LucidMagic.net
Other => Random Ranting => Topic started by: 420 on March 04, 2008, 02:14:54 PM
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Alright, let's try not to let this turn into a religious discussion. Let's keep the topic limited to something sane, like ancient mind-bending psychedelic drugs and their use in the development of early societies.
From: This Article (http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080304/od_afp/israelreligionoffbeat;_ylt=ArMkXURgs9jUNixPOH5GVuOs0NUE)
Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher
Tue Mar 4, 7:02 AM ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) - 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 clasic 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.
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I *knew* there was a way to get high off of acacia trees when I was a kid, but I could never convince the neighbor kid to try smoking the leaves - looks like it wouldn't have worked.....
-Throbblefoot
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Since we'll never know for sure what happened some 3000 years ago it's always nice to speculate but truth probably will never come to light.
Personally the simplest explanation is that Moses was not high on anything. He simply did what was necessary to free, unite and give law to a new nation. Ancient history's broken telephone and poetic license took care of the rest of the story.
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If I was freeing a nation of people and I walked past an acacia tree you'd bet I'd grab me a handful bark. Get some of that ambrosia and make a sandwich out of it.
-420
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I'm a little more interested in what's gunna happen tomorrow! Ooh, and Easter... food... *drools*
Oh yeah, on topic... uhh.. trees are bad! Uh, no I mean drugs. Yeah. Elves. Eugh. Tree-hugging elven piece of- yeah, just.. nevermind.
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At least this didnt happen to Moses.
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ROFL