Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher

[Turborama]

14 May 2009

JERUSALEM - High on Mount Sinai, Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in a study published this week.

Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

“As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don’t believe, or a legend, which I don’t believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics,” Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the “burning bush,” suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances. “The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a classic phenomenon,” he said citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to “see music.”

He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil’s Amazon forest in 1991. “I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations,” Shanon said. He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree, that is frequently mentioned in the Bible. - Sapa-AFP.

From: http://www.nehandaradio.com/zimbabwe/church/moses-high140509.html

[movonne]

1. I want some of that...

[roguevalley]

46. given that creosote bushes can burn just because of what they

are, there can be a different explanation for the burning bush.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

2. I don't know why, but that headline is hilarious.

:rofl:

[Massacure]

3. DUCK!

:hide:





:rofl:

[omega minimo]

4. The Doors of Perception open in many ways.........

[stevedeshazer]

5. Psychedelic drugs?

[riderinthestorm]

6. Were'nt there brain wave experiments done with LSD and meditation experts?

And both of them produced "religious ecstasy" experiences of the same type?

From the "prophets" to "oracles" and even Moses, I'm dead cert that there was drugs involved in their religious experiences. The link between getting high and having a religious experience is just too well documented to dismiss. Hell, even ancient cultures like our own Native American population used drugs (still use) to gain "mystical insights".

[The Straight Story]

7. So a lot of jewish history is based on a guy on dope?

:)

[Marr]

8. I wonder why he finds it difficult to believe that Moses was a myth,

but easy to believe that these stories are accurate accounts of one man's drug-induced hallucinations that happened thousands of years ago? The "myth" angle seems more likely to me.

[Bandit]

42. Right and I am sure it was the drugs that let him live to be hundreds of years old.

:shrug: Amazing just how much people will believe if they are told to have faith.

[Johonny]

9. how can he possibly know?

This is research the same way this guy on history channel is using remote sensing to do research on detect aliens underwater.

[salguine]

10. So Moses was, to use the clinical term, "tripping balls"?

[The Doctor.]

29. Have you read the 'Revelation to John'?

I mean, holy shit man... that boy did some stuff while he was in India, and by 'stuff' we mean 'tripping balls'.

And Diadems.

And multi-headed monsters.

And interpretations of Armies as Angels with their feet on land and sea.

Oh... and there was seeing nations as whores... whatta shock.


... Hmmm.... maybe there is something to this 'tripping balls' stuff after all... :smoke:

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Yep drugs were common, but I hate to point this out

Moses... who's moses? Serious... modern archeology tells us that Moses is the creation of the 7th century King Josiah and the gang, 7 BCE before anybody screams too loudly.

Oh and let me get my asbestos suit

[dysfunctional press]

18. there is also absolutely nothing to indicate that jewish slaves built any pyramids...

and the egyptians were pretty meticulous record-keepers.

[nadinbrzezinski]

21. Well Haviru might have been corvee labor

but that is as close as we get to slavery... oh wait, it is not

:-)

Yep that blew my brother's reality at passover dinner... he pushed his religion on me, I pushed archeology and science on him

Hell the word abadim, does not translate to slaves, but to labor

[The Doctor.]

31. ... just testing;

Ha! Expecting a flamethrower?!? (didn't have one)

Oh No... now if you'd like to join me...

[nadinbrzezinski]

32. Holy shites... RUN HE HAS A FLAME THROWER!!!!!!!!!

:-)

Back at you

:hi:

[chollybocker]

12. I can "see music," too, when I burn some bush.

;)

Moses also had a foot fetish.

[madmom]

13. I have been saying this for years. Many of the world's religions

openly admit to using some kind of "help" with their spiritual/religious rites. This sure would put a knot in their knickers wouldn't it.

[eShirl]

14. they're called entheogens for a reason...

http://csp.org/practices/entheogens/entheogens.html

[Traveling_Home]

15. Jesus was a Mushroom....

The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross

http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Mushroom-Cross-Christianity-Fertility/dp/0340128755/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1242269524&sr=8-2

[PufPuf23]

16. Read "The Road to Eleusis:" by Watson et al.

http://www.amazon.com/Road-Eleusis-Unveiling-Secret-Mysteries/product-reviews/091514820X/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1

[dysfunctional press]

17. no wonder it took him 40 days to carve those tablets...

and come up with the back-story.

[Canuckistanian]

19. I KNEW it!

That old man was a tweaker. Now we have documented PROOF!

"Just say NO" was anti-biblical!

[DCKit]

20. So, Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar were documentary films?

Damn hippys.

[liberalmuse]

22. Shrooms!

Actually, there is a theory that 'Manna' was actually mushrooms. The description kinda fits.

[leftofthedial]

23. religion, not scrambled eggs, best represents your mind on drugs.

[Badgerman]

24. An Axiom for the Ages! love it. n/t

[XemaSab]

25. Ergot poisoning was common back in the day.

"And lo, the Israelites flew kites in the desert, and the Lord saw it, and it was good."

[slay]

26. Awww man - so cause Moses couldn't find a competent trip sitter - we end up with Christianity?

I kid I kid.. :P :P :P

[struggle4progress]

27. Researcher: Moses was tripping at Mount Sinai (Wed., March 05, 2008)

... Shanon presents a provocative theory in an article published this week in the philosophy journal Time and Mind ... http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/960407.html

Note to self: nehandaradio may not be the best source for breaking news -- and when they say "this week" it's not really clear what week that is

[Turborama]

28. Wow, didn't realize that

Note taken about nehandaradio. Thank goodness I didn't post it in LBN, lol.

[struggle4progress]

30. It's surprising how many "news" sources publish stories that are weeks or months old:

in this case, I only knew because I'd read the story at DU last year:

Was Moses "Trippin"?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x7532717

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

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[nadinbrzezinski]

34. Not enough donations? Hey grovel you will put shrooms and mount sinai

up for bids?

[and-justice-for-all]

35. Great, now prove to me Moses actually existed..nt

[TexasLady]

36. I saw this thread and had to add the link

to something I watched a long while back/

http://www.pharmacratic-inquisition.com/main/

there's a long version and I think some shorter versions on the site. Interesting stuff.

[progressoid]

37. "the Lord Jehovah has given unto you these 15.... OY...ten, ten Commandments for all to obey"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TAtRCJIqnk

[Turborama]

41. LOL, very funny. Carlin had something to say about the 10 commandments too...

George Carlin - The Ten Commandments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkRYaMiP4K8

[Blue_Tires]

44. lol...

the greatest scene from the greatest movie!!!!!!!!!!

[EmeraldCityGrl]

38. that would certainly explain alot.

[Xicano]

39. "ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant"

Cool article, however, ayahuasca is not a plant. Its a boiled down tea mixture from two plants, one containing DMT and the other containing the MAO inhibitor harmaline preventing the DMT from being too rapidly destroyed in the gut.

[Duer 157099]

40. So then how come the first commandment wasn't

"Honor thy mind-altering substances and keep them legal forever and ever"?

[izzybeans]

43. I saw Moses, his name is Sunshine and he used to live in People's Park in Bloomington, IN.

he's an old hippy who fried his brain and called it divine. :rofl:

He'll also accept your leftovers from the late night burrito stop, if you have any.

[surrealAmerican]

45. Way to ruin a perfectly good myth.

The whole story of Moses is almost certainly mythical. None of the archeology backs this story up. This "researcher" was having a vision of his own. Judaism is NOT diminished in any way just because this story is a metaphor, and not history.

[Turborama]

47. So, Jews see Moses as a metaphor

and not someone who actually existed?

[surrealAmerican]

53. Some do, some don't.

[TexasObserver]

48. Lot and his wife were doing shrooms. You heard it first here.

And Ezekiel loved to drop acid.



I'm only partially kidding. It is likely the early use of hallucinogenic substances played a role in "spiritual encounters" such as those recorded in that amalgamation of books called The Bible.

[Solly Mack]

49. Does that mean the 2 tablets were actually blotter?

with 5 hits each?

[graywarrior]

50. Far out, man!

[anigbrowl]

51. No shit, Sherlock

Well, it's good to see the idea getting some serious academic play - I shouldn't complain. A great many religious mysteries have their origin in the cult of the mushroom, or something similar. Unfortunately it's easy to end up with a corrupt priesthood who substitute an ersatz sacrament for the participatory one and insist on themselves as sole mediators between the physical and spiritual worlds.

The key thing about psychedelics is not that you'll see God or that they provide definite Truths about reality, but that if you know how to use them, you're not longer dependent on some self-appointed intermediary for your spiritual explorations.

[Matariki]

52. "I've never had a religious experience, therefore it isn't possible that anyone has ever had one"

whatever.