Posted on 03/04/2008 6:46:14 AM PST by crusty old prospector
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.
Moses' exhortation near the end of Deuteronomy for the people to obey G-d's Law, since they had personally witnessed what happened at Mt. Sinai.
The Bible also says that nothing must be added or subtracted from the 5 Books of Moses;
that they would never be forgotten by the Jewish people (so that no one can find some "secret" scroll in a cave and say "here's the Word of G-d, and because it was hidden you never heard of this before";
and that parents should teach their children what had happened (integral to the not forgetting part, above);
and [most important of all] that no other nation would EVER make the claim that ALL of the people had a simultaneous Divine revelation.
How could all of the above claims be made if the head guy was stoned? Because if he made such claims, then he'd have really been stoned (in the Biblical sense, not in the LSD sense). If it didn't happen, there'd be no Jews today because the event would be obviously false...nor would there be any Christians or Moslems.
This is all crap - it is some hungry for attention and money psychologist making up something for his own personal gain. On top of everything, this idiot makes it abundantly clear that he has not the slightest familiarity with the Bible.
If you want to amend that to make it singular rather than plural be my guest.
I don't exactly see a cacophony of support for your position but if you want to report it to the mods you can go right ahead. If they "zot" it I'll issue you a public apology in big bold print. Put up or shut up.
Great movie. :D
I always looked forward to “Jesus of Nazareth” at Easter when I was kid. Maybe we can get the networks to do “The Passion of the Christ” this year?
Ah, but the liberals will be sadly disappointed because they thought it literally means, “Burning Bush”—setting the President on fire!!
Those wacky libs, always smoking something or the other and claiming it as ‘truth’! ;-)
Thirty three wives and counting.....
What religion is this guy? The Church of the Holy Mushroom?
verdict = freak...
who are you going to believe, me or God?
methinks he might have even confused the two
One of the funniest movie scenes EVER!
What a prophet that Man is. Maybe somewhere on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus also addresses Universal Health Care.
At that age only Mabel five fingers taught him the way.
Yes, that would be nice.
But since “Ten Commandments” was a legitimate movie, not “TV”, and also old, I always wondered why don’t the networks show in prime time, at that time, “Ben-Hur”? All these decades, I’ve never seen it that way.
It’s also that much better than TenC.
Now you’ve done it! You have referred to “He who must not be criticized”....I know your teflon garmies are on order, but until you actually receive them and don them, you will be severely reprimanded and your posts will self-destruct in 10....9.....8.......
OK, let's assume there was a mass hallucination at Mt. Sinai. Why, then, would the Bible indicate that G-d said that no other nation would EVER receive a national revelation like Israel did at Mt. Sinai? What is the point of saying this? If you were Moses, or Moses and a bunch of close confidants trying to start up a new (and lucrative) religion, WHY would you put something like that in the text? Because, you see, if only ONE thing in the entire text is wrong, then it isn't the Word of G-d, it is just a bunch of crap, end of religion. That claim is not only unnecessary to the text, but it (claims made in the future) is something that cannot be controlled by any humans.
Oh, BTW, in the last 3,300 years, not one nation has made a claim of national revelation. That's not "never," but its a pretty good record, wouldn't you say?
Somehow I have the feeling he has done more than "dabble."
Go to ethnobotanical uses, then type acacia into the search window.
The Phytochemical Database shows lots of ethnobotanical uses for various acacias (people may recognize Gum Arabic and Gum Catechu in the list) but entheogen is not listed.
I think it’s only recently that people have been using acacias like Maiden’s Wattle for entheogenic purposes.
ping
“ergot which produces and alkaloid very closely related to lysergic acid.”
As I recall, the Dancing Plagues?????
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