seems that music played its part in their exercises. … It is perfectly clear that by no means all of these Sons of the prophets ever succeeded in acquiring more than a very small share in the gift which they sought. It was clearly possible to 'counterfeit' prophecy. Sometimes this was done deliberately. … But it by no means follows that in all cases where a false message was given, the giver of it was altogether conscious of what he was doing."[1]
Here, to take another Jewish case, is the way in which Philo of Alexandria describes his inspiration:—
"Sometimes, when I have come to my work empty, I have suddenly become full; ideas being in an invisible manner showered upon me, and implanted in me from on high; so that through the influence of divine inspiration, I have become greatly excited, and have known neither the place in which I was, nor those who were present, nor myself, nor what I was saying, nor what I was writing; for then I have been conscious of a richness of interpretation, an enjoyment of light, a most penetrating insight, a most manifest energy in all that was to be done; having such effect on my mind as the clearest ocular demonstration would have on the eyes."[2]
If we turn to Islam, we find that Mohammed's revelations all came from the subconscious sphere. To the question in what way he got them,—
- ↑ Op. cit., p. 91. This author also cites Moses's and Isaiah's commissions, as given in Exodus, chaps, iii. and iv., and Isaiah, chap. vi.
- ↑ Quoted by Augustus Clissold: The Prophetic Spirit in Genius and Madness, 1870, p. 67. Mr. Clissold is a Swedenborgian. Swedenborg's case is of course the palmary one of audita et visa, serving as a basis of religious revelation.
