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Moses was stoned when he set Ten Commandments, researcher claims
3-5-`07 | The Guardian | by Elizabeth Stewart

We all know that Moses was high on Mount Sinai when God spoke to him, but were the Ten Commandments a result of divine inspiration alone?

An Israeli researcher is claiming in a study published this week the prophet may have been stoned when he set the Ten Commandments in stone.

According to Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, psychedelic drugs formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times.

Writing in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy, he says concoctions based on the bark of the acacia tree, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, contain the same molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared.

"The thunder, lightning and blaring of a trumpet which the Book of Exodus says emanated from Mount Sinai could just have been the imaginings of a people in an altered state of awareness," writes Shanon. "In advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is accompanied by profound religious and spiritual feelings."

References in the Bible where people "see" sounds, is another "classic phenomenon", he said, citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to "see" music.

Speaking about his article on Israeli public radio, he added: "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."

Moses was probably also on mind-altering drugs when he saw the "burning bush", suggested Shanon, who admitted to dabbling with such substances.

Speaking of his own experience of ayahuasca during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon forest in 1991, he said: "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations."

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SWP



"I'm not into this detail stuff. I'm more concepty." -- "If I know the answer I'll tell you the answer, and if I don't, I'll just respond, cleverly." -- "Secretary Powell and I agree on every single issue that has ever been before this administration except for those instances where Colin's still learning." -- "As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns: the ones we don't know we don't know."

 

BillieBudd

Whoever wrote Revelations had some good stuff, too

kinghelwig

I am jewish and find this article very offensive, and any jew that believe's this is seriously in need of help so if you know a good rabbi go see him,I've read the old testement i'd be wondrering how they could walk around the desert for 40 years rather than if they were stoned or not,the whores and thieves got stoned but not the way you mean it

SirSmokaALot

This would totally explains all of that crazy magical moments bullshit -_-

Please don't get offended by my post... i have a strong belief that religions are useless in general to people who are already capable of making rational choices and thoughts... unlike weak-minded people who need religion to make them feel so "empowered" which i think is kind of stupid.

mufasa5446

sad... what's the point of even researching something like this? no way to prove it. The only thing it's good for is as an excuse to get high for research

 

SmasheR

How ironic is the war on drugs now? Take that Christian right!!

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Left the philly at home, do you have another? I wanna get blunted my brother..

Herbania

Not that surprising to me. I think a lot of those visions that take place in almost all religions were drug induced. People didn't know much about cause and effect in ancient times, they often ate food that was at least semi-spoiled. Researchers today think the Salem witch trials was brought about by the complaining girls eating moldy bread and hallucinating what they saw. Evidently, consuming some molds has a similar effect as LSD.

To the person offended. You need to learn to respect the beliefs of others. People have the right to question, and the researcher did his homework. What he said has no bearing on your faith. Either you have faith in what you believe or you don't. The researcher said or did nothing offensive, just stated what he believed to be possible, at no time did he claim it as fact or denigrate the Jewish faith. As a scientist, he couldn't claim it as fact because he didn't observe it. I think you need to learn the difference between being offended and simply thinking someone is wrong in their opinion. Just because someone says something in which you disagree, doesn't make it offensive. IF you're really that easily offended, you've doomed yourself to a miserable angry existence.

Buzzby

I am Jewish and find this article to be very amusing and interesting.

Any Jew that believes this is exercising his God-given right to make up his own mind. That's what my rabbi would say.

Maybe they were so stoned that it just seemed like forty years. I've had nights that long... They wandered the desert for 40 years because God so decreed.

I have a strong feeling that people who feel a need to run down other's beliefs have very narrow minds. Unlike people who are strong in their own beliefs, they feel threatened by things that they can't understand and can only feel "empowered" by attempting to trim reality down to their own limited understanding.

If the ancient Hebrews used psychedelics, they used them ritually and liturgically. It had nothing to do with recreational stoned partying. We have accommodated religions that do that today. Ergo, it has nothing to do with the War on Drugs.

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chadwick

well i dont belive that a he was stoned i mean when in the old testimant or new testimant or anyother religious wrightings(rastafarians not included) has their ever been any mention of taking something to have a religious experince,

i belive that they dont belive in religion and are trying to show other people their ways and the only way to explain an experience like that is to either say that they are straight up lying or they were high, and you cant just go around telling people that everything they know is just an elaborate lie, not many people would take to kindly to that

telling jews that moses was a dirty lier or a mad man will not get you anywere, but saying that he may have been on drugs is possible since drugs were not as looke down on back in the day, thats just my opinion though

Buzzby

Were we reading the same Bible? It happens all the time!

Burning bushes? Pillars of smoke and flame?

Read the Book of Acts chapter 9:
1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

5 And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

7 And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man.

8 And Saul arose from the earth; and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man: but they led him by the hand, and brought him into Damascus.

9 And he was three days without sight, and neither did eat nor drink.

Experiences such as these, often connected with the drug "Soma", are all over the Hindu scriptures.

Why not? Especially if it's the truth. The truth doesn't care about people's feelings.