tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post4669682243709470997..comments2024-02-13T12:50:30.457-05:00Comments on Rants Within the Undead God: Entheogen: the Source, Substance, and Bane of ReligionsBenjamin Cainhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-40892153790880954552023-04-27T13:05:50.349-04:002023-04-27T13:05:50.349-04:00A burning bush does really exist. We call it DIPTA...A burning bush does really exist. We call it DIPTAM. It emits a gas which you can light easy. Use a lighter, the gas burns the bush not ....<br /><br />But a dryed diptam bush can cause a forest to burnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-42256475029530687472019-09-22T08:32:34.238-04:002019-09-22T08:32:34.238-04:00If you'd have asked me that while I was high, ...If you'd have asked me that while I was high, I'd have said, my views had changed. But once the experience fades and I realized more fully I must have been riffing off some of my recent readings, I became more intrigued than radically altered by the experience, I would say. The high added to my sense that the world is very strange, but I still don't have strong enough evidence to rationally justify such a crazy belief, that the universe equals God's mind and body. I suppose I also don't have enough irrational causes to force me to adopt that crazy belief on a nonrational, faithful basis.<br /><br />Likely, if I kept getting high or took stronger and stronger psychedelic drugs, my beliefs would indeed change. I'd become a sort of hippie or New Ager. Likewise, if I underwent Buddhist training, I expect my beliefs would come to conform with that philosophical religion. Our deepest beliefs largely reflect our experience. What else can we do?Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-5971623373279869892019-09-21T11:31:41.416-04:002019-09-21T11:31:41.416-04:00Out of curiosity, did the experince alter your vie...Out of curiosity, did the experince alter your views or did they not interesting article? Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-28620436208431224092019-08-17T10:19:12.512-04:002019-08-17T10:19:12.512-04:00There's a lot written about how extroverted th...There's a lot written about how extroverted the US is. Extroversion is taken as a sign of ambition, and the capitalist ethos is pretty much in line with Trump's dichotomy between winners and losers. American culture is pragmatic and driven to succeed and innovate, or at least that's the myth. <br /><br />Regarding friends, I read recently that the UK appointed a loneliness minister, to deal with the epidemic of loneliness caused largely by its aging population and by social media and TV addictions. Secular countries tend to have lower birth rates, so as long as the elderly are treated in the West in the way that's been well-satirized by The Simpsons, we should expect a more general rise in loneliness (friendlessness). There are lots and lots of reasons why in these societies the young don't want to see the old and why the old therefore become isolated and lonely. <br /><br />https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-launches-governments-first-loneliness-strategy<br /><br />https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk/2018/11/britain-s-loneliness-epidemic-was-best-day-out-ages-said-mary-after-trip-doctorBenjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-33129008486922517902019-08-14T22:13:22.113-04:002019-08-14T22:13:22.113-04:00Loved the Trump article. Some psychiatrists have b...Loved the Trump article. Some psychiatrists have brought up the Goldwater rule to defend the president, but in Trump's case the symptoms are so pronounced (and exaggerated) that their objection becomes laughable.<br /><br />I don't have ADHD, but hypersensitivity really rings true. I've suffered from loud (to me) noises as far back as I can remember. I can't even go to bars because the music & television seems so loud in these places that I'm baffled that the patrons can hear themselves speak, let alone understand each other. One thing I have noticed is that this appears to be a uniquely American problem. My dad was Scottish & whenever we visited the UK I noticed everything was much quieter; even the bars ('pubs') kept the noise level down to a comfortable level.<br /><br />I think the issue of emotional sensitivity is relative. Some of the things people get incensed about these days seem like toddlerish overreactions to me. I'm thinking specifically about the SJW crowd who seem to be actively searching for hidden, offensive subtexts in everything. But on the other hand there is this pervasive cavalier attitude towards friendship and sexuality that to me seems pathological. The overwhelming success of the Tom Leykis Show is a prime example of how mercenary & purile the sexuality of most Americans is; and what's worse is that as much as I hate to love the guy, Tom's advice to men is prudent & practical. I recall how shocked I was as a teen by my own mother's insensitivity after my 'best friend' kicked me to the curb when I was convicted of apostasy. She didn't seem to understand why I should be so upset over loosing someone whom I had known since early childhood; "Plenty of fish in the sea..." was all the consolation she offered me. It was only years later that I began to appreciate just how 'normal' her attitude is in American society. Syboknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-88794693087772753642019-08-14T13:15:14.237-04:002019-08-14T13:15:14.237-04:00I consider whether Trump is mentally ill in the ar...I consider whether Trump is mentally ill in the article linked below. On that point I argue against Allen Frances, the psychiatrist who wrote the definition of "narcissism" in one of the DSMs. Hint: Trump is obviously mentally deranged (monstrous, specifically known as being "malignantly narcissistic"), and if psychiatry says otherwise, so much the worse for psychiatry. <br /><br />I also make the point that psychiatry implies that the wealthy can't be mentally ill, since their wealth spares them from suffering as much as poor people. (A good example might be Jeffrey Epstein, the late pedophile and sex addict who was certainly insulated by his wealth and by the whole secret society of the top one percent.) As I say in the article, "American psychiatry presupposes and prioritizes the imperatives of capitalism."<br /><br />That's an interesting point, that empathy (slave morality?) might one day be demonized as a mental illness. Indeed, the roots of that diagnosis are already there with the concept of the "highly sensitive person" or of "hypersensitivity." It's not yet considered a disorder, but some have written about its ill effects (in our disordered, extroverted, materialistic Western societies). See the second link below, for example. <br /><br />Note that I believe I have that hypersensitive condition. Indeed, hypersensitivity seems associated with introversion (and with the ASMR phenomenon on YouTube), since it's about being easily overwhelmed by stimuli because the senses, as it were, are tuned too high so that they aim to take in superhuman levels of sensory information.<br /><br />http://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.com/2017/09/is-donald-trump-mentally-ill.html<br /><br />https://www.additudemag.com/hypersensitivity-disorder-with-adhd/<br />Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-83550758698856051802019-08-14T05:17:02.972-04:002019-08-14T05:17:02.972-04:00Thanks for the articles. It seems that we basicall...Thanks for the articles. It seems that we basically agree that psychiatry is pseudo-science meant to justify the status quo. Trump is a prime example: classic sociopathic and/or narcissistic behavior and yet because he clearly isn't *suffering* from his condition, it isn't an illness. Of course, when your money and power render you totally independent from society, you can act as crazy as you like without suffering any consequences; which means that the rich and powerful are sane no matter what they do.<br /><br />I'm just waiting for the day that normal human empathy will be diagnosed as a mental disorder. I mean, what could be more dysfunctional in 21st C, America than having scruples & actually caring about the impact your actions might have on others? What shall we call it? Maybe, 'over-socialization disorder' or OSD for short. If a patient displays three or more of the following symptoms, he or she might be suffering from OSD:<br /><br />1. A blurring of boundries between self and others such that the sufferer confuses the feelings of others with their own emotions. <br /><br />2. A scrupulous compulsion to obey rules even when no one is present to enforce them. <br /><br />3.Taking social roles at face value. Like expecting priests, paragons of morality, to refrain from raping children.<br /><br />4. Compulsively honesty. Telling the truth even when doing so would cause the sufferer to lose face or could lead to punishment. <br /><br />5. An overall pervasive pattern of putting the needs of others before one's own personal interests.<br /><br />Yup, sounds like a severe nental disorder to me! Soon big pharma will invent a pill that turns us into high functioning sociopaths.Syboknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-78466881496505052212019-08-14T04:48:08.352-04:002019-08-14T04:48:08.352-04:00Unknown,
The thing about kundalini yoga is that in...Unknown,<br />The thing about kundalini yoga is that in a very small number of cases it does seem to provoke psychotic episodes (and occasionally schizophrenia) in those who practice it when, instead of following directions, they try to FORCE the kundalini up the sushumna and end up frying their nervous system. The Christians then jump all over these extremely rare incidents in an effort to prove that all yoga is demonic. This is flagrant misinformation and it pisses me off that they not only use a minority of cases to 'prove' that yoga is evil but totally ignore how many Christians go completely nuts upon their conversion (hardly a minority in my experience). I've practiced meditation for over 20 years and kundalini for 6 years so I know from personal experience that this is all total BS intended invented by priests and pastors to keep their sheep enslaved.Syboknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-47680515037510399662019-08-13T08:25:06.412-04:002019-08-13T08:25:06.412-04:00Would you include the Santa Claus stuff as one suc...Would you include the Santa Claus stuff as one such "hilarious speculation"? Just curious, since I haven't researched or thought much about the matter. I see that Dosentation includes an article that backs up that Christmas speculation, called "The Shamanic Origins of Christmas":<br /><br />http://www.dosenation.com/listing.php?id=5514<br /><br />Anyway, thanks for the relevant reference site.Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-28719476992208532112019-08-13T08:17:56.913-04:002019-08-13T08:17:56.913-04:00Unknown, An entheogen is a drug taken for religiou...Unknown, An entheogen is a drug taken for religious rather than just recreational purposes. It's not about momentary pleasure, but about changing your worldview and character, making them more "spiritual" or "existential."Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-8554946008849830802019-08-13T08:15:07.801-04:002019-08-13T08:15:07.801-04:00Sybok, I agree with your criticisms of so-called m...Sybok, I agree with your criticisms of so-called mental health. Your point that individual unhappiness could be society's fault has been a theme in my mental health articles on this blog. I think the underlying problem is that psychiatry is scientistic, so it has to presuppose its values rather than justifying them at the philosophical level, to seem more neutral and scientific than it really is as a discipline. Many of its philosophical assumptions are tucked away in its DSM definitions. Thus, the DSM defines "mental health" in terms of social function, which makes it relative to social conventions. It's about fitting into society, not changing society for the better. Psychiatrists see their business as helping individuals, not society.<br /><br />For the same reason, psychiatrists don't criticize major religions, since those are part of the social order, which is the source of psychiatric values. Psychiatrists presuppose the validity of social conventions and norms, to avoid having to appear to be engaged in philosophical or religious criticism. Strictly speaking, lots of religious beliefs fit most of the definition of "delusion," except for the part about social relativity. <br /><br />Here's the DSM-5 definition (including my emphasis with underscoring): <br /><br />"Delusions are fixed beliefs that are not amenable to change in light of conflicting evidence. Their content may include a variety of themes (e.g. persecutory, referential, somatic, religious, grandiose).[…] Delusions are deemed bizarre if they are clearly implausible ___and not understandable to same-culture peers___ and do not derive from ordinary life experiences. […] The distinction between a delusion and a strongly held idea is sometimes difficult to make and depends in part on the degree of conviction with which the belief is held despite clear or reasonable contradictory evidence regarding its veracity."<br /><br />DSM-4 was clearer about the social relativity: "Delusion. A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained ___despite what almost everyone else believes___ and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. The belief is not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture (e.g., it is not an article of religious faith)." Notice especially that last sentence which is explicit about its religious exception. <br /><br />It looks like some atheist was in on the meetings for writing the DSM-5 definition, since that update includes "religious" as a possible type of disorder, but that's only superficially so. As long as the crazy belief has mass appeal or is "understandable to same-culture peers," it won't count as delusive, even in DSM-5. A prerequisite of any mental illness is that the suffering caused by the mental condition has to be produced by some way of not fitting into society. So only losers, in social terms, can suffer from mental disorders. Delusive religious beliefs would have to be those of some tiny minority sect so that no appeal could be made to popularity in defense of the belief or of the suffering. As long as the craziness has mass appeal, such as that of the cult of Trumpism, psychiatry has to let it pass, due to its scientistic strategy.<br /><br />Have you read my articles on mental health? If not, you might be interested in them. They're near the bottom of the list of main articles in the Map of Articles.Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-86311431890102327572019-08-13T01:17:45.872-04:002019-08-13T01:17:45.872-04:00about amanita, please listen carefully to the appr...about amanita, please listen carefully to the appropriate episode of dosenation to get a realistic view, don't get bogged down by hilarious speculations. in general, dosenation is solidly researched, no bullshit, and because of that, very interesting, clears all sorts of misconceptions... Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08894194584361086630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-86744965747694356892019-08-13T01:10:34.087-04:002019-08-13T01:10:34.087-04:00Sybok,
your references to kundalini are really fre...Sybok,<br />your references to kundalini are really freaking hard to read, because there is nothing to read about in there, not even wrong, pure noise...<br />want a good study on kundalini. one name, lilian silburn, a legendary french yogini, there is even an article about her in la recherche, dec '72. read her book for a change.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08894194584361086630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-21790573606076208802019-08-13T01:05:42.821-04:002019-08-13T01:05:42.821-04:00is dph an enthogen? is cough syrup? hmm?is dph an enthogen? is cough syrup? hmm?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08894194584361086630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-79455456895501721502019-08-11T15:20:27.064-04:002019-08-11T15:20:27.064-04:00Perhaps I was over-generalizing about mental illne...Perhaps I was over-generalizing about mental illness. From a strictly clinical perspective sanity is just a case of being well adapted to whatever society the person lives in. But I think where psychiatrists really drop the ball is in their refusual to judge society within the broader context of what's necessary for most humans to live fulfilling lives. In order to function in certain societies, the majority of people might be required to do all sorts of things that make them unhappy. But if people have to live a basically unhappy, unfulfilling life to function within this society, then maybe it's society that is sick while those who refuse to adapt to its demands are at least trying to live healthy lives. <br /><br />A good example of what I mean is the case of homosexuality. Until 1973, the DSM classified homosexuality as a disorder presumably because at that time homosexual behavior was at odds with society's expectations. If society expects everyone to be heterosexual, but some people insist on doing otherwise, then their behavior is dysfunctional. But is it? The truth is that plenty of gay men and women lived largely fulfilling lives before 1973 while at least giving the appearence of satisfying social expectations.The ones who didn't live fulfilling lives were, I suspect, those who actually tried to adapt to society's expectations and be heterosexual. Evidently, a person's 'sanity' is less a matter of conforming to their society than it is their ability to <b>appear</b> to conform while privately doing as they please. Hence, 'mental health' boils down to an individual's capacity to be a two-faced hypocrite.<br /><br />Another problem that arises from the social interpretation of mental health is that there are plenty of subcultures that are dysfunctional within the context of the broader culture they exist within. It may be perfectly sane within certain Christian subcultures to believe in demonic possession or the imminent end of the world, but within the context of the broader, secular society in which these groups exist, those beliefs can be very dysfunctional. Children die every year in this country because their parents deny them medical treatment on religious grounds. Other parents refuse to provide for their children's education because they think the world will have ended by the time their kids reach adulthood. These beliefs are obviously dysfunctional within the context of mainstream society, so why don't the psychiatrists condemn them as mentally disordered? <br /><br />The unpleasant truth is that many religious beliefs are, even by psychiatry's flexible definitions, literally insane; but psychiatrists don't want to admit it because they know just how much power the religious right wields in the U.S. and they're afraid to question the fundamental right to not only practice one's religion, but to impose it on others. To put it within perspective: when a business uses false advertising to sell products, it's illegal. When quack doctors sell snake oil, the legal consequences can be even more dire. But when religions make all sorts of outrageous promises to potential converts that they never, ever fulfill, no one charges them with false advertising. And when they give advice to gullible people that ends in medical emergencies, bankruptcy, or psychotic breakdowns, they are hardly ever brought to justice. <br /><br />Sorry for venturing way off topic, but I think it just needed to be said. Maybe you can post this one under one of your religious articles.<br />Syboknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-74523538018989775492019-08-11T09:45:59.216-04:002019-08-11T09:45:59.216-04:00I was aware that Western churches ban whatever the...I was aware that Western churches ban whatever they can't assimilate or co-opt, but I didn't know that even meditation or yoga (systematic exercise?) was forbidden. Christianity has its own limited version of prayer, but I suppose that "atheistic prayer," or meditation that's not being led by slavish references to Jesus would have to be sinful. <br /><br />I see now your reason for thinking that Christianity and perhaps theism in general are based on mental disorder. I don't know if that generalization can be sustained. Freud may have argued as much, that theism is wishful-thinking or based on mental projections, and so on. The problem with that kind of reductionistic view is that a so-called normal attitude or healthy-mindedness is likewise caused or brought into being, and the scientific, causal perspective gives us precisely zero resources for praising or condemning anything whatsoever. A causal explanation of theism as disordered or of human normality as ordered would be like the Buddhist's ego-less description of events as just happening due to their neutral interconnections or flow. <br /><br />In any case, the more specific claim I've certainly explored is that _American_ Christianity is liable to generate vast hypocrisy, because of the obvious conflicts between the New Testament and Americanism (American culture). Presumably, the cognitive dissonance caused by that conflict, and the stress involved in trying to pretend there's no such conflict could produce various mental disorders too. And this point about the conflict would hold for Christendom in general, or for all "Christian" empires. <br /><br />Just a note regarding the psychedelic articles: I haven't investigated the Santa Claus explanation and related matters enough to get a real sense of the probabilities, so these accounts of the psychedelic basis of specific religious traditions shouldn't, of course, be taken as certain, as far as I'm aware. Religion surely has various causes at different levels of analysis. Even the point about shamanism isn't decisive, because the shamans likely weren't the sole causes of animism. Animism had to do with a childlike, innocent, intuitive mode of perception in which prehistoric people freely projected their mental states onto everything else. Shamans and entheogens just helped navigate those waters. But some aspects of religion could easily have been inspired by the entheogen's intensification or distortion of consciousness. Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-32971194582981117192019-08-10T20:18:26.993-04:002019-08-10T20:18:26.993-04:00Those were some interesting articles. I knew Santa...Those were some interesting articles. I knew Santa Claus was pre-Christian, but I had no knowledge of the Siberian shamanic connection. I thought I knew the Bible pretty well, but I guess you have to know what to look for to catch the drug references. Maybe the burning bush was really a burning weed.<br /><br />Regarding drug induced experiences: I make a sharp distinction between hallucinations and blissful feelings. The blissful states I associate with genuine insight, but the hallucinations are just delusions as far as I'm concerned (at least I hope they are). Most religions seem to be based on drug or mental illness induced hallucinations, while mysticism arises from samadhi or other altered states. Both delusions and insight can arise from taking entheogens, but I think it's important to distinguish the two.<br /><br />When I said 'theism is a conspiracy to supress spirituality', maybe I should have replaced 'theism' with 'Christianity'. When I was a kid we were all warned by the adults that using meditation to empty the mind opens the door to demonic possession. This belief comes from a common interpretation of Matthew 13:43-45:<br /><br />"When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says: 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when it comes it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings back with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there..."<br /><br />Needless to say, I didn't heed their advice and, in a fit of imprudent, youthful enthusiasm, announced that I had meditated without any demonic repercussions; I wasn't believed (after all, isn't that exactly what a demonaic would say if he wanted to lure others into meditating). My mother then had what appeared to be a full-blown psychotic episode: She said that I was possessed by Satan and that I had threatened to kill her; that she had seen a demon in my room in the form of a two foot little man dressed in black and heard me consorting with demons at night. Since she had never done anything like this before (no history of schizophrenia), there was a time when I entertained the possibility that maybe she was right and I was possessed. But in the end I just couldn't accept it and I frankly don't believe in demons. But she believes to this day that I opened a door to the spirit world and in fact has never fully recovered from the mental illness that my meditation seems to have provoked in her. She blames my interest in meditation, but I blame Christianity for putting the idea in her head. Christianity is truly a disease; a psychic plague that needs to be purged from the earth before any lasting social progress can be made (and yeah, I know that makes me sound like a demonaic).<br /><br />This objection to meditation is not unique to Jehovah's Witnesses. It's pervasive throughout Christendom. Even as late as 2016 the Vatican's chief exorcist warned that meditation and yoga can lead to demonic possession. See the links below for a more comprehensive explanation written by a Christian.<br /><br />'Harry Potter and yoga are evil', says Catholic Church exorcist<br />https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/harry-potter/8915691/Harry-Potter-and-yoga-are-evil-says-Catholic-Church-exorcist.html<br /><br />Yoga's Terrifying Demonic Reality<br />http://patriotsandliberty.com/lindas-latest/2015/12/15/yogas-terrifying-demonic-reality<br /><br />Kundalini Rising Exposed<br />http://www.fmh-child.org/The_Nazarite/Kundalini_Rising.htmlSyboknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-36254289087736709882019-08-10T11:21:34.246-04:002019-08-10T11:21:34.246-04:00It’s interesting how “set and setting” help determ...It’s interesting how “set and setting” help determine the contents of the psychedelic trip. I suspect this need to purify your intentions, to fix your life to the point of not having much stress or anxiety before taking a strong psychoactive drug may be the origin of the theological idea of God’s judgment in the end times. The only verifiable “divine” judgment is when a shaman or initiate has the courage to take the entheogen, whereupon he or she will either have a good or a bad trip. The drug amplifies our prior mental states, so the trip effectively tests whether we’ve been naughty or nice. (The colours of Santa Claus’s outfit are the same as the fly agaric mushroom. Read the Inhabitat article linked below for a fascinating example of how religion eliminates authentic religious experience by co-opting the psychedelic tradition and offering up a bastardized shell in its place). <br /><br />I wonder which religions forbid meditation and yoga. There were underground Tantric movements in India, I believe, but I’d have thought yoga was developed by ascetics who were “banned” only in that they’d have voluntarily removed themselves from society.<br /><br />Mysticism would indeed be a late religious development, because it’s a type of subversive, parasitic, antisocial interpretation—“everything is one, so nothing really matters or we should all hold hands and stop fighting”—that has to be supported by a thriving civilization. The earliest psychedelic trips were taken by shamans (or by Paleolithic medicine men), and those trips were eminently practical. The shaman’s job was to use the religious experience to arrive at solutions to the tribe’s real-world problems, not just to sit there stoned and useless, to selfishly achieve moksha. Of course, many societies deserve to be subverted or renounced, but that’s another story.<br /><br />I agree that Yahweh began as a warrior sky god, not as anything like the Hindu ground of being (although Yahweh develops into that ground as Judaism became more and more monotheistic, in competition with Zoroastrianism). But the burning bush story still has those features in common with a cannabis high: the question-and-answer dialectic between the humbled ego and some omniscient mind, or at least the ecstatic trust you feel when these wild thoughts or “commandments” flow through your stoned, open mind.<br /><br />As to the historical origins, Islam and Christianity came from Judaism, of course; Judaism came from Canaanite religion, and that latter religion was heavily influenced by Egyptian and Mesopotamian religions. There’s some evidence that those latter cultures employed psychoactive substances (see the Ancient Origins link below). In any case, my main point here is broader: religions in general derive ultimately from prehistoric animism, which in turn was associated with the equivalent of shamanism, and shamans used psychoactive drugs to achieve altered states of consciousness. So indirectly, at least, the concepts of life after death and of invisible spirits that could be socialized with seem to originate from the bizarre mental projections or intensified intuitions featured in the psychedelic trip. <br /><br />There is some evidence of psychedelic trips in the Bible, though. See the excellent third article linked below. Ezekiel, for example, has a trippy vision of angels (Ezek. Chapt.1). Revelations, too, is pretty out there.<br /><br />https://inhabitat.com/santa-and-the-shrooms-the-real-story-behind-the-design-of-christmas/<br /><br />https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/new-research-provides-first-peek-ancient-mesopotamian-drug-use-009934<br /><br />https://akademiai.com/doi/full/10.1556/2054.2019.004Benjamin Cainhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00661999592897690031noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6320802302155582419.post-34227057043770040192019-08-09T22:36:47.537-04:002019-08-09T22:36:47.537-04:00Cannabis has been underrated as a psychedelic. I a...Cannabis has been underrated as a psychedelic. I ate two marijuana cookies once and the results were so mind-blowingly horrific that I vowed never to take the drug again. The whole five hour ordeal was like living through a Lovecraft story. I have also had many experiences like the one you describe here, but nearly all of them occured during meditation; the only one I had under the influence of any drug was when I drank some 16 year old shu puerh tea - but that could have been a coincidence.<br /><br />Organized theism could be defined as a conspiracy to suppress spiritual experiences. It's why they forbid not only drugs, but meditation and yoga. The charlatans who run these churches at least understand enough about psychedelic or spiritual experiences to know that no one who's experienced the real deal would ever have any interest in organized religion ever again. Having said that, there are a few exceptions such as the Quakers, Shakers and Pentecostals that do encourage members to enter altered states of consciousnees; though whether these sects can be described as 'organized' is debatable.<br /><br />I don't believe that the information received during altered states of consciousness is necessarily delusional. The delusion comes afterward when the subject tries to fit that experience within the narrow box of their belief system. If you study the mystical literature of various religions the common denominators stand out remarkably. Notice, however, that mysticism tends to be a later development in most cases. Muhammad may have heard the voice of Gabriel and Moses may have spoken to the burning bush, but there doesn't seem to be anything particularily mystical about these experiences. Yahweh was a fierce tribal deity, not some mystical ground of being. Allah is more universal than Yahweh, but he seems more like a mental projection of Muhammad's egoism than the kind of being the Sufis believe in. Mystics enter these altered states through either prayer or drugs and then go on to use religious language to describe the experience; but it doesn't follow from there that religion arose from these experiences. Theistic religion, in my opinion, is the product of either charlatanism or mental illness.Syboknoreply@blogger.com