It was one of the most profound experiences of Fyodor Dostoevsky's life. "A happiness unthinkable in the normal state and unimaginable for anyone who hasn't experienced it... I am then in perfect harmony with myself and the entire universe," he told his friend, Russian philosopher Nikolai Strakhov. What lay behind such feelings? The description might suggest a religious awakening-but Dostoevsky was instead describing the moments before a full-blown epileptic seizure.
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