"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. .."
see: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080304120710.ad7gm7i6&show_article=1
Stoning Moses
by Nathan Natas 6 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Nathan Natas
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R.Crusoe
No surprises there Nathan and thousands of years has added that mysticism those in authority can utilise to gain power and lead millions!
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Leolaia
"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."
Where does it say that? Having synesthesia, I would have thought I would have noticed it. And no, I don't need drugs to "see music".
I wonder if an instance of hendiadys gave him this impression.
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Nathan Natas
I think we need to get some acacia bark and investigate this further...
...and HOLY COW, Leolaia!
hendiadys!
What is that?
Can it be cured with medicated powder?
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SixofNine
What a great name for a band, too.
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Leolaia
Hendiadys is an expression wherein a conjoined pair of nouns functions like a noun and modifier, e.g. "my shield and strength" for "my strong shield". This is very common in the OT. I was thinking maybe, if the verb was something like "saw", then the modifying noun could have been something pertaining to sound, e.g. I saw a crash and rumble (= I saw a rumbling crash).
But I think I found the passage the guy was talking about, it looks like he was misled by a merism, which is similar (a pair of words that represent parts of a larger totality): "When the people saw the thunder and lightning" (Exodus 20:18). That is definitely not a description of synesthesia, it is just a typical expression of referring to the event of thunder and lightning in Hebrew. In other words, a very weak piece of evidence for the main claim. I think the guy is too dismissive of the theory that this is a story with legendary aspects. Indeed, the "storm theophany" described here is generally recognized as closely related to other ANE mythologies. See Jeffrey J. Niehaus' God at Sinai: Covenant and Theophany in the Bible and Ancient Near East: http://books.google.com/books?id=nvUUjTrGrwwC
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JCanon
Well Nathan, that is very clever of you...
"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. .."Especially since... the "A" you have circled in your avatar is what my dirty fingernail is pointing to on this $1000 fake bill. We all know how Freemasons like including their cultic symbolisms in plain view like on dollars, right? So what is the significance of the "A"? On a cultic level? Geez I can't figure that out since all I see is just another PYRAMID. Wow...
http://www.geocities.com/siaxares/1000ka.JPG
I hope you didn't mind my blowing you...(oops!) I mean blowing up your avatar...
Anyway, as far as the psychedelics and the drugs go, they are directly related to the Mysteries...
The central mystery of the Eleusinian mysteries pertains to the nature of the kykeon—the mixture drunk by initiates at the autumnal Eleusinian festival. It was no doubts of palpable nature, so that something was drunk in the telesterion in reality and not only in effigy as some historians supposed. This is well supported by the infamous scandalous event that took place in 415 B.C. when the powerful political and military leader of Athens Alkibiades stole the kykeon at Eleusis and entertained by it himself and his friends. Another conclusion can be inferred from this incident: the ingestion of the kykeon must have been a pleasant and therefore sought-after experience. This was confirmed by many writers of antiquity who participated at the mysteries, and to my knowledge there are no reports on bad trips in the ancient texts that have been preserved.
On the contrary, many wrote about the joyful, revealing, truly psychedelic or entheogenic experience (ta hiera—the holy was the only term that initiates were supposed to say when describing their mysterious experience).
The ingredients of the kykeon were revealed in the seventh century B.C. in the so called Homeric Hymn to Demeter (it was written by an anonymous poet and not by Homer) as follows; water, barley and blechon or glechon—a fragrant Mediterranean mint, probably Mentha pulegium or Mentha aquatica (RÄTSCH, 1992). This is the only known reference to the composition of the kykeon and it seems somehow incompatible with the secret tightly guarded by the two hierophantic families who were in charge of making it and dispensing at Eleusis. After all, if the recipe for the kykeon had been as simple as that mentioned in the Homeric Hymn, many in ancient Greece would have been mixing their own kykeon, which was, of course, not the case..Go here for more: http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/valencic.htm
But, of course, since this psychedelic fungus grows on barley, it makes one wonder what "else" Russel was up to with his "Miracle Wheat" incident!
http://www.watchman.org/jw/jwwheat.htm
Russell was at such a high degree of Masonry and Satanism, everything is suspect. That is, did the "Miracle Wheat" have something to do with the Mysteries and Satanism?
Pyramidology? Freemasonry symbolisms on money so that no one can buy or sell without the "mark of the beast"? The use of psychedelic drugs in the Eleusinian Mysteries?
Interesting post Nathan. Very interesting...
JC
