| “Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher” | | | | hallucinogenic plants, in this case Psilocybin |
| The world wide media interest in Benny Shanon's | | | | mushrooms, were at the astounding and unexplained |
| paper about Moses and entheogens, is encouraging | | | | evolution and development of the human brain in |
| us to take a good and hard look at the roots of | | | | such a short time of the evolutionary time scale (just |
| religions and the notion that they were based on | | | | 500,000 years from the hominids), in other words |
| fertility cults, and shamanic practices such as | | | | how we developed from our ape relatives . His |
| Entheogens (or hallucinogenic) plants as a source of | | | | theory also encompasses the development of |
| spiritual communion with the universal consciousness, | | | | linguistics , human civilisation. |
| or the mind of God. | | | | JERUSALEM (AFP) - High on Mount Sinai, Moses was |
| John Allegro, in his book “The Sacred Mushroom | | | | on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the |
| and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of | | | | Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher claimed in |
| Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient | | | | a study published this week. |
| Near East”, postulated through the etymology of | | | | Such mind-altering substances formed an integral part |
| words and relates how the development of language | | | | of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times, |
| indicated that the roots of the religions emanating | | | | Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology |
| from the Middle East were based on fertility cults, | | | | at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the |
| and shamanic practices such as Entheogens (or | | | | Time and Mind journal of philosophy. |
| hallucinogenic) plants as a source of spiritual | | | | "As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was |
| communion with the universal consciousness, or the | | | | either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don't |
| mind of God.. | | | | believe, or a legend, which I don't believe either, or |
| Back in the 1960's the reaction against these ideas | | | | finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined |
| was so strong that it destroyed Allegro's career, the | | | | Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of |
| book was not published in the UK as it was regarded | | | | narcotics," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday. |
| as blasphemous, and blasphemy was still a crime. It's | | | | Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the |
| good to think that we have made some progress in | | | | "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he |
| recent years. | | | | himself has dabbled with such substances. |
| Allegro’s theory was visionary and | | | | "The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a |
| ground-breaking. He was the first to propose in some | | | | classic phenomenon," he said citing the example of |
| detail that two major religions Christianity and by | | | | religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are |
| extension Judaism were entheogen-oriented and that | | | | used that induce people to "see music." |
| the entheogen was Amanita Muscaria. His book was | | | | Israeli researcher He mentioned his own experience |
| published at a time when there was little or no | | | | when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic |
| awareness about the use of entheogens, and was | | | | plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon |
| indeed a courageous act to publish this book. | | | | forest in 1991. "I experienced visions that had |
| Another great explorer and pathfinder in human | | | | spiritual-religious connotations," Shanon said. |
| consciousness was Terence Mckenna, in his book | | | | He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were |
| “Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original | | | | comparable to those produced by concoctions based |
| Tree of Knowledge A Radical History of Plants, | | | | on bark of the acacia tree, that is frequently |
| Drugs, and Human Evolution”, proposed that | | | | mentioned in the Bible. |