The Three Christs of Ypsilanti

by Milton Rokeach

  “I requested that when it first started,” Leon said.

  “I know you don’t care for these meetings. You don’t care for progress. A man gets so he wants to run away from you. You’re wild!”

  “Bless you. I don’t believe in negative psychology.”

  “But do you adhere to it? Christ! You can’t say five words without saying the word ‘negative.’ It’s futile! It’s bullshit! I can’t get any meaning out of this. I feel as if these meetings are going into nothingness.”

  And Joseph, who was extremely agitated, threatened to withdraw from the meetings. “I don’t want to be a pariah,” he said. “I want to be in society, so if these meetings are detrimental to my social standing I’d much rather be dismissed from these meetings altogether. I’m not going to have my head, my brain hurt by these meetings. They are detrimental to me.”

  —In what way?—

  “Too negative. Dung can’t say a word that isn’t negative.”

  Leon tried to interrupt, but Joseph would not let him. “I don’t want to hear about it. Not a word of it!”

  Leon said, in a subdued voice: “I’m giving my opinion.”

  “It makes you sick,” Joseph went on. “You wish to be away from it. I feel like crying!”

  Leon said he was sure I would have spoken up had I been unjustly offended, and to this I replied that both Leon and Joseph had a right to be angry. At this point, Joseph changed the subject quite abruptly, asking me about my recent trip out of town. We talked about it for a while and then the meeting adjourned, as usual, with Leon and Joseph—and Clyde—getting up to sing America.

  On June 21 I instigated a further discussion on identity, this time bringing up the subject by saying that Leon had four names. Leon was irritated. “I have three names. I’ve already discussed this. It’s getting monotonous and you know it.” He mentioned his three names—Dung, Rex rexarum, and Christ.

  Joseph, without emotion, interposed: “How can there be two Jesus Christs?”

  Leon, responding, directed his wrath, not to Joseph, but to me. “I believe you’re wasting your time, coming here to agitate! As far as I’m concerned, you can get out and stay out!”

  When it was suggested that Leon put this up to the others as a motion, he did. “I make a motion that these two sirs do not come to agitate us henceforth. What is your verdict, sirs? It’s up to you.”

  “I look forward to quietness,” said Joseph. “We can win over negativism. By ‘we’ I mean the five of us having the meeting. It’s not going to do us any good. Then the meetings might be dissolved.”

  “I don’t care for meetings with agitation,” Leon persisted.

  —What is the state of the motion?—

  At this point Leon left to get a drink of water. He was gone a long time, and when he returned, he was still angry.

  “You are trying to change him and change me,” he said. “If this is going to continue, I want out, and out completely!”

  —Joseph, do you accept what R. I. said?—

  “No. He said he was Jesus Christ a while ago.”

  “He’s jealous,” Leon retorted.

  “He wants to be the only one.”

  —Who is the only Jesus Christ?—

  Joseph replied: “I am.”

  “No, I am!” yelled Clyde. “You never was, you never will be!”

  Joseph suggested to Clyde, who was chairman, that he adjourn the meeting, adding: “I need to keep my identity. I can’t give up my identity.”

  “I repeat,” Leon said to me, “since you’re hard of hearing, or intentionally so. You’re trying to deplore my intelligence when you ask questions, and you know the answers and know what my belief is and will be forever.”

  On June 30 we held a private interview with Joseph, and on July 18, a similar one with Leon. At both times we showed the man an article that had appeared in Newsweek which said in essence what the newspaper had said. Leon’s reaction was like his earlier one. He became angry and brought the session to an end by saying he had to go to the toilet.

  Joseph’s reaction differed somewhat from his earlier one. He now recognized that the article was about himself. He read aloud the title, “Three Men Named Jesus,” and said: “It borders on the comical. People with that in their head belong in a mental hospital. There can be only one Jesus Christ or Napoleon, or any celebrity.”

  After reading on, he continued: “If Dung says the Ten Commandments must be kept, then when he says he’s God he has a feeling of guiltiness. It’s about us—Dung, Clyde Benson, and myself. Right? But it’s not exctly like it is in the article. Big recreation rooms and sharing cigarettes—there hasn’t been anything of the sort. I don’t share my cigarettes and I didn’t sing songs with them, did I? Where is that room? If you don’t have the power to knock the shit out of—to kill a few authorities to get out of here, that’s too bad for me. Maybe my wife is in love with somebody else. She’d rather keep me in here.”

  —Why are you in a mental hospital, Joseph?—

  “I was crazy, I guess. I wasn’t crazy, but if I say I wasn’t crazy it’s not believable.”

  —Have you ever read an article like this before?—

  “Yes. I believe I read the same article. I laughed at it and disregarded it, forgot about it.”

  This was the last time we confronted the three men with the direct question of their identity. Such confrontations, while informative, were too upsetting, and as we got to know the men better, we became increasingly reluctant to subject them to so much stress.

  Additional Effects of Confrontation

  Shortly after Joseph was confronted with the first of the news articles, three changes took place in his behavior. On the following Sunday, three days later, he attended Roman Catholic services at the chapel. As far as we could ascertain, this was the first time any of the three men had attended church in all their years in the hospital. In addition, he began to go regularly to the movies that were shown every Saturday in the auditorium. And finally, he developed a sudden distaste for Ward D-16 and launched an intensive campaign to be transferred to another ward.

  The details of Joseph’s change of behavior—especially with respect to his church-going—are interesting in their own right. I asked him if he would be willing to write me a report about his attendance at church, in the hope that it would tell us something about his motivations. He complied noncommittally, as follows:

  CHURCH

  What is that building standing on the corner?

  Why, it is the church of Ypsilanti State Hospital.

  What is it standing there for?

  Why, it is for the patients of this our hospital!

  Moralism has played such a great part in our life that

  we are at a loss, to pay its debt.

  What is better than to attend a church service?

  To attend such a service yes, is to serve God, for God,

  I am sure, does nothing wrong!

  God or Joseph Cassel

  Ward D-16

  I later asked him directly why he went to church. “To be at one with others who attend,” he replied. “It makes me feel better. My mentality is funny. It’s heavier than we think.”

  His second written report was somewhat more detailed:

  March 10, 1960

  Dr. Rokeage was kindly enough to ask of me to submit a report on why do people attend Church.

  I think that people attend a service in the church because it is better for themselves. I have been attending the service (I am God, and I am the submitter and instigator of this paper) for the last 3 Sundays; I now feel the better effect. Before, I attended the church (I am a patient in Ypsilanti State Hospital, and the reason I was not attending Church was because I was unable to attend before 3 Sundays ago), I did not feel any too good, now I feel better. It is the miraculous power (along with the contributions of the doctor and psychology, and hospital) that counts in Christianity. I know that I feel better for my having attending the church service; others feel li
kewise; and think, only 3 Sundays, and I feel the effect-better effect-already. So imagine the better effect for those who have attended other church services regularly! Contributed and submitted by Joseph Cassel or God of D-16.

  Ten days later Joseph wrote a similar report on “The Benefit of a Movie to the Patient”:

  The patient likes to see a movie, because he is visualizing that he sees an entity that he liked to see outside!

  It is an atmosphere of wellness that makes a patient well. This atmosphere is found in the dance, in the store-party, in the walking party, in the goodly effect of a ground parole, in the patient’s receiving visitors, in the effect of good medicine, in the treatment, the goodly treatment received by the patient from the nurses and the attendants, from the supervisor-attendant, and (sight-unseen), from those who worked in the strong-hold, especially the doctors of psychology and from psychology. But psychology plays a great part in the betterment of a patient, this being a mental hospital.

  Like the radio, the movie is more than simple entertainment; it is instructive, also! Once, a patient becomes sickly, the memory is generally affected. Thus, the movie, like the radio, like a good book, like a good museum, a good circus, a good play, listening to a good speech, like purchasing things that you like, etceteraes, refresh your memory on what the world outside is; in other words; the reconstruction takes place of what you had-a laugh-Hell’s fire, let the doctors release us from this our hospital and we will be well.

  The nervous-system, at rest, means much, so is freedom of cause-continuation of the laugh—Of Course, good food is also good medicine for the treatment of a patient; but, as my subject is the The Benefit of a Movie to the Patient. I do and ought and must adhere to my subject. Which I do!

  Once the wellness is realized by the patient that he is recalled of his wellness, when he sees a movie, he reconstructs himself, with the aid of memory, of his former education, which he owned when he was outside!

  Written by Joseph Cassel, and submitted to Dr. Rokeage of the Psychology Department, who asked of me, to write this report-on this Friday, March 18, 1960.

  On several Sundays, an aide observed Joseph during the Catholic church services he attended. He went through all the movements of kneeling, standing, sitting, following the routine of the service, conducting himself in a very orderly manner and, after the service, staying in his seat until his ward number was called. He always accepted the religious material given him and brought it back to the ward; he always thanked the aide for taking him to church.

  By the end of March, according to the aides, Joseph seemed to be feeling much better. He was extremely co-operative and generally quite willing to fall in with the daily routine.

  On April 5, at my request, Joseph submitted a report entitled “On asking Mr. Clyde Benson to go to church”:

  I asked of Mr. Benson to go to church. I, for myself, remember distinctly that for a while, I was not attending the church-service, if only because I did not attend it. Why did I not attend it? It was because I wanted to rest because I was in a hospital. And yet, I felt that I was lacking something, this something revealed itself when I went back to the church service. I felt as if a heavy load had come off my shoulders! And yet, one wants to go to church, even when one wants to rest himself, away from the world—because he or she is in a hospital! This is the truth so help me. So, it is very nice indeed, for one to attend church service, for it makes one morally clean!! No doubt about it!

  So, Mr. Benson did not go to church because of the reason stated above: The man wants to go to church, and yet he does not attend the church service because of effects of the brain; because he is away from the world; because of a rest. But there comes a time when we all go back to church because there is no exception! Even in a hospital.

  Joseph Cassel.

  Another report from Joseph, on April 17:

  To Dr. Rokeage

  You have asked of me, to write you an essay. It will be a short essay, however—upon the effect of an Easter—or rather, After Easter Service, or should I say, Church-service of what it is after Easter.

  Christ has resurrected; He has saved Lives galore!

  Life is more assured. Self-assurance is in the air! Life be worth well living! If life is worth-living, then everything else is assured of success!! Business will be on a sound-basis, again!

  People care for love:—love for everything that is necessary for the continuation of life! Matrimony gains! Business gains! The arts carry on! and flourish!! And amusements are well worth the trying, if only cause God has saved the world!

  After Easter comes tranquility, serenity, peacefulness, placidity, due to God’s having been crucified!!!

  I have attended church service, again!! But this time, it is Easter Sunday!! I was given a pamphlet at the church!! Of course, this Sunday, the 17[th of April, being Easter Sunday, it discusses the usefulness of the prayer, in connection with mosaic and painting Easter! But the cover has a picture of Christ—and the back-flap says or reads: “By dying he has overcome our death; by rising again restored our life.” This is beautiful!!

  So, Easter is the beautiful symbol of the resurrection of life!

  In the church, everything was unveiled ’cause it is Easter Sunday—a marvelous, charming, beautiful holiday!! This means that life is unveiled, again!!

  So, it is a certainty that Easter Sunday is a beautiful resurrection of life, for sure-sure.

  Written after my attending the Church Catholic service this Easter Sunday, April 17, 1960.

  Joseph Cassel.

  P. S.: Life is regained after lent, after sacrifice, that is the meaning of the unveiling of the statues at the Catholic church!!!

  But after this, Joseph’s church-going ceased. And it was not resumed until many months later, when the conditions of the experiment were again changed.

  At about this time, as indicated earlier, Joseph also began agitating to be removed from his current situation. He asked repeatedly to be deported back to England, to be sent back to his wife in Detroit, to be returned to his old ward, C-18, and to be given a new job. “It’s not because I don’t like you or Dung or Clyde,” he said. “It’s for the mental health. If I get shot to pieces over here, it’s not going to do me any good.” When pressed further about his reasons for wanting a transfer, he said, it was because of “the opposition from Dung and Clyde.”

  On July 14, he even went to see the superintendent of the hospital, Dr. Yoder—whom on several occasions he had referred to as his “Dad”—to try to persuade him to approve a transfer. When Dr. Yoder told him it was not possible to deport him to England, Joseph wrote a long letter, which reads in part:

  Perhaps, however, you can send me home to my wife? I hope so. I should be most gleeful, if you, Dr. Yoder, would be so kindly as to send me home to my wife. This would alleviate the sorrowness which I have for my not going home to England, the land of my profound love!

  I remain, your truly,

  (signed) Joseph Cassel

  Ward D-16

  Ypsilanti State Hospital,

  Ypsilanti, Mich.

  Additional: Please send me not home for just a week, but permanently. Send me home for good. Send me home to stay. Please don’t let me come back to the hospital, to any hospital!

  But a few days later, when the tension had subsided, he said that he really liked the ward, that everyone had been nice to him, that this was the best ward he had ever been in (he had been in many during his twenty years of hospitalization), and that if he was transferred he would probably ask himself why he had ever wanted to leave D-16. “My identity is coming back slowly,” he added, “and then I’ll be able to say I’m God again.”

  As for Leon and Clyde, they did not share Joseph’s desire for a transfer. Despite everything that had happened, these two—and especially Leon—were quite adamant about not wanting a transfer.

  Finally, it is of interest to note that Joseph spontaneously brought up the subject of the Newsweek article about six weeks after he ha
d been shown it. “There is an article,” he said, “about three fellows being under observation at Ypsilanti State Hospital. One is God, one is Jesus Christ, and one is Napoleon or something. Hell! That makes you kind of scared. You wish you were somewhere else. What they ought to do is dissolve the meetings, not have any meetings, don’t you think?”

  [1]From Ypsilanti Daily Press, January 29, 1960.

  CHAPTER X

  THE FLORA AND FAUNA COMMISSION

  WHILE THE new series of identity confrontations was putting renewed strains on the three men, we tried at the same time to find additional ways of bringing them into closer and more interdependent relations with one another. The major changes that had taken place so far had occurred during a relatively harmonious period; now we wished to learn whether by such means as the rotating chairmanship we could evoke still more changes in any of the three. Thus, we conceived the idea of getting them to work together on a project of common interest.

  At the group meeting on April 22, 1960, we told the three Christs that they were to be issued a ground pass, which would entitle them to free run of the hospital grounds and the patients’ store. But, we added, the card would be issued in the names of all three men, and they would have to use it together.

  “I don’t want it,” Leon said flatly.

  “I agree with Dung on this particular matter,” said Joseph.

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “Peeling potatoes is bad enough,” Joseph went on, “but I should be able to go out on my own.”

  “On your own merits, you’re right, sir.”

  The group card was nevertheless offered at the end of the meeting, and refused, with Joseph visibly angry.

  The agreement between Joseph and Leon about the group ground card suggested to us that we might use this as a means of drawing the two men closer together, and in the next few days we repeated our offer at the close of every meeting, always making it clear that the card was available only on condition that all three men use it.