Do any of you think that John Forbes Nash of "A Beautiful Mind" was possibly really seeing spirits?

Question

iF NOT..can you give some kind of "proof" that he wasn't ?

Marty..."God is Love. He who does not love is not born of God." (from the Bible)

I think he had too much Math!! Be careful ..you Science& Math people!!

LOL..marishaa...I "knew" you were watching that movie last night.(or maybe your guide ran over&told my guide to ask you this question.)???

Isn't it kinda strange that even when he took his medication he still saw them?(He said he just ignored them.)

Answer 1

I wonder that too but the norm is most people don't experience hallucinations like that so we deem them mentally ill and crazy. I always thought what if he is normal so to speak and he just can see things in another dimension, but people think he is crazy because only a few have the disorder.

Answer 2

The most difficult thing about the Christian concept of the Trinity is that there is no way to perfectly and completely understand it. The Trinity is a concept that is impossible for any human being to fully understand, let alone explain. God is infinitely greater than we are; therefore, we should not expect to be able to fully understand Him. The Bible teaches that the Father is God, that Jesus is God, and that the Holy Spirit is God. The Bible also teaches that there is only one God. Though we can understand some facts about the relationship of the different Persons of the Trinity to one another, ultimately, it is incomprehensible to the human mind. However, this does not mean the Trinity is not true or that it is not based on the teachings of the Bible. The Trinity is one God existing in three Persons. Understand that this is not in any way suggesting three Gods. Keep in mind when studying this subject that the word “Trinity” is not found in Scripture. This is a term that is used to attempt to describe the triune God—three coexistent, co-eternal Persons who make up God. Of real importance is that the concept represented by the word “Trinity” does exist in Scripture. The following is what God’s Word says about the Trinity: 1) There is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:4; Galatians 3:20; 1 Timothy 2:5). 2) The Trinity consists of three Persons (Genesis 1:1, 26; 3:22; 11:7; Isaiah 6:8, 48:16, 61:1; Matthew 3:16-17, 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14). In Genesis 1:1, the Hebrew plural noun "Elohim" is used. In Genesis 1:26, 3:22, 11:7 and Isaiah 6:8, the plural pronoun for “us” is used. The word "Elohim" and the pronoun “us” are plural forms, definitely referring in the Hebrew language to more than two. While this is not an explicit argument for the Trinity, it does denote the aspect of plurality in God. The Hebrew word for "God," "Elohim," definitely allows for the Trinity. In Isaiah 48:16 and 61:1, the Son is speaking while making reference to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Compare Isaiah 61:1 to Luke 4:14-19 to see that it is the Son speaking. Matthew 3:16-17 describes the event of Jesus' baptism. Seen in this passage is God the Holy Spirit descending on God the Son while God the Father proclaims His pleasure in the Son. Matthew 28:19 and 2 Corinthians 13:14 are examples of three distinct Persons in the Trinity. 3) The members of the Trinity are distinguished one from another in various passages. In the Old Testament, “LORD” is distinguished from “Lord” (Genesis 19:24; Hosea 1:4). The LORD has a Son (Psalm 2:7, 12; Proverbs 30:2-4). The Spirit is distinguished from the “LORD” (Numbers 27:18) and from “God” (Psalm 51:10-12). God the Son is distinguished from God the Father (Psalm 45:6-7; Hebrews 1:8-9). In the New Testament, Jesus speaks to the Father about sending a Helper, the Holy Spirit (John 14:16-17). This shows that Jesus did not consider Himself to be the Father or the Holy Spirit. Consider also all the other times in the Gospels where Jesus speaks to the Father. Was He speaking to Himself? No. He spoke to another Person in the Trinity—the Father. 4) Each member of the Trinity is God. The Father is God (John 6:27; Romans 1:7; 1 Peter 1:2). The Son is God (John 1:1, 14; Romans 9:5; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:8; 1 John 5:20). The Holy Spirit is God (Acts 5:3-4; 1 Corinthians 3:16). 5) There is subordination within the Trinity. Scripture shows that the Holy Spirit is subordinate to the Father and the Son, and the Son is subordinate to the Father. This is an internal relationship and does not deny the deity of any Person of the Trinity. This is simply an area which our finite minds cannot understand concerning the infinite God. Concerning the Son see Luke 22:42, John 5:36, John 20:21, and 1 John 4:14. Concerning the Holy Spirit see John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7, and especially John 16:13-14. 6) The individual members of the Trinity have different tasks. The Father is the ultimate source or cause of the universe (1 Corinthians 8:6; Revelation 4:11); divine revelation (Revelation 1:1); salvation (John 3:16-17); and Jesus' human works (John 5:17; 14:10). The Father initiates all of these things. The Son is the agent through whom the Father does the following works: the creation and maintenance of the universe (1 Corinthians 8:6; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16-17); divine revelation (John 1:1, 16:12-15; Matthew 11:27; Revelation 1:1); and salvation (2 Corinthians 5:19; Matthew 1:21; John 4:42). The Father does all these things through the Son, who functions as His agent. The Holy Spirit is the means by whom the Father does the following works: creation and maintenance of the universe (Genesis 1:2; Job 26:13; Psalm 104:30); divine revelation (John 16:12-15; Ephesians 3:5; 2 Peter 1:21); salvation (John 3:6; Titus 3:5; 1 Peter 1:2); and Jesus' works (Isaiah 61:1; Acts 10:38). Thus, the Father does all these things by the power of the Holy Spirit. There have been many attempts to develop illustrations of the Trinity. However, none of the popular illustrations are completely accurate. The egg (or apple) fails in that the shell, white, and yolk are parts of the egg, not the egg in themselves, just as the skin, flesh, and seeds of the apple are parts of it, not the apple itself. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not parts of God; each of them is God. The water illustration is somewhat better, but it still fails to adequately describe the Trinity. Liquid, vapor, and ice are forms of water. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are not forms of God, each of them is God. So, while these illustrations may give us a picture of the Trinity, the picture is not entirely accurate. An infinite God cannot be fully described by a finite illustration. The doctrine of the Trinity has been a divisive issue throughout the entire history of the Christian church. While the core aspects of the Trinity are clearly presented in God’s Word, some of the side issues are not as explicitly clear. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God—but there is only one God. That is the biblical doctrine of the Trinity. Beyond that, the issues are, to a certain extent, debatable and non-essential. Rather than attempting to fully define the Trinity with our finite human minds, we would be better served by focusing on the fact of God's greatness and His infinitely higher nature. “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33-34).

Answer 3

Well, there really is no reason to believe that he was seeing spirits when imaginary companions were a known symptom of his mental illness. In other words, there already was a natural and likely explanation for his imaginary companions, so why invent a spirit explanation?

Can I prove it? No. Perhaps his therapists or those close to him could. However, absolute proof in anything except math and liquor is awfully hard to come by, as a general rule. And as Lithium said, the burden of proof is on the ones making the claim. Psychologists bear the burden of proof for saying patients such as Nash see imaginary people, and they do bear that burden with much evidence and case studies. Those who instead say they were spirits likewise bear a burden of proof, so Denie the burden is on you to show this, not on the answerers to disprove it.

Answer 4

No, what he had was a known psychological disorder, although not so common. If you remember from the movie, he believed they were actual people in his life, therefore they couldnt have been dead people. Plus, if are going to use the Bible, then it does say in the Bible that the dead do not return to live amongst the living. I believe Job 7 is one of the places that talks about that.
If they were spirits of another sort, they could not be Angels, because God would not allow his servants to sin. Deception and lies would be the work of the devil.

Answer 5

No.
Schizophrenia
Nash began to show signs of schizophrenia in 1958. He became paranoid and was admitted into the McLean Hospital, April–May 1959, where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and mild depression with low self-esteem. After a problematic stay in Paris and Geneva, Nash returned to Princeton in 1960. He remained in and out of mental hospitals until 1970, being given insulin shock therapy and antipsychotic medications, usually as a result of being committed rather than by his choice. After 1970, by his choice, he never took antipsychotic medication again. According to his biographer Nasar, he recovered gradually with the passage of time. Encouraged by his then-former wife, Alicia, Nash worked in a communitarian setting where his eccentricities were accepted.

In campus legend, Nash became "The Phantom of Fine Hall" (Fine Hall is Princeton's mathematics center), a shadowy figure who would scribble arcane equations on blackboards in the middle of the night. The legend appears in a work of fiction based on Princeton life, The Mind-Body Problem, by Rebecca Goldstein.

Answer 6

No because schizophrenics usually start having thoughts about government conspiracy, people are spying on them and out to get them, etc. and become a danger to themselves and often others - He is not typical as a schizophrenic because he fought the delusions and kept them at bay!
I've seen spirits on and off my whole life and none of them were the same or gave me paranoid based information. There is a really big difference. Most of the spirits I encountered were people I knew who had passed on and they didn't stick around for long. And I knew they were spirits.

Answer 7

Not at all. He was the combined product of intelligence, education, hubris, and a bit of mental disease all run amok.

The fact that in later life he was able to confront his condition and differientiate from reality and delusion, even with considerable effort, shows that he was mentaly ill rather than insane.

Answer 8

Nash was not seeing spirits. He was simply imagining/hallucinating the characters.

The burden of proof falls on the one making the extraordinary claim. If I claim there is a talking gargoyle living in my closet, it is not your duty to prove that it doesn't exist. Rather, it is my duty to prove it does exist, because I am the one making the extraordinary claim.

Answer 9

I doubt it.

However, psychiatry is based in science. No allowance is made for the (surely not) existence of spirits. There is no way to reproduce the phenomena, therefore schizophrenia is concluded to be disease and visions hallucinations or delusions.
This question is really one for philosophy. Theory of knowledge, epistemology.

Answer 10

Sometimes, I think, that the "spirits" seen by certain people who may or may not have a chemical imbalance due to schizophrenia, are actually caused by the electrical firing that may occur in the atmosphere and are only visible to people who are on a different wave-length, so to speak. The ability to see them, does not make the images they see any less chaotic or unrelated.

Answer 11

Once again no, he had schizophrenia and all of those "spirits" were just in his mind. I know first hand because my dad had schizophrenia and when he didn't take his medication he would act just like John Forbes.