Reprising this amusing jibe at the great conductor Herbert von Karajan, whose perfectionism and sometimes-authoritarian leadership style could cause enmity.
“St. Peter calls upon Freud and tells him that God is evidently in need of psychiatric help. ‘I should be glad to help, but tell me, what seem to be His symptoms?’ asked Freud. ‘God thinks he is Karajan.'”
Source: George R. Marek, Toscanini (Atheneum, 1975), p. 27. Related: How great artists become great — Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky.
Hah! Reminds me of a remark about Harry Truman: “There but for the grace of God, goes God.”
Knew a perfectly sane guy who had himself committed for six months as a teenager to escape an intolerable home situation. While there he found two patients, both of whom believed they were God. Needless to say the existence of the other irritated both and they had long discussions to try to resolve the apparent contradiction. One day they arrived at the liberating insight: One was God the father, the other was God the son! But of course!
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One more: a psychologist’s joke. A young man who attempted to assassinate the governor is found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed. One day a scrum of state officials and doctors arrives and enters the main lounge area. “Why did you try to shoot the governor?” an official asks the young man. “Because God told me to” comes the reply. From a corner of the room the surly voice of an older gentleman is heard: “I did not!”
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