Page:The varieties of religious experience, a study in human nature.djvu/497

Rh seems that music played its part in their exercises. &hellip; It is perfectly clear that by no means all of these Sons of the prophets ever succeeded in acquiring more than a very small share in the gift which they sought. It was clearly possible to 'counterfeit' prophecy. Sometimes this was done deliberately. &hellip; But it by no means follows that in all cases where a false message was given, the giver of it was altogether conscious of what he was doing."

Here, to take another Jewish case, is the way in which Philo of Alexandria describes his inspiration:—

If we turn to Islam, we find that Mohammed's revelations all came from the subconscious sphere. To the question in what way he got them,—

"Mohammed is said to have answered that sometimes he heard a knell as from a bell, and that this had the strongest effect on him; and when the angel went away, he had received the revelation. Sometimes again he held converse with the angel as with a man, so as easily to understand his words. The later authorities, however, &hellip; distinguish still other kinds. In the Itgân (103) the following are enumerated: 1, revelations with