Latest / Crime Night / The "Energy Professor" and the Celestial Mandate: Inside the Amira Benahem Murder and Madness of the Al Rehab Tragedy

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The "Energy Professor" and the Celestial Mandate: Inside the Amira Benahem Murder and Madness of the Al Rehab Tragedy · Crime Night

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: If you close your eyes and picture the upscale a'll
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: rehab neighborhood in Egypt, you imagine tranquility, right, the soft
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: ambient noise of comfortable living exactly.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: And on a night in twenty twenty three, that was
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: the scene inside one apartment Amira Omar, their young daughter Vania.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: Good nights were said, that sort of familiar domestic hum
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: settles in and Amira she goes off of her usual
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: solitary meditation session, but maybe an.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Hour later, that quietes is just shattered. Omar is in
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: another room and he hears it, not just a shout,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: but this awful, thick, garbled cry.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: And then a heavy fall, yeah, a thud.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: Followed immediately by these frantic, piercing screams, screams that barely
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: sounded human.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: So he runs, obviously, sprints towards the noise, and what
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: he finds is well, it's instant horror.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: A mirror's on the floor, there's blood everywhere. She's plunging
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: a pair of scissors repeatedly deep into her own neck,
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: her chest.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: But she's not fighting against it, No, that's.
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: The terrifying part. She seems to be fighting to complete it,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: crying out, looking up the ceiling, just consumed by this belief.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: My time has come, I must die.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Unbelievable, so Omar he just reacts.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: Pure instinct. He tackles her, manages to wrestle the scissors away.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: They're soaked in blood, and he's desperately trying to stop
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: the bleeding from these wounds she's given herself.
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: He doesn't understand the words, but he knows she's dying right.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: He gets her stable enough, just barely, to call for
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: an ambulance for emergency Hell.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: But that immediate crisis, saving her life, it gives way
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: to something so much worse when the paramedics get there.
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: It does. As they're working on a Mira, getting her
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: secured for the hospital, they make the second discovery, the
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: one that changes everything.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Rainia, the little girl.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: Rania, their three year old daughter. She's already dead, and
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: the physical evidence tells a story. A distinct bluish discoloration,
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: clear bruising, signs of strangulation around her neck.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: So this wasn't This wasn't something that happened in the
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: heat of that moment with the scissors.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: No, the signs suggested she'd been killed some time before.
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: Mirror's own violent suicide assent.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: And this is where our deep dive really has to begin.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: We're looking at Amara Benehem, a name that well, it
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: sends chills across the Arab world.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: Now because she wasn't some isolated struggling person on the fringes.
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: She was actually quite celebrated, known professionally as an energy
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: healing expert.
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: An energy healing expert, that's quite a title, it.
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: Is, and she'd actually given up a pretty glamorous, successful
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: career as a flight attendant to follow this path she
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: claimed was well divine.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: Okay, So our mission here is to try and piece
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: together this whole story, this transformation. How does someone go
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: from that life to this? And what did she actually confess?
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: Because the official response is also.
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Puzzling, it really is. The details are just so jarring
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: because the shift is so extreme. To understand how she
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: ends up covered in blood screaming about needing to die,
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: we need to go back back to the ambitious young
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: woman she started as.
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: Okay, where does her story begin.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: She graduated from university in Tunisia back in two thousand
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: and nine from a pretty standard middle class family, but.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: There was something different about her drive.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: Sources really highlight that. Yeah, she had this powerful, deep
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: seated ambition. Her long term goal was very clear. She
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: wanted to be a flight attendant for a major international airline.
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Not just any job. Then it was about status distinction.
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: It seems so like she always carried this feeling, even
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: early on, of being well, maybe superior or at least
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: destined for something more than the people around her.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: Very self focused, and she makes it happen.
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: She does that focus pays off. By twenty thirteen, she
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: lands that coveted job with a big airline based in
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: the UAE.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Okay, so she moves there, living in the UAE, exposed
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: to all these different cultures philosophies that must have been significant.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Hugely significant, but maybe not in the way you'd first think.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: It wasn't like she found traditional religion or spirituality there.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: She found something else.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: What was it?
• 3:55
  Speaker 2: She got completely drawn into what she understood is energy science.
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: This became obsession energy science. What does that actually mean
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: in her context?
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: Well, her core belief, the foundation of it all was
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: pretty straightforward. Yeah, everybody carries negative energy, right, but she
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: believed if you could learn to harness and control your
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: true energy, you could basically purge all the bad stuff
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: and fill yourself with positive energy.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: So it's very focused on personal power, personal control entirely.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: It's a very self centered kind of philosophy, really all
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: about mastering your own interstate.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: And this path leads her where not towards established religion,
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: you said.
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: No, quite the opposite. Actually, it led her directly towards
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: adult practices. Instead of seeking guidance from you know, recognized
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: spiritual path she started seeking out these energy experts, well
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: kind of experts, people who read coffee cups, the fangil
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: red palms, use tarot cards to predict the future.
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: That kind of what starts out maybe is curiosity, like
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: a bit of fun.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: It might have started that way, yeah, maybe a fun
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: thing to do with friends, but the information suggests it
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: escalated quickly.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: This wasn't just dabbling anymore, not at all.
• 5:03
  Speaker 2: She began attending expensive professional sessions. These were specifically focused
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: on energy release and gaining total control over this energy.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: While still working as a flight attendant.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: Yes, while still flying, earning a good income, but she
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: was pouring significant amounts of money into this belief system.
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: She was convinced that these experts, these energy healers, had
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: real hidden abilities and she needed to learn them herself.
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: And meanwhile, on the surface, life seems pretty normal, stable.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: Even outwardly. Yes. In twenty seventeen, she marries Omar. He's
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: a successful Egyptian engineer also working in the UAE, four
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: years younger than her.
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: And their life together initially.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Very stable, seemingly happy. Wilmer noticed her growing interest in yoga, meditation,
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: energy sciences, but he just saw it as a hobby,
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: maybe a slightly intense one, but still just a modern interest.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: He didn't perceive a fundamental shift in her.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: But then something changes that a.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: Catalyst the birth of their daughter, Rania in twenty twenty.
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: That seems to be the major turning point. Post birth,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: the hobby didn't just intensify, It seems to have tipped
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: over into well, genuine delusion.
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: How did that manifest?
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: Amira started telling Omar, telling others that she was seeing things,
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: hearing things, things nobody else could perceive. Oh yeah, she
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: claimed these weren't just random occurrences. These were advanced special powers.
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: She believed she could predict future events now, all because
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: her energy control is becoming superior. She thought she'd move
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: beyond being just ordinary.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: Wow, And she doesn't keep this private, she decides to
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: professionalize it.
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: That's the next crucial step. She wasn't content being a
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: gifted amateur in her own mind. She wanted validation, legitimacy.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: So she seeks out formal training.
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: She travels all with Italy, attends a specialized training workshop
• 6:47
  Speaker 2: at one of the biggest centers for these energy sciences,
• 6:50
  Speaker 2: and she comes back with a certificate.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: The certificate stating what.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: Officially certifying her as an energy professor.
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: An energy professor.
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: That sounds quite official, doesn't it, And that professional validation
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: seems to have been the final piece she needed. It
• 7:05
  Speaker 2: gave a sort of credibility, a stamp of approval to
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: what was essentially just esoteric belief.
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: So now she's certified. What next?
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: She immediately opens her own center back in the UAE,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: starts offering services. And these were high priced services.
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: What kind of things did she offer?
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: A mix? Some recognizable things like yoga, meditation, but also music, therapy,
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: palm reading, tarot cards, astrology, the whole gamut.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: And was she successful?
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: Incredibly so? Financially her marketing was apparently very shrewd. She
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: built this persona this brand. She became known as the
• 7:40
  Speaker 2: Energy healing.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: Expert, appearing on TV frequently.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Yes, yeah, on various UAE television programs. So you have
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: this really bizarre contradiction building, right.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: A successful businesswoman, a minor celebrity, even building this profitable career.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Based entirely on practices that many would describe as complete quackery.
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: But Omar, her husband, still operating in what we'd call reality,
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: just saw his wife achieving her dreams, becoming a driven entrepreneur.
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: Okay, so the scene shifts again.
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: They move right. In twenty twenty three, Omar gets a
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: better job offer, an engineering position back in Egypt, so
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: the family relocates to al Rehab, that upscale Cairo neighborhood
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: we started in.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: And Amrror's reaction to the move, she.
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: Was apparently thrilled. She believed the market for energy experts
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: for her kind of services was even bigger, even stronger,
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: in Egypt.
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: So she sets up shop again immediately.
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: Opens a new center, this one focused more specifically on
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: meditation and music therapy.
• 8:35
  Speaker 1: And this center was it different?
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: The descriptions suggest it was. This is where the atmosphere
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: itself starts to feel off. It wasn't just calm and
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: soothing anymore. She used strange instruments, apparently creating this bizarre environment.
• 8:50
  Speaker 1: How bizarre, so.
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: Much so that clients reported leaving feeling really unsettled, like
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: they felt a third presence had been in the room
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: with them during the sessions.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: That's deep unsettling and a mirror herself.
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: Her behavior was deteriorating noticeably by this point, talking openly
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: to people who weren't there, looking at her own reflections, strangely,
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: with paranoia, losing her grip.
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: But the foundation for this final break it was late earlier,
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: wasn't it. There was a specific event.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, we have to rewind slightly again to October twenty
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: twenty one. This is described as maybe the most critical,
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: the most dangerous workshop she ever attended, or was this one?
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: It took place in Egypt near the Pyramids, very evocative location,
• 9:29
  Speaker 2: was led by an Italian expert who remained anonymous, and
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: it was very exclusive, only about fifteen people.
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: Attending, you know, the Pyramids, an anonymous Italian expert. This
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: sounds intense. What happened there.
• 9:40
  Speaker 2: The sources detailed this ritual that happened at the end
• 9:42
  Speaker 2: of the workshop. The Italian expert told her to close
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: her eyes he performed some very specific, deliberate hand movements
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: around her, touched designated spots on.
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: Her body, and the effect on a mirror.
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: According to her later testimony, it was immediate absolute. She
• 9:59
  Speaker 2: felt in instantly transported, completely detached from her body, like
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: she'd entered another life, another reality altogether.
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Wow. And when she came back returned to normal consciousness.
• 10:11
  Speaker 2: That's when her claims shifted dramatically. It wasn't just about
• 10:13
  Speaker 2: having special powers anymore. Now she believed she had a
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: celestial mission.
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: A celestial mission based.
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: On what she claimed that during that transported state, she
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: had actually seen and spoken with the prophets Jesus, Isa and.
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: Moses Musa seriously, Jesus and Moses, that's.
• 10:31
  Speaker 2: What she claimed. And she said they told her she
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: was chosen, that she'd been given unique celestial gifts, special blessings, caramut.
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: So she's now having conversations with major religious figures who
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: are confirming her special status. What about the Italian expert,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the guy who supposedly facilitated this, What did he say?
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: Well when she asked him later, why me, why did
• 10:50
  Speaker 2: you choose me for this? The sources just describe him
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: giving this strange unsettling laugh and then saying nothing, just silence.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: That's creepy. But the silence didn't last. He contacted her again.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: He did, and this is where it gets even more bizarre,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: if that's possible. First, he contacted her and made this
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: audacious claim. He told her he had personally created her.
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: He created her. What did she make of that?
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: She initially resisted that idea. Apparently it didn't quite fit her.
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: Narrative, so he changed his story.
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: He revised his claim. When the creation angle didn't land,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: he told her something else. He told her that he
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: was actually the promised Madi ec no Krun, the awaited
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: redeemer figure in Islam.
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: Wait. The workshop leader claimed he was the Mami.
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: Yes, And because he was the Mahdi, she Amira now
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: had this unique celestial mission directly from him.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And this led Amira to believe what about herself?
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: This solidified everything for her. It led her to this final,
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: fully formed and incredibly dangerous delusion. She came to believe
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: she was the Virgin Mary, Saint Mary herself.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Flight attendant to energy professor to the Virgin Mary. The
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: trajectory is just daggering. So when this delusion becomes absolute,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: what happens to the people closest to her.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Like Omar, he instantly shifts in her mind from husband, partner,
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: father of her child to enemy.
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: An enemy.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Why she started voicing extreme paranoia about him? She saw
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: him as one of the non chosen impure, someone who
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: could easily sabotage her divine mission harm her. Because he
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: wasn't part of this celestial reality she now inhabited, he became.
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: A threat, which brings us full circle, doesn't it? Back
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: to that quiet apartment in now rehab, the meditation session,
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: the screams.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Exactly during that final solitary meditation session, her delusion seems
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: to have piqued. The sources confirmed this is when she
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: received in her mind the final deadly mandate and.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: Her confession later, What did she say happened in that moment?
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: What was the motive?
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: She gave a statement to security officials while recovering from
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: her self inflicted wounds in the hospital. She testified that
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: during the meditation the full figures of Jesus and Moses
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: appeared before.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Her, not just voices, but full apparitions.
• 12:59
  Speaker 2: Full figures. Yeah. Yes, they confirmed her identity as the
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: Virgin Mary, and they commanded her ascend to heaven.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: Immediately, and Rania her daughter.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: They told her she must take her loved ones with her,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: specifically Rania, but she had to leave the evil ones,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: meaning Omar behind.
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: That distinction is horrifyingly clear. Ronie was worthy of going
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: with her, Omar was not.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: Precisely, she saw Ronnie as pure part of the divine plan.
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: Omar was the obstacle, the impure one to be left
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: behind in the corrupt.
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: World, and the method. The chilling detail about how she killed.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: Rania, it's deeply disturbing. She testified that because she loved
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: Rania so much, she couldn't bear the thought of using
• 13:40
  Speaker 2: the scissors or anything sharp on her. She feared it
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: would cause her daughter unnecessary pain or distress, so instead,
• 13:46
  Speaker 2: instead she chose to choke her. She believed it would
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: be quicker, maybe more peaceful, a gentler way to help
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: her daughter ascend with her to heaven.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Only after she was certain Rania was dead did she
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: turn the scissors on herself.
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: That's what she claimed. Her focus was entirely on completing
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: this perceived divine command.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: And her attitude in the hospital after Omar had saved
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: her was their remorse, guilt.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: None reported. Her primary emotion seems to have been anger
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: and distress that Omar had intervened, that he'd saved her
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: life and stopped her ascension.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: It was angry he saved her.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: Bitterly complained about it. She said, the moment he pulled
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: it back stopped her suicide attempt. The divine voices, the
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: figures of Jesus and Moses, they instantly vanished. He had
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: interrupted her connection to the divine.
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: This is just beyond comprehension. But then comes the legal aspect,
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the part that makes this case even harder to categorize, right, because.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: Here's the fact that she the whole narrative again, despite
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: all these claims seeing prophets, being the Virgin Mary receiving
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: divine commands, despite the horrific act itself. There was a
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: full mental evaluation conducted as part of the legal investigation.
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: And the conclusion, the official.
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: Conclusion, was that Amra Beneham was completely mentally sound, no diet,
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: ignosable cognitive issues, no temporary insanity, defense.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: Completely mentally sound. How is that even possible given everything
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: she claimed and did.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: That's the crux of why this case is considered one
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: of the most bizarre in the region. The state essentially
• 15:13
  Speaker 2: viewed her actions as calculated intentional murder, rooted in an
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: extreme delusional belief system, but not rooted in a recognized
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: mental illness that would absolve her of responsibility.
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: So the investigation itself had to grapple with the power
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: of these beliefs. This energist science.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: Absolutely it forced a spotlight onto how widespread belief in
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: these practices is and the kind of influence these so
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: called experts can have, which.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Leaves us with this this massive contradiction.
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: Exactly, you have this educated, successful individual, she fully buys
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: into a belief system, invests huge amounts of money, builds
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: a career, achieves fame based on it, and.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: Then that same system, in her mind, mandates the most
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: horrific act imaginable, killing her own child.
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: And through it all she's judged leeane, cognitively sound.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: The material we've looked at really highlights that public faith
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: in energy healing, in experts claiming these powers, But it
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: contrasts it so sharply with the description of these practices
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: as basically quackery illusion.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: It forces you to ask, what does it mean for
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: society when a delusion can be so well packaged, so professionalized,
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: so profitable.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: If the Italian expert claims he's the Madi and Emira
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: believes she's the virgin Mary, they're operating entirely outside observable reality,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: yet within a system that gave her status and income.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: And if she's certified, celebrated, and judged seen by the courts,
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: where does society draw the line when does a profitable
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: esoteric belief system cross over into lethal delusion?
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: It raises a really difficult question, something maybe for you
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: to think about. The whole story seems to hinge on
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: this idea that a personal conviction, no matter how detached
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: from reality, can become absolute. What happens when a widely accepted,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: even commercialized, belief system provides the actual framework for someone
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: to justify murder as a celestial mission. Where does responsibility
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: truly lie