{"id":96,"date":"2008-03-05T14:47:40","date_gmt":"2008-03-05T21:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/?p=96"},"modified":"2008-06-04T01:42:06","modified_gmt":"2008-06-04T08:42:06","slug":"biblical-entheogens-a-speculative-hypothesis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/05\/biblical-entheogens-a-speculative-hypothesis\/","title":{"rendered":"Biblical Entheogens: a Speculative Hypothesis"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a title=\"Time and Mind Journal\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ingentaconnect.com\/content\/berg\/tmdj\/2008\/00000001\/00000001\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"padding: 6px\" src=\"http:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/tmdj.gif\" alt=\"Time and Mind Journal\" width=\"100\" height=\"142\" align=\"left\" \/><\/a>A lot of noise on the internet today around a recently published article in a new journal called <a title=\"Time and Mind Journal\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bergpublishers.com\/JournalsHomepage\/TimeMind\/tabid\/3253\/Default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Time and Mind<\/a> by cognitive psychology professor <a title=\"Hebrew University of Jerusalem\" href=\"http:\/\/www.huji.ac.il\/huji\/eng\/\" target=\"_blank\">Benny Shanon<\/a> on the subject of Moses and Entheogens.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Abstract:<\/strong><br \/>\nA speculative hypothesis is presented according to which the ancient Israelite religion was associated with the use of entheogens (mind-altering plants used in sacramental contexts). The hypothesis is based on a new look at texts of the Old Testament pertaining to the life of Moses. The ideas entertained here were primarily based on the fact that in the arid areas of the Sinai peninsula and Southern Israel there grow two plants containing the same psychoactive molecules found in the plants from which the powerful Amazonian hallucinogenic brew Ayahuasca is prepared. The two plants are species of Acacia tree and the bush <em>Peganum harmala<\/em>. The hypothesis is corroborated by comparative experiential-phenomenological observations, linguistic considerations, exegesis of old Jewish texts and other ancient Mideastern traditions, anthropological lore, and ethnobotanical data.<\/p>\n<p>The entire 25 page article can be downloaded for free from <a title=\"Biblical Entheogens: a Speculative Hypotheses Download page\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ingentaconnect.com\/content\/berg\/tmdj\/2008\/00000001\/00000001\/art00004\">here<\/a> (scroll down to bottom of page, if the pdf link stops working let me know in the comments, I have a copy.)<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/dot1.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"11\" height=\"11\" \/><\/td>\n<td><strong><span style=\"color: #4684ee;\">ayahuasca<\/span> <\/strong><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/dot2.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"11\" height=\"11\" \/><\/td>\n<td><strong><span style=\"color: #dc3912;\">peyote<\/span> <\/strong><\/td>\n<td><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/dot3.gif\" border=\"0\" alt=\"\" width=\"11\" height=\"11\" \/><\/td>\n<td><strong><span style=\"color: #ff9900;\">magic mushrooms<\/span> <\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a title=\"google trends 030508 peyote ayahuasca magic mushrooms\" href=\"http:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/ayahuasca-shrooms-peyote.png\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/03\/ayahuasca-shrooms-peyote.png\" alt=\"google trends 030508 peyote ayahuasca magic mushrooms\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<table id=\"news\" class=\"news\" style=\"width: 349px;\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"5\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding-top: 0px\" width=\"5%\" valign=\"top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/c2_1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"17\" height=\"17\" \/><\/td>\n<td style=\"padding-top: 0px\"><span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nynewsday.com\/news\/nationworld\/nation\/sns-ap-peyote-prosecution,0,2637016.story?coll=ny-nationalnews-headlines\">Utah High Court OKs Non-Indian Peyote Use<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #676767;\">New York Newsday &#8211; <\/span>Jun 23 2004 <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"1%\" valign=\"top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/c2_2.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"17\" height=\"17\" \/><\/td>\n<td><span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.katc.com\/Global\/story.asp?S=3272232\">American Indian church leader sues Utah officials over 2000 peyote raid<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #676767;\">KATC &#8211; <\/span>Apr 28 2005 <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"1%\" valign=\"top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/c2_3.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"17\" height=\"17\" \/><\/td>\n<td><span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.centredaily.com\/mld\/centredaily\/news\/11969849.htm\">'Medicine man' arrested on peyote charges<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #676767;\">Centre Daily Times &#8211; <\/span>Jun 24 2005 <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"1%\" valign=\"top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/c2_4.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"17\" height=\"17\" \/><\/td>\n<td><span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kesq.com\/Global\/story.asp?S=4072293&amp;nav=9qrx\">Study: Religious peyote use not harmful to American Indians<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #676767;\">KESQ &#8211; <\/span>Nov 4 2005 <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"1%\" valign=\"top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/c2_5.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"17\" height=\"17\" \/><\/td>\n<td><span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.macon.com\/mld\/macon\/news\/nation\/13937846.htm\">Charges dropped vs. couple in peyote case<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #676767;\">Macon Telegraph &#8211; <\/span>Feb 23 2006 <\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"1%\" valign=\"top\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/trends\/images\/c3_6.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"17\" height=\"17\" \/><\/td>\n<td><span> <a href=\"http:\/\/news.trend.az\/cgi-bin\/readnews2.pl?newsId=1043660&amp;lang=EN\">Netherlands bans magic mushrooms<\/a><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #676767;\">TREND Information &#8211; <\/span>Oct 12 2007<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>See Also:<br \/>\nThis is an <a title=\"Bread of Heaven or Wines of Light redorbit.com\" href=\"http:\/\/www.redorbit.com\/news\/health\/864233\/bread_of_heaven_or_wines_of_light_entheogenic_legacies_and\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">article<\/a> in two parts. The first part discusses current research in psychoactive preparations of ergot in various religious systems with a particular emphasis on Persian, Greek, Jewish and Islamic sources.<a title=\"Permanent link to Incense is psychoactive: Scientists identify the biology behind the ceremony\" rel=\"bookmark\" href=\"http:\/\/www.thinkgene.com\/incense-is-psychoactive-scientists-identify-the-biology-behind-the-ceremony\/\"><br \/>\nIncense is psychoactive: Scientists identify the biology behind the ceremony.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A lot of noise on the internet today around a recently published article in a new journal called Time and Mind by cognitive psychology professor Benny Shanon on the subject of Moses and Entheogens. Abstract: A speculative hypothesis is presented according to which the ancient Israelite religion was associated with the use of entheogens (mind-altering &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/2008\/03\/05\/biblical-entheogens-a-speculative-hypothesis\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> \"Biblical Entheogens: a Speculative Hypothesis\"<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[64,129,114,63,62,40,116,97],"class_list":["post-96","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-john","tag-awareness-expansion","tag-ayahuasca","tag-cognitive-liberty","tag-mind-manifesting","tag-psyche-de-luxe","tag-religion-upgraded","tag-santo-daime","tag-shrooms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.useriscontent.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}