Wilson van Dusen

[bluenorther]

I was recently referred to a book by Wilson van Dusen, "The Presence of Spirits in Madness", available at Swedenborg... haven't seen any mention to it here. Google has links to it.
Van Dusen was Chief Psychologist at Mendocino State Hospital, where he worked with schizophrenics, and found that in many cases, he could actually communicate with their 'hallucinations'. There were advanced cases who were incapable of communicating at all, but what he found with the patients he examined was so similar that after twenty or so people, he felt no need to go further.
The patients he looked at displayed every indication of 'possession', and the attached spirits were more likely than not to be "lower order'-- which he compared to unruly drunks at a bar. They were very talkative, and very repetitive. In the 1/5 or so of patients who had Higher Order spirit attachments, it was more difficult to communicate, because of their use of symbols and signs, not speach.
Van Dusen refers liberally to the 18th Century writer Swedenborg, who corroborates much of what van Dusen was finding.
This is pretty compelling material.

 

[Zadius Sky]

That particular book is very pricey on Amazon. It does sound like an interesting title. I've never heard of van Dusen, though.

You're right about van Dusen not being focused here on the forum. I didn't find any mention of him in The Wave, but there was one mention of him in the "Programs can suck" thread, regarding psychiatrists having studied chakras: http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,5057.msg33414.html#msg33414

Here's what I have searched a bit on the web.

Here's "About the Author" from one of the reviewers on Amazon: _http://www.amazon.com/presence-spirits-madness-Wilson-Miles/dp/B0007G5SU4

Wilson Van Dusen is a self-taught student of Swedenborg's works. In some ways he considers this an advantage because he does not come to them with the biases of those in any of the major groups of followers, but rather has had to work out their meaning in his own life. His being a clinical psychologist, a mystic, and a student of all the major religions has also helped. It gives to his understanding of Swedenborg a startling freshness.

The breadth of his interests make him a little hard to pigeonhole. He holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology and worked 20 years among the mentally ill where he developed self-help communities. He has other earned and honorary degrees in science and investment. He had another career at sea and holds an unlimited license as a captain. Presently he is in a busy retirement continuing to explore his burgeoning interests. His two books The Presence of Other Worlds (on Swedenborg) and The Natural Depth in Man (on inner states) were originally published by Harper & Row, N.Y., N.Y. and have been translated into several foreign languages. He has also published well over 100 articles on psychology and Swedenborg.

And, here's a bit about Wilson van Dusen from Institute Of Theology website: _http://instituteoftheology.org/PDF/vandeusen.pdf

Wilson Van Dusen was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. A friend who examined his biography said he was really seven different people - and the friend didn't even know that he was a poet with a lifetime of experience in the arts. One of these 'seven people' was a mystic with experiences of the Divine from infancy. Upon retiring, he surveyed the world's principle mystics, working across of of the great religions with eight books published in this area. He was a recognized expert on Emanuel Swedenborg, one of the greatest mystics who ever lived. He also loved the sea and held an unlimited master's license in the merchant marine. He spent sixteen years, mostly inactive as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve. Not too long ago, he retired after fifteen years of unpaid instructing in the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary. For recreation, he did navigation research.

He also had a Ph.D. whose career as a clinical psychologist was in working with the mentally ill. Some of his dearest friends are quite mad.

In the university, he was stimulated by the work of Albert Einstein and made the mistake of asking what is in 'five space'. In three years he did a definitive thesis answering this question and also found 'six and seven space'. His thesis committee called on Einstein who approved his work. No one would publish it, so he put it aside for fifty years. Meanwhile, he had known to entertain friends and children with hyperspace. So, he recasted a difficult thesis into a very understandable book.

Before he passed over, he sat at his desk wrestling with the ultimates of existence. He fully expects to die before the world notices they already exist in seven dimensional space.

That was certainly a strange read. The "friend" who examined his biography have determined that van Dusen was really seven different people. He could be MPD, but maybe not.

Also, from e-swedenborg website: _http://e-swedenborg.com/tp/books/w.vandusen/presence_spirits.htm

When Wilson Van Dusen wrote The Presence of Spirits in Madness, he was Chief Psychologist at Mendocino State Hospital in California where he worked among the mentally ill for 17 years. In his spare time, he had discovered a way of getting an unusually accurate detailed picture of the inner experience of hallucinations. Unfortunately, the press of other administrative responsibilities took him away from this fascinating area towards the design of national programs, especially in drug abuse treatment. He now lives the life of a busy scholar. He describes himself as primarily a phenomenologist, one concerned to discover and describe the real nature of human experience, as was Swedenborg.

Also, like Swedenborg, he has widespread interest in science and technology and is a licensed master mariner. He holds an A.B., M.A. from the University of California and a Ph.D., summa cum laude, from the University of Ottawa, Canada, plus several other earned and honorary degrees in science, metaphysics, and investment. His two books The Presence of Other Worlds, and Natural Depth in Man (Swedenborg Foundation) have been translated into five foreign languages. He has also contributed to many other volumes and has written over 100 articles, mostly in psychology. He feels that the depth of Swedenborg's real contributions are as yet poorly understood because they must be used in life to see their scope and power.

Sounds like he was a hardcore Swedenborg scholar. I'm actually interested in his The Presence of Other Worlds and The Natural Depth in Man just to see what he says and what his case examples were. The Presence of Spirits in Madness is a bit pricey at the moment, but I will see about a library copy.