Joseph Smith, Pearl Curran and Automatic writing.

[_karl61]

I am reading American Apocrypha: edited by Dan Vogel and Brent Lee Metcalfe. The article Automaticity and the Dictation of the Book of Mormon By Scott C Dunn is fascinating. It reviews the history of those who go into a trance like state and dictate articles that are way beyond their ability to do so and in many cases it stumps even professionals. He begins by writing about a “self-described atheist” Helen Cohn Schucman, a “ Columbia University Medical psychologist who listened to an inner voice who was identified as Jesus Christ. “Despite great reluctance, Schuchman obediently began dictating the words of the voice to a colleague. The results after ten years was a 1500-page manuscript that was published in 1976 as a three-volume work, A Course in Miracles.” I have heard of this work but it was taught by new age guru Maryanne Williamson.

The writer explains what automatic writing is and it became clear to me that Joseph Smith is just one of many who did this type of thing , stopping, eating and then picking up where they left off. People sometimes use Ouija Boards to do this, others use crystals. This is not new.

One of the most fascinating things I ever read was the part about “Pearl Curran, a St. Louis housewife, as persuaded by some friends to experiment with a Ouija board.. “after some false starts, the pointer began spelling out words. Pearl’s mother dutifully took down the letters as they were called out. Through the Ouija board came the curious declaration: “ Many moons ago I loved. Again I come – Patience Worth is my name”

“The group began caring on conversations with “Patience” who though reluctant to talk about herself, indicated that she was an English woman who lived in the seventeenth century. Using what appeared to be an archaic form of English, she carried on saucy discussions filled with pungent metaphors and sarcastic retorts. More interesting, Worth dictated numerous poems and epigrams which eventually attracted a great deal of attention.

“One of the preeminent literary critics of his day, William Marion Reed, though not believing Patience Worth to be a spirit, referred to her poems as “extraordinary” and “near great”. A professor of English from Virginia found some of them superior to the verse of Chaucer, Spencer, and even Shakespeare. While many critics were not as enthusiastic, even the most unbelieving admitted that there were occasional passages of “undeniable simplicity and beauty”

“the most popular was The Sorry Tale, a massive historical novel relating to the life of Jesus Christ……..The New York Times called The Sorry Tale, “ a wonderful and beautiful and noble book, “ one constructed with the precision and the accuracy of a master hand. Another scholar and critic wrote that the segment “describing the crucifixion a chapter of five-thousand words…dictated in a single evening is a composition of appalling force and vividness, and an interpretation upon a high and sincere plane.” Still another critic, also noting the books spiritual and emotional impact referred to it as a “fifth gospel” a term Mormons sometimes apply to 3 Nephi”.

“More striking still is the high incidence of Anglo-Saxon words in Patience Worth’s vocabulary. Though modern English descends from Anglo-Saxon, it currently uses a rather higher incidence of words borrowed from other languages. The Declaration of Independence uses only 42 percent Anglo-Saxon words, the King James Bible 77 percent, and Chaucer 64 percent. However, Worths language, as measured in one of her novels, consists of an amazing 90 percent Anglo-Saxon words. In light of the fact one must go back to writings of the thirteenth century to find comparable percentage, it becomes apparent that her productions are, as one scholar put it, nothing less than a “philological miracle.”

“another startling thing about the works attributed to Patience Worth is their accuracy on factual details that Curran apparently could not have known, a defense often applied to writings given through Joseph Smith. Regarding The Sorry Tale, one author notes that “scholars and literary critics agreed that even a lifetime of reading all available knowledge of the Holy Land (reading that apparently never took place, but even if it had) still would not have given [Curran] the information to produce a book with such verisimilitude.” “ similarly, after publication of Hope Trueblood, Patiences novel of English life, the London Times asserted that the book “reveals a familiarity with the nature as found in England and the manners of English life of the older time. “ Another British paper commented that sections of the work appeared “to show an uncanny knowledge of English social life in the 17th century and before.

“Like Joseph Smith, Pearl Curran appears to have lacked the education necessary to produce such works. Individuals close to her were quick to point out that while she was an intelligent woman, she was clearly unacquainted with early English and “never had read anything archaic”
“while for many years Curran received communication from Worth through a Ouija board, this was not her only method. Just as Joseph Smith eventually began to dictate revelations without the aid of a seer stone, So Curran began to dictate the words of Patience Worth without any Physical object. Curran “simply saw the pictures and the words in her head and called them out, as coming from the hand of Patience Worth.
“As with other such writers, Curran was not in a state of trance but was fully alert while dictating Worth’s words. She would look over at a friend, wave, or even write a letter while dictating. Her dictation was effortless, fluent and could be performed for hours without stopping. She was known to have dictated 6000 words in a single sitting and was once timed at producing 110 words per minute. In contrast, when Curran composed her own writing the process was slower and requiring most of the afternoon to write a single letter.

“One respected journalist made an intriguing observation about the composition process: “ Each time the story was picked up at the point where work stopped at the previous sitting without a break and the continuity of the narrative, without the slightest hesitation and without the necessity of a reference to the last preceding installment. Compare this with the observation made by Emma Smith concerning the production of the Book of Mormon. [Joseph] would dictate to me hour after hour; and when returning after meals, or after interruption, he would at one begin where he had left off, without either seeing the manuscript or having any portion of it read to him. This was a usual thing for him to do.”

“Pearl Curran is like Joseph Smith in still another way: for both, available evidence militates against the likelihood of conscious fraud. In the case of Curran, there was little motive for deception, since publication of Patience Worth’s writings ended up cost Curran’s and their friends a great deal of money. And if Curran were interested in fame, it would have been much more to her advantage to put her own name to the material she dictated because the association with the occult actually hindered the acceptance of her work in the literary world. Furthermore, Curran and her immediate associates were known by all individuals of unimpeachable honesty.”

“Perhaps the most compelling evidence in favor of Curran’s sincerity is the fact that much of her writing was produced in settings that seem to exclude the possibility of deliberate deception. For example, Walter Franklin Prince, a professional researcher of psychic phenomena who carefully and skeptically analyzed the case, reported the following. “ A poem of 25 lines was demanded, the lines beginning with the letters of the alphabet, except X, in due order. It was instantly dictated. I asked for a conversation between a lout and a maid at a country fair to be couched in archaic prose and a poem in modern English on “The folly of Atheism” first a passage of one and then a passage of the other, thus alternating to the end. This seemed to me an impossible mental feat. But it was done so rapidly as to tax the recorder – four passages of humorous prose abounding in archaic locutions, alternating with four parts of a poem in modern English of lofty and spiritual tenor; and when assembled each factor made a perfectly articulated little piece of literature. In such situations, there was clearly no opportunity for Curran to work out the poetry and memorize in advance.
“Prince compared Patience Worth’s writings with known works of literature but discovered no indication of plagiarism. He did, however, find some similarities with poetry from Dorset, a community in the part of England said to be the home of Patience Worth.”

“Interesting, the same Walter Prince conducted an extensive study of the Book of Mormon. In an article entitled “Psychological Tests for the Authorship of the Book of Mormon, “he concluded that it reflected events and ideas common to nineteenth-century New England. It is not surprising, then to discover that prince was far more impressed with the supernatural aspects of the Patience Worth case than he was with the Book of Mormon, which he considered to be the product of Joseph Smith’s unconscious mind.”


This book is great! And just this article in full is worth the price of the book. I’m now reading an article by Susan Staker who she seems to write with the force of a Sherman Tank.

[_karl61]

Here is a website with some of Pearl Curran's (Patience Worth's) writings.

www.patienceworth.org/

[_Gazelam]

I wouldent mind giving "The sorry Tale" a read, sounds very interesting.

[_quaker]

What do y'all think of this? I went through a lot of google searches about this lady and read some book reviews and biographies. Nothing in depth. But from the surface it seems that she was a regular lady that somehow managed to pronounce excellent poetry at any given time.

What the post quotes is kind of interesting because it immediately makes you think of Joseph Smith's history as the story is presented.

What do people think of this? Of the many ideas and theories of the origins of Joseph talent/ability/gift, this one is the one that has left me with no big questions or what ifs. Of course it could require beleiving that Joseph and Pearl received revelations from people beyond the grave and that communication with dead spirits could become a fun hobby. Or it could be fun trying to do psychoanalysis to figure out Pearl's mental problem.

Just interesting. I read through a lot of the writings on the site that was linked to and I'm reading some more tonight (what reminded me to post here).

[_Trevor]

What do people think of this? Of the many ideas and theories of the origins of Joseph talent/ability/gift, this one is the one that has left me with no big questions or what ifs. Of course it could require beleiving that Joseph and Pearl received revelations from people beyond the grave and that communication with dead spirits could become a fun hobby. Or it could be fun trying to do psychoanalysis to figure out Pearl's mental problem.

I think it is an amazing talent. I wish we knew more about it. I am pretty secure in my belief that it is no more than an amazing talent of some kind. I do not believe that either Joseph Smith or Pearl Curran with in contact with supernatural beings or spirits. This is not to denigrate the feat. Rather, I think it is thereby elevated.

[_karl61]

What do people think of this? Of the many ideas and theories of the origins of Joseph talent/ability/gift, this one is the one that has left me with no big questions or what ifs. Of course it could require beleiving that Joseph and Pearl received revelations from people beyond the grave and that communication with dead spirits could become a fun hobby. Or it could be fun trying to do psychoanalysis to figure out Pearl's mental problem.

I think it is an amazing talent. I wish we knew more about it. I am pretty secure in my belief that it is no more than an amazing talent of some kind. I do not believe that either Joseph Smith or Pearl Curran with in contact with supernatural beings or spirits. This is not to denigrate the feat. Rather, I think it is thereby elevated.

I think that everyone would be amazed at what they could do. We are our own enemy with self doubt. Look at a Mozart - these guys and gals were amazing and they would likely say you can do it too, just have faith in yourself.

[_CaliforniaKid]

I have The Sorry Tale on my harddrive. I downloaded it off the web somewhere. Google Books maybe? It's a lengthy book, though, so make sure you've got a week to kill before tackling it.

[_quaker]

There is a syndrome called Savant syndrome. There are very few cases of it in the world, but it is amazing some of the things that the people with the syndrome can accomplish. They are all intellectual abilities, as far as I know. Some remember everything they see or hear, some near instantly can play instruments or compose music, some have insane writing abilities or artistic abilities.

Sort of like some of the abilities on the tv show Heroes but less fabulous. I am certain that some composers like Mozart and Beethoven had this syndrome.

The difference between those people and the Pearl Curran story seems to be that the modern Savants just have that ability. Pearl Curran's story is that she slowly started receiving communications from Patience and that she recognized where the poetry she spoke was coming from. The people with Savant syndrome (as far as I've read) just have an ability.

The highly speculative idea that I can think of is Joseph Smith receiving revelations in his head from some dead spirit named posing as Jesus :)