomena like this happen have higher than average NyQuil sales...

[@Arraydeess]

The idea of sacred sites triggered something in people is so cool. Like, it’s otherworldly

[@QWERTY-gp8fd]

its not about the site. brainwash people into thinking iceland is akin to jerusalem and we will be having iceland syndrome. its just millennium years worth of propaganda etched into human psyche. i have actual schizophrenia so i know how to differentiate reality and illusion. its always mind playing tricks.

[@eacalvert]

Makes wonder if there's so called "Mecca Syndrome" and if so, is it more prevalent during Ramadan? You mentioned there's also Paris syndrome as well. If there is a Mecca Syndrome I would hypothesize it's not as well known in the west due to how history presented in the west tends to be eurocentric

[@peternagy6067]

Good question

[@pentelegomenon1175]

I think the main problem is that people can't just go to Mecca and see what's going on there, so Mecca Syndrome could be more difficult to report.

[@davidlevesque9137]

I would think you already mention the symptoms. Anxiety, depression, psychosis. And yes in the DSM there are many syndromes listed. It could possibly be resolved when visiting, for western culture people by wearing 3 watches on your wrist. One that is an hour fast, one an hour slow, one that stopped working at 2 o'clock. And if you want to know the time, pull the hidden watch out of you pocket to confirm it. The 3 wrist watches. They're just to get conversations started. Good luck

[@j.obrien4990]

I visited Sweden, and got Stockholm syndrome after getting tied up and held hostage by the swedish curling team

[@DJ5780]

Hate it when that happens

[@TheMrcassina]

I love your videos. From what I understood religion is a very human thing. They change with humanity, they are far from being absolute. Can a person like you be religious?

[@joaoclaudio6060]

There's a book by a nineteenth century Portuguese writer, Eça de Queiroz, where the protagonist experiences this Jerusalem Syndrome while traveling through the holy land. The book is called "A Relíquia", but I don't know if it's available in english...

[@joaoclaudio6060]

@@giuseppelogiurato5718 i’ve just looked it up and there actually is a translated version available at Amazon called The Relic. I really encourage you to read it, it’s one of my favorite books. It explores the bigotry of XIX century Portuguese society and religiosity with a good touch of irony, while also presenting some critics to Jesus' actions and alternatives to Biblical happenings.

[@stebo231]

I wish it weren't a fear of yours to offend anyone with your content. You seem like one to read the scriptures intelligently and with respect to traditions as well as contemporary religious studies, but most of your short-length videos cover only a fraction of the potential development of the ideas being presented, leaving the audience with a nebulous and obscure vision of what to take away from the content. I personally would enjoy hearing your opinions of the scriptures, traditions, as well as contemporary religious scholars, and I wish that more people could enjoy hearing them too. If I wanted a plastered-over representation of an idea or phenomenon, I would read a Wikipedia article. I wouldn't feel good about creating content covering such a personal and experiential phenomenon as religious faith without offering my perspective or experience with the ideas being presented, but I understand your will to create content that seems to present a phenomenon and allow the audience to deliberate its validity from within. I just believe that it would make that process of deliberation more engaging if it were preceded with a perspective that the content creator actually has, among all the research that he feels necessary to add. Thank you for creating the content that you do, and congratulations on reaching such a massive audience; it speaks volumes of the demand for high-quality religious values in present.

[@EpicKate]

I have a serious complaint about this video. It's too short!

[@DeathbyProxy]

This is why I’m scared to go to Jerusalem, I feel like I would be susceptible to this

[@kekonyolan_cinta]

Many people are depressed because messiah not come soon since 2000 years ago... Some person claimed " I'm messiah" 🎉 but...

[@thetruthexperiment]

Being that psychology is an extremely soft science, let’s not get carried away with the absolutist speech. Just because people get arrested and hospitalized doesn’t mean they aren’t experiencing something more interesting than a psychotic break. Just because it’s rare doesn’t mean it can’t be given a fun name.

[@justindie7543]

I AM SAMSON! DON'T MESS WITH ME!

[@Bacopa68]

I saw an Ailanthus tree in the background. I grew up in the South and never saw them, but these trees are invasive in the mid Atlantic and Northeast. The dry rocks of the middle east are the same as the concrete of the northeast. These trees were everywhere growing in cracks in concrete. Now that I am back in southeast Texas I will sometimes see a small Pecan tree or a sumac and fear the Ailanthus has come for us.

[@blindtruth4614]

Very interesting video thank you

[@victoriabrown3314]

Weeping uncontrollably, wanting to be clean, quoting the Gospel. Not psychotic, that’s the Love for Christ. Locals don’t suffer from it only visitors.

[@tonithenightowl1836]

That's bc in Judaism ... G-d doesn't become a man and man doesn't become G-d. However, paganism is full trinity gods but I'm sure you know that.

[@hackman669]

@@tonithenightowl1836 From what I heard of Islam, God and man are separate beings in that religion as well.

[@tonithenightowl1836]

@@hackman669 I don't know much about Islam but I know they don't believe in mangods but they do believe Jesus a prophet born of a virgin. Pagans had no problem with virgin births either. It was nothing new. In Judaism there is no such thing.

[@faithlesshound5621]

What does it mean that the American Psychiatric Association did not admit "Jerusalem Syndrome" to their Diagnostic and Statistical Manual? It's not a purely scholarly endeavour to describe the phenomena that psychiatrists encounter. The DSM is used by American health insurance companies to limit what mental conditions they will PAY to treat. That means for their classification to be commercially useful, it should not include too many long-term conditions, and those it does allow have to be tightly restricted: for example PTSD. Psychiatric classifications like the DSM and ICD do include categories for brief psychotic episodes, but nothing is gained by having a multitude of separate labels, like there used to be for the phobias.

[@camaradael2424]

The same with people who watched IRON MAN in movie theaters before. Everybody thought they were Iron Man coming out of the movie houses. 🤣

[@davidpaul1970]

this is what I'e been waiting for.

[@Richard_is_cool]

Yay! Thanks Andrew and happy to be an inspiration!! ... ... not in *that* sense...

[@ReligionForBreakfast]

Yeah, I think you were the one that recommended this topic!

[@MrFreezook]

Anthropology plays a role too ... only but who is going to explain WHat ... They are Lost by their own desire.

[@sebastianstewart6894]

But you know holy sepulcher is a sacred space because it produces holy fire but it's not really a well font of mana unlike forests.

[@reting1111]

I'd venture to say that there's correlation between religiosity and willingness to seek professional treatment for one's mental illness.

[@DiscordC]

you obviously have not done any real research on this subject, nor has he talked to any if the local psychologists who routinely treat people with Jerusalem syndrome.

[@CaritasGothKaraoke]

What would they call it if people got all psyched out when visiting Stockholm?

[@slaplapdog]

Mental health is a social construct, in that certain behaviors are considered normal in one context, but would be considered flat out insane in other contexts. A lot of what could be Jerusalem Syndrome would not show up in the admittance statistics because hearing voices, having visions and speaking in tongues are expected and accepted in a religious context, whereas they would be considered signs of madness if the voices, images and vocalizations were associated with aliens, for example.

[@josephmillraney1061]

Nothing like that happened for me when I went to Israel! Question:. What is your PhD in?

[@exillens]

What's the point of your question?

[@adamspears8489]

Any videos on the Targum/targumim ? the gospel of John seems to be influenced by Targum Jonathan. Johns/philo’s Logos and Targums memra

[@Psiberzerker]

I've been to church. Word of Faith, Assemblies of God, Episcopalian, Catholic, and various orthodox churches. I went to RA (Baptist) Camp. It's called Jerusalem Syndrome, but I've seen people do this. All this, every week in Texas. Just saying, Americans call their Puritan heretic ancestors "Pilgrims." So, yeah. It's not limited to Jerusalem, any more than Stockholm Syndrome is limited to Sweden.

[@zimnizzle]

I like the way you talk.

[@amandar3598]

Hi I have a video request/question. Growing up my great grandma (who is a Methodist) always told me that Judas went to heaven and was saved while my other grandma (I think catholic or Baptist?) told me that Judas went to hell for betraying Jesus the son of god. I’ve heard both arguments. Some saying Judas was forgiven because Jesus’s death was part of the overall plan. Are there certain denominations that believe one or the other? Does the Bible say something about it ? Which one is more widely believed?” Thank you :)

[@clickaccept]

Good question.

[@johncosminsky5351]

John 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. Christ seems to indicate Judas is lost in this passage

[@dreznik]

how can this pilgrimage malarkey still be going on in 2021? how can 2000 yr old fairy tales still be taken seriously by billions? i am uncontrollably weeping