Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher

[William T Goodall]

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080304120710.ad7gm7i6&show_article=1

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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 theHebrew University of Jerusalem wrote in the  
Time and Mind journal of philosophy.

"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," Shanon told Israeli public radio on Tuesday.

Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush,"  
suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances.

"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."

He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful  
psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon  
forest in 1991. "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious  
connotations," Shanon said.

He said the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca were comparable to those  
produced by concoctions based on bark of the acacia tree, that is  
frequently mentioned in the Bible.


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-- 
William T Goodall
Mail : wtg at wtgab.demon.co.uk
Web  : http://www.wtgab.demon.co.uk
Blog : http://radio.weblogs.com/0111221/

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit  
atrocities." ~Voltaire.