More weirdness from the Christians-with-too-much-time-on-their-hands-and-an-overactive-imagination department. Seems a UK artist has created bronze statue of an angry Jesus brandishing a whip which he calls Cleansing of the Temple for its depiction of a pissed off Jesus laying the smack down on the money changers. All it took was one nut case to turn it into a circus:
Sculptor Burgess said: ‘It began when one woman who saw the statue fell to her knees and began praying.
‘She was transfixed for more than thirty minutes and when she came out of the trance she said she had witnessed sparks coming from the eyes of the Christ figure.
‘Now the word has spread and we have hoards of people coming along to pray and venerate the statue and many of them have said they have witnessed these sparks too.’
I sense an exciting action figure opportunity here: The Pissed Off Jesus with Angry Sparking Eye Action!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Wow, thats funny.
Of course, if the woman really experienced it (at whatever level of herself), what really happened?
There’s some interesting technology out there designed for the sole purpose of inducing altered states of consciousness through light and sound.
They have various names, such as mind machines, audiovisual integrators, sound and light entrainment devices, etc. Most people get a very positive, often spiritual, experience from them and they commonly induce trance states, visions of all sorts, states of euphoria and bliss, and more. Do a google on mind machines, or wiki it.
Yes, they are very real. They work. They are experienced differently by everyone, a very small percentage being negative in any way, except for epileptics, whom it can kill (pretty much the only real downside).
This is just a 21st century application of knowledge the shamans of indigenous peoples have been aware of for many thousands of years.
Patterns of flickering light and/or pulsating sound are vehicles to spiritual experiences.
So, given this, one wild hypothosis might be that depending on the environment the statue is in, it may be that is reflecting/refracting the ambient light in such a way as to alter the brains of those who look steadily at it for any length of time, especially if they are expecting it.
Then they interpret what they see it terms of their belief structure, which in this case of course will be overwhelmingly Christian ... and bingo! The Pissed Off Jesus with Angry Sparking Eye Action!
Of course, she could just be nuts…