Are there any web pages analyzing Joseph Smith's personality development? Something with a timeline illustrating whether or not he was a pathological liar, had an inferiority complex, what could have caused his behaviors, etc.

My pet theory is that the plant consciousnesses (I'm a big Terence McKenna fan) colluded to produce a shamanic work through Joseph, and the datura eventually drove him mad. Imagine that, the Mormon church being the product of mind altering drugs. For me, that would be its saving grace.

It's actually a really good book. Nothing about entheogens though. The author claims Smith's problems came from the leg surgery he endured without anesthetic, his father's alcoholism and some other events.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/21/2012 11:20PM by Makurosu.

I read the reviews. Narcissism seems to fit, expecially in light of an endowment ceremony that seems to have sprung from such a mind.

I still see the BOM as an amazing work of inspired fiction, likely helped along by the shamanic "folk magic" of the day and knowledge of the occult imparted by friend of the family Dr Luman Walter. The golden plates would have been a good cover story for information gained through more unorthodox means.

That the BOM doesn't hold up to scientific scrutiny doesn't diminish its value, if indeed it was dictated under the influence of the universal consciousness. See http://www.gnosis.org/ahp.htm

The faith of the TBMs puts real force behind it. I've seen it at the Hill Cumorah pageant. A summer thunderstorm blew in and drenched everything for miles, except for the stage and audience. It doesn't matter that they are flying with Dumbo's feather. They are flying.

As for Mormon culture, well it has problems. All you can do is take from it what brings you closer to God and leave the rest.

It would be no surprise to me, seeing that the majority of the current membership is on drugs that alter the mind in some form.

Mushrooms:
http://www.i4m.com/think/history/holy-ghost.htm

Dan Vogel did a lot of work on a controversial theory called the pious fraud:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Vogel

I think many of us here have kind of settled on narcissistic con artist.

I can't help but think about the temple promise to avoid loud laughter.

People on shrooms are very prone to loud uncontrollable laughter. You can't do a thing with them once they start to laugh. It becomes contagious, and everyone else in the room that has shared the magic mushrooms is consumed with laughter. They can't stop. They laugh so long and so much it hurts. Many have to run to the bathroom.

The solution? Ban loud laughter. If you put it in the context of magic mushrooms it makes sense. Otherwise? Why would anyone have a problem with people laughing and being happy?

North American varieties of psilocybin were small, nondescript (LBM's or "little brown mushrooms) and probably not found in areas of the country where Joseph and his followers proselytized...

Amanita muscaria, the "Fly agaric" is also advanced as a candidate, but that one is known to be toxic, and there likely would've been reports of toxic reactions if the usage was widespread.

I have a copy of Anderson's book I've had for ten years, and he's essentially a Freudian who speaks as if that framework had scientific validity (as opposed to "therapeutic usefulness," which it does possess). I haven't been able to finish it; Joseph Smith so plainly displayed so many narcissistic/sociopathic tendencies--there's an overlap--that it became an exercise in futility.

A possible co-morbid diagnosis of a bipolar disorder is also within the realm of reason, but it's fairly clear that Smith had a large number of personality characteristics in common with such obvious cult leaders as L. Ron Hubbard, Jim Jones, and David Koresh that the question becomes mood except as an intellectual exercise to determine what "grip on sanity" he possessed.

Maybe this isn't an either or situation. We will never know for sure. Imagine a narciissit on mushrooms. Oy!

That a small group of Hebrews didn't actually sail from the Arabian Peninsula, either. apparently landing here and winding up "swallowed" unnoticed in the larger gene pool...

But that's the way to bet, honest...

And the narcissists who get involved in drug use are less problematic than those who choose politics, religion, or sex... The druggies tend to be easier to indentify and self-destruct more often...



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/22/2012 12:39PM by SL Cabbie.

This is also a good book--

http://www.amazon.com/The-Sword-Laban-Joseph-Dissociated/dp/0880488646

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful

A Compelling Look Inside the Mind of Joseph Smith June 9, 2007

By Wanderer

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Note: I made some Mormon reader angry over my reviews of books written by Mormons out to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.
Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks.

On "The Sword of Laban": Morain has established beyond all doubt that Joseph Smith was not your "average man." For example, Morain's observations about Joseph Smith's two leg-bone operations as a child (age 7) are compelling. The affects extreme pain (burns and other injuries) is well known and does change the child's personality and way of looking at the world.
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When Joseph Smith set out to compose the Book of Mormon at age twenty-two, he was far from an average person in his depth of experience. He had moved some seven times before age twelve; he had been a Bible reader from age twelve; he had suffered two horrific leg operations without anesthetic; he had also suffered the death of his beloved brother, Alvin.

When Joseph Smith began composing the Book of Mormon at age twenty-two, he was a married man (a maturing factor). Then just after composing 116 pages of the Book of Mormon (which were lost), his infant son died (another maturing factor). Then Joseph Smith waited some nine months (planning time) before he began again on the Book of Mormon (a little work in between).

From first line to last line, the Book of Mormon was a year-long project that Joseph Smith completed at age twenty three. Thus, Joseph Smith was in no sense a "farm boy," as is often claimed by Mormon writers, who also confuse his teenage visions with his dictating of the Book of Mormon as a mature adult.

Morain's book is highly recommended, especially for its insights into the affects of extreme pain on children and how such events influenced Joseph Smith's view of the world.

Check out my one-star reviews of books written by Mormons in defense of the Book of Mormon. Your comments on this review or my other reviews are appreciated. Thanks.

Childhood trauma and such may have played a role, but Smith was entirely aware of what he was doing.

The guy was a con-artist. A convicted money-digger. Like his dad, Smith thought it better to work just as hard at swindling folks as he would in honest occupation. The same can be said of any religious leader. Nothing new or special. Happens all the time. No outside influence is necessary.

Smith sees truckloads of gullible folks in his neck 'o' the woods fork over whatever cash they can to support roving evangelical preachers who talk good s**t and says, "I can do that!" So he sifts through the ashes of the Burned Over District to produce the All-American Prophet with an All-American Bible and an All-American God who favors this land above all others. Most of it is plagerized of course, but fairly creative nonetheless.

I submit that the Smiths, Finneys, Falwells and such make Benson look like a choir boy when it comes to atheism. Same goes for any pope, prophet, pastor or priest who runs about saying he or she speaks for god. Perhaps the trauma Smith endured as a child influenced his religious views in that respect. Lots of folks turn to atheism for a variety of reasons. Doesn't mean those who do have no choice but to concoct phoney religions intent on picking people's pockets.

Smith chose to invent mormonism. He was, in no way, forced to do so. The guy had dollar signs in his eyes and visions of wild monkey sex with multiple partners. His recollection of the First Vision is most telling. "All are false" Smith is told by the holy personages. You got that right!

No excuses. The guy didn't have to do it. He chose to do it.

Timothy