They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes, which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.
They used to call it demonic possession. Now, the word is epilepsy. The effect is the same: I lose myself, for a time, I lie on the floor and shake. If you do not know that it is perfectly normal for me, you are frightened, concerned, rush to help. No need. This is just my way of being alive: frustrating, inconvenient, occasionally painful if I bang my head or bite my tongue: but not of itself unnatural or strange.
If I lived in a country where almost everyone had epilepsy, then the few who did not would be stigmatised, questioned, worried over. There would be a religious meaning attached to my seizures: I might be described as "leaving my body to visit the soulworld" or "overcome by God."
Men and women would compete to have the most impressive, dramatic experiences of seizure: there would be demonstrations, videos, perhaps even competitions. Epilepsy might become the centre of a state faith, spoken of and preached on as a sign of God's pleasure, his special gift to us as a chosen people.
Would the non-epileptic be driven out, expelled for their impurity and presumed sinfulness, driven to the edges of our towns and forced to live in tombs?
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