The Three Christs of Ypsilanti

by Milton Rokeach

  [3]At my request Leon later gave us in writing the following definition of a Cosmic squelch eye: “a center eye of light near the top of the forehead of a, potentially, hollowed out—stigmatized—,person, creature, ect. A cosmic squelch eye can be uncrossed, crossed; uncrossed squelch eye can help form other cosmic eyes on the forehead, ect., if the person, ect., has cut such squelch eye into its brain, ect.; A crossed squelch eye can help form smaller ones; some instances larger one,’s: a cut crossed squelch eye can help smooth out a larger one, depending on the capabilities of that person. If that person, ect., mis-uses such squelch, cosmic eye,’s,; Devine Providence can have such taken away from that person, ect.,; through—Righteous Idealed cosmic Robot Governor-Governess, image, at the right side of such person, ect. . . .”

  CHAPTER IX

  PROTECTING THE STRONGHOLD

  “The man wants to … and yet he does not … because he is away from the world; because of a rest.” (From Joseph’s report, April 5, 1960)

  WITH THE establishment of the rotating chairmanship in August of 1959, we had called a moratorium on any direct confrontations among the three Christs on the question of their identity. After a few months, the time came to determine whether or not, if the identity confrontations were experimentally renewed, the men would try to preserve the relative peace that had then ensued. What would be the consequences to each of the three, and especially to Leon, who had maneuvered himself, or had been maneuvered, into a position where he could no longer lay open claim to being the Christ reincarnate?

  These new experimental conditions were not, however, to be the same as those that had prevailed before. When first we brought the men together, each had to face the conflicts that arose when both of the others claimed the same identity as he did. Each one, therefore, had to measure his situation against the touchstone of the reality of his own beliefs. The new touchstone involved a very different order of “reality,” the authority of a third party or arbitrator—the perspective, as it were, of the “outside world.” How would the men react if the outside world were to accept, or indeed to insist on, their delusional “reality”? Conversely, what would they do when presented with dramatic evidence that the outside world rejected all their claims?

  At the regular group meeting on February 18, 1960, I asked the chairman for the floor and, after being recognized, said that I wondered, since Leon insisted on calling himself Dung, whether we should not also, in the same spirit, call Joseph “Mr. God,” and Clyde “Mr. Christ.”

  All three men responded to this proposal negatively; apparently a psychotic is a psychotic only to the extent that he has to be. Both Clyde and Joseph objected strenuously—thus demonstrating that they had quite a realistic grasp of the implications of being called by their delusional names and of all the problems this might present. And Leon shrewdly and realistically joined forces with them, although his reasons were different from theirs.

  Moreover—and quite surprisingly—my question did not start an argument among the three men about identity. All of them stuck realistically to the issue under discussion: should we or should we not call them by their delusional names? Primarily they were oriented toward me and the issue before them, and not toward one another. In fact, they joined forces against me and supported one another by presenting a united front. Even the ensuing discussion did not provoke them against one another. Nor did Leon accuse me, as he had done months before, of using negative psychology and negative duping. His comment was entirely realistic. He pointed out that the effect of what I was proposing would be to set the three men against one another.

  Clyde’s initial response was anger. “Oh, no. Now, don’t be funny,” he said. “Just because that fellow there that should be Rex changed, I don’t want to be scoffed at and have one of the patients calling me those names.”

  —I didn’t suggest you have this name outside, but only at the meetings.—

  But this did not mollify Clyde. He wanted Rex to be Rex, he said, and himself to be Clyde.

  “You can call me Rex, sir,” Leon said. “I’ll accept that.”

  I then said that I sometimes forgot who they really were when I had to call them by names like Clyde and Joseph. At this, Joseph interposed that he knew he was God. Clyde objected strenuously.

  “Every time I say I’m God,” Joseph complained, “he says I’m not God. It’s a waste of time to talk to him. Just overlook it! The best thing is to adhere to Joseph Cassel.”

  I repeated their names, going around the room—Mr. God, Mr. Christ, Mr. Dung.

  “I don’t like that name,” Clyde said. “It’s manure to put around a tree.”

  “I’ll answer to Rex,” Leon said.

  —Could we call you Jesus? That’s on your birth certificate.—

  “I prefer Dung because it’s a humble name and doesn’t arouse direct and indirect prejudice or jealousy.”

  (To Joseph)—What would you do if I called you Mr. God?—

  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about it.”

  —If you don’t want to be called God, I wonder if you are God?—

  “It doesn’t make any difference to me. I know what I am.”

  —Can we try it for a week, Mr. God, Mr. Christ, Mr. Dung?—

  Clyde replied angrily: “I think you’re intoxicated right now.”

  —What’s your name, Joseph?—

  “Joseph Cassel.”

  —And God?—

  “Why not?”

  —Did you write the Ten Commandments?—

  “Yes, but I don’t want to get recognized over here.”

  —We’re trying to give you recognition.—

  “I disagree,” said Leon. Then he and Joseph started yelling at each other about the Ten Commandments, ignoring the question of identity entirely.

  —You gentlemen are making it difficult for us.—

  “It’s indirect agitation,” Leon said. “There’s a confliction.”

  “You must understand,” Joseph added. “It’s too heavy for an individual to participate in these meetings over here, to go into that God business. All we have to do is to carry on as we were before: R. I. Dung, Joseph Cassel, Clyde Benson. It’s too impossible what you fellows want. It’s all right for me. I can carry it, but they can’t, so I ask Dr. Rokeach’s permission to carry on as we have been carrying on.”

  —Suppose that each of us follows his own free will. My free will tells me to call you Mr. Dung, Mr. God, and Mr. Christ.—

  “You’re agitating,” Leon said. “You’re trying to bring out the inner emotional desires of expression, sir. I understand that, but the fact remains that the other person, when he hears that in the presence of Mr. Benson, he’ll say, ‘Am I left out? I consider myself doing something too.’ It’s frictional psychology.”

  —Why are you concerned about these other two gentlemen?—

  “It’s obvious when you deviate from the truth there’s friction,” Leon answered. “I expressed every side of it: Mr. Benson’s, Mr. Cassel’s, and my side.”

  —Are you concerned with their peace of mind?—

  “Indirectly, yes, pertaining to what I saw today.”

  —I brought the matter up only to explore the wishes of the group. I didn’t intend to impose something on you against your will.—

  “I thank you for bringing out the inner emotional fact of expression that you have seen and witnessed this afternoon,” Leon said, “and therefore you have three sides of the story. It’s obvious to you.”

  The meeting ended with Leon saying that he would not change, and that his name was still Dung. The three Christs sang America and adjourned.

  A week later, at the daily meeting, I gave Joseph a clipping from a local newspaper and asked him to read it aloud. The clipping was a brief report of a lecture I had given about the three Christs. Joseph glanced at it, then gave it to Leon, saying his eyes were not too good. Leon read the first few sentences to himself.

  “Sir, as I see the introduction here, there’s a ridicule against my
reincarnation. The psychology is warped.” He then read the article aloud, in his usual calm, slightly clipped manner. As he read, I felt the tension spreading to every corner of the small sitting room.

  Three mental patients—each claiming to be Jesus Christ—have been brought together at the Ypsilanti State Hospital.

  “The purpose of the experiment is to see what happens when a person’s belief in his identity is challenged by someone claiming the same identity,” says Dr. Milton Rokeach.

  Rokeach, a Michigan State University psychology professor, made a report on the project Wednesday night to the MSU Psychology Club in East Lansing.

  He said he is interested in finding out why a person believes he is who he is. Useful data on personality beliefs have been gathered from the experiment, he added.

  “To date,” Rokeach said, “one subject has changed his belief about being Christ and has taken on another false identity. But we still are not sure what the long-range results will be.”

  “The other two subjects,” he said, “still believe they are Christ. Both are older and have been hospitalized longer than the one who was changed.”

  One says the other two are dead and are operated by machines inside their bodies.

  The patient who changed his belief claims the other two are subject to “electronic interference.”

  The third patient thinks the other two “are crazy.” After all, he notes, they are in a mental hospital …[1]

  As Leon read, Clyde fell into a sort of stupor and remained this way throughout the meeting. But although he appeared to be asleep, he was not; when later we directed a question to him, he roused himself long enough to make some kind of answer.

  At first Leon was visibly upset but at the same time controlled. “Sir,” he said on finishing the article, “there’s indirect warped psychology here because I respect manliness as Jesus Christ and that’s missing out of this, and I also did mention that what’s written on my birth certificate is so, and is included in my name—Doctor Righteous-Idealed Dung—and that’s not in here. And I haven’t changed my personality as far as that goes. I’m still who I am as my birth certificate says, and pertaining to manliness, Jesus Christ as far as I’m concerned. I wish that could have been in here. It would have changed the entire picture pertaining to the dignity of manliness. When psychology is used to agitate, it’s not sound psychology any more. You’re not helping the person. You’re agitating. When you agitate you belittle your intelligence.”

  “False identity!” Joseph exclaimed. “It’s a waste of time. They’re making fools out of themselves, those fellows in that paper. What it says in the paper is plain enough. That’s a truthful report right there.”

  At this point, Leon got up from his chair and left, saying that he had to go to the toilet.

  “The doctor is not crazy by any means,” Joseph continued. “The patients who are claiming they are Jesus Christ are wasting their time. I’m sure that a man who has faith in himself doesn’t claim to be Jesus Christ; he wants to be himself. If there are such hospital cases as stated in this article I think he would do better for himself if he would think or claim a different manner for himself in the hospital. I’m pretty sure he would have a better chance of being freed from his insanity.” Joseph read the article again to himself. “It’s not a thing to be worrying about.”

  I asked Clyde if he wished to say anything and when he did not respond to my query, addressed myself to Joseph.

  —Who are they talking about in this article?—

  “They’re talking about three mental patients claiming to be Jesus Christ who don’t know any better, but one recognizes himself, recognizes his identity as it were, so he’s better than the other two. He says they’re crazy.”

  —Do you know who they are?—

  “No, I don’t.”

  —Do you have any idea?—

  “No, their names aren’t in the article.”

  —What about the one who’s better?—

  “He’s not wasting his time to try to be Jesus Christ.”

  —Why is it a waste of time?—

  “Why should a man try to be s-somebody else,” Joseph stammered, “when he’s not even himself? Why can’t he be himself?”

  —You mean, if a person thinks he’s Jesus Christ, he might be sick?—

  “Why not?”

  —What if a patient thinks he’s God?—

  “Pure insanity, that’s all.”

  —Should he be changed?—

  “Why, certainly!”

  —And give up that belief?—

  “That’s right. He should be sent to a hospital—not to be gotten out, not to be dismissed until he has gotten well.”

  —How do you know when he’s well?—

  “When he claims he’s not Jesus Christ any more.”

  —When he claims his name is?—

  “His real name.”

  —Which is what? What is his real name?—

  “I don’t know his name.”

  —Will he be well when he claims he’s not God?—

  “That’s right. The doctor recognized the point that he got to such an understanding that he knows what he is. Now this man is not crazy, I would say.”

  —If he still claims he’s God, does that mean he’s still crazy?—

  “Sure!”

  —Do you know anyone who’s done this?—

  “I don’t know anyone.”

  —Is it possible that any person who thinks he’s God could be right?—

  “No, that’s the same thing as Jesus Christ.”

  —Clyde, do you want to say anything?—

  Clyde raised himself from his stupor long enough to say: “Not very much,” and then retreated back into it. I then sent Joseph after Leon, who was still in the toilet.

  When Leon returned he was agitated and openly hostile. “Sir,” he shouted, “from that clipping, if you gave them that information you deplored your intelligence. As far as I’m concerned you’re not a professor, nor a doctor at all.”

  —I think the reporter garbled the whole story. I didn’t say these things.—

  “I don’t see where he could have gotten the information if …”

  —I gave the lecture, but he didn’t quote me correctly.—

  “Still and all, from the very first meeting I recall you deplored my personality. A person who is supposed to be a doctor or a professor is supposed to lift up, build up, guide, direct, inspire!”

  —I think R. I.’s point is well taken. All I can say in my defense, R. I., is that I tried to do the best that I could. Maybe I made a mistake, maybe not, but it was not my intention to make a mistake.—

  “I believe I could give a better lecture than some people who went to college twelve years.”

  —It’s quite possible.—

  “I know I can with the help of the good Lord.”

  —You seem very angry.—

  “I’m angry at the evil ideal, not at you people. I feel sorry for you.”

  —It’s human to feel angry.—

  “I’m angry at the evil ideal that has made a foolish-sounding person out of you. I sensed it in the first meeting—deploring!”

  —Deploring? Do you know I’ve come seventy-five miles in snow and storm to see you!—

  “It is obvious that you did, sir, but the point still remains, what was your intention when you came here, sir?”

  —What was my intention, if not to help you?—

  “I don’t think so!”

  —I can get sore too!—

  “It’s your privilege if you want to get angry at my speaking the truth.”

  I asked Joseph what he thought of this exchange. “I think Rex is all in the negative,” he replied. “I think it’s a waste of time for me to say anything foolish. You’re not doing anything wrongly. You did a great deed, coming seventy-five miles to attend this meeting, and your name is right there in the article that proves that Dr. Dung is in the negative. I wouldn’t be so crazy as to tell Dr
. Rokeach that he’s deploring me and that he’s made a false accusation, or anything of the sort. I would keep my mouth shut completely.”

  Joseph concluded this speech by saying that I was nice enough to allow Leon to go to the toilet.

  “I believe in respect of free will,” Leon answered.

  “Respect of free will?” Joseph cried. “Hell’s fire! You’re going too far all around. All Dr. Rokeach has to do is to make the motion that he”—and he pointed to Leon—“shouldn’t belong to this meeting, separate him from us.”

  —Separate who?—

  “Dung!”

  —No, sir! I’m not making any motion like that!—

  “Well, Christ!” Joseph cried. “He’s after Dr. Rokeach for no reason at all. I’m trying to help Dr. Rokeach, and now Dr. Rokeach says that the motion is wrong. Well, the only thing I can do is to keep my mouth shut.”

  I asked Leon if he wanted to make a motion to censure me.

  “I can’t stop you from believing in negativism,” he replied. “A reporter would have no excuse for not knowing what’s going on, as he could see it on Channel 1.”

  I then offered to give him the news clipping, to keep or tear up as he wished.

  “That went into the squelch chamber,” he said. “It’s already ground up.”

  Joseph asked for the clipping to keep as a souvenir.

  “That shows what side of the fence you’re on,” Leon said.

  Joseph motioned to me to keep it. I asked Leon if he would care to rewrite the article correctly.

  “I’m trying to state that my feelings have been hurt,” he answered. “The reporter can correct it himself if he’s near enough to it.”

  Did Joseph think the story needed to be rewritten?

  “It’s all right the way it is,” he said.

  “I don’t think it is,” Leon broke in. “You’re a liar and you know it.”

  “I’m not liar. You’re not calling me a liar, you damn rat! Christ! You’re always in the negative! You might as well break off these meetings or get another man.”