Moses 'high on drugs during biblical scenes'

[emad]

By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem
Last Updated: 4:17pm GMT 04/03/2008



Moses may have been high on drugs during the miracle of the burning bush and delivery of the Ten Commandments, an Israeli researcher has claimed.

Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said biblical visions are most likely explained by exposure to mind-altering substances, not celestial encounters.


Writing in Time and Mind journal of philosophy, he said substances taken from plants were commonly used in early Jewish religious ceremonies and it is possible they created a mass psychosis in Moses and his followers.

Mr Shanon said plants found in the Sinai Desert, where some of Moses’s miracles are reputed to have taken place, contain natural hallucinogens which can play with the mind’s ability to make sense of sounds and shapes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/04/wmoses104.xml

[emad]

1. cannabis psychosis? Maybe too much of that Old Testament version

of Jack Daniels...

[islandmkl]

2. Moses, meet Don Juan...

[BlueJazz]

3. "were commonly used in early Jewish religious ceremonies"

mmmm...Although I'm an Atheist, I'm starting to gravitate toward this ...Ah..."Religious Ceremonies" thing..
..if it's Jewish...

[stellanoir]

4. just keep it kosher

okay ?

:)

[xchrom]

5. uh-oh -- THIS is going to cause a big bro-haha. nt

[emad]

6. Maybe it was those tablets God made him take...

contra-indications or something...

[southlandshari]

7. Makes perfect sense to me.

For what that's worth.

[Meshuga]

8. One would have to assume Moses actually existed

In any case, I have to get a hold of these plants. :-)

[uberllama42]

10. That was my first thought

Is there any evidence that Moses existed at all, much less that his experiences were the result of hallucinogens?

Supposedly the Oracle at Delphi inhaled volcanic gases emanating from a fissure near her shrine in order to induce her visions. Any "miraculous" experience could be the result of the same effect, but speculating on the details of a figure who is likely mythological anyway is a bit much.

[Richard D]

9. Here's the original paper . . .

. . . by Dr. Shannon.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/89592/Benny-Shanon-Entheogens

[masmdu]

11. ERGOT Rye Mold (Google it) is natural LSD found in unleven bread....explains a lot

x

[Igel]

15. Perhaps.

If there were any evidence of rye in Egypt or the Levant before modern times. Wheat and barley, to be sure. But I can't any find mention of rye being there, though I can find mention that it wasn't mentioned there.

It's likely from N. Syria and S. Turkey, and points slightly east, but that's only "likely", and quickly moved north.

[edhopper]

12. Um... Moses didn't exist

he is a Hebrew equivilant of a Babylonian myth. The Hebrews were never slaves in Egypt and there was no historical exodus. Moses wasn't high on anything, he is a figure in a legend.

Should we discuss how Frodo and Samwise fled Mordor.

[Goblinmonger]

14. buzzkill

:evilgrin:

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. It is possible he was merely psychotic

Much has been written about how Paul's convertion very much resembles a psychotic break, and stories about Joan of Arc and other saints show strong parallels with schizophrenia and perceptional and delusional disorders.

[Disturbed]

16. Moses & the story of the Exodus is another fairy tale

perpetuated by religious nut cases over a few thousand years, repeating it so many times
that millions accept it as fact.