The Pharmacratic Inquisition
I watched this video a couple of days ago I found it very interesting. I have listened to some Terrance McKenna who had the theory that it was psychedlic mushrooms that were a cause for the expansion of the human brain. So this video takes it a step further.
I thought it was very interesting.
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Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
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mckenna at first glance seems like a nut job lol
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A tragedy really.
Eh, have all the soma one would like...watch out for the fly algaric though.. -
Never done mushrooms myself. -
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I do not see what it has to do with this subject though -
Wow...this looks like as much of a slap as if people would say that Witches worship the dev....oh wait, nevermind.
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So I guess one missed the Walpergisnacht festivities?
:wink2:
Actually, this could prove to be a good topic for discussion if participants did not go out of their way to go over the top. -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
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Fin D, Ohiophinphan and Dol-Fan Dupree like this.
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Ohiophinphan likes this.
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And what would be a good topic, the OP or this? :lol: -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
A discussion of pharmacology and drug use definately has a place in the discussion of history. Some kind of fungus in wheat or rye may well have played a role in the French revolution. To assume it has first place seems to me to be a simplistic reading of any history or faith.Pagan likes this. -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
That it would also have roots in an earlier "nature" festival is not surprising. Many feasts and festivals in central Europe have multiple threads of history. -
I do think it is sad that we will never know the true origins of the modern day faiths due to the fact that anything that is "against" church doctrine would just be dismissed for various reasons.Den54 likes this. -
We celebrate Beltane this time of year.Ohiophinphan likes this. -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
I can't think of anything in Judeo-Christian-Islamic history that even suggests drug use. That doesn't seem to work for Egypt or the Mesopatamian faiths either, though there is some use of "hemp" in rituals later in history. Wine and "strong drink" (i.e.beer) were the drugs of choice in those cultures. If your authors were talking about India, China, South America, or sub-Saharan Africa, they would strike me as more credible.
Likewise many Judeo-Christian scholars today suggest Abraham is not one chgracter but a compilation of herioc figures. Again not a popular position among the faithful but it gets serious study.
I perfer to think issues of faith arise out of divine revelation but even if you choose not to believe that then doesn't it make sense that they arise out of a longing to explain why things are the way they are and attempts to control nature instead of arising from folks getting high?
I don't mind the quest for truth, it will lead where it leads. I find wild generalizations by groups with their own agenda to start with (The name "gnostic" in the title suggests a strong bias to start with) to not move the truth along very much and is at the root of my objections in this thread.finyank13 and MikeHoncho like this. -
Also to your point before it, I do not see a difference as getting high does expand's one ability to think of why things the way they are and are a way of controlling nature. Most of the human experience is about getting high. There is the high that is from a substance such as alchohol, "drugs" or certain types of food or there is the high we get from experiences, such as love, religion or even seminars.
I have been to seminars with all of the fun jumping and shouting and high fiving. The rush after I was done was amazing. It is such an amazingly high experience.
The same for those mega-churches that people go to with the singing and the dancing and the healing. All about getting that religious high. It is really no different than taking a drug since a lot of the time the same chemicals released from each of the activities. -
My point is basically that "getting high" in a religious context is different than "getting high" for escape.
in the western world we get high for an escape. -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
If that were happening within either the major faith (here for example any of the Abrahamic faiths) or within their opponents it would be mentioned either directly or indirectly within their sacred texts. An example of that would be the treatment of the use of alcohol which is challenged in both Hebrew and Christian scriptures and banned in the Koran. There is no comparable reaction to any use of hallucinagenics (sic) in any of the three's holy writ. -
However, overall the usage would seem hindered by the fact there was not a huge selection of food items that could be psychotropic in that region as say compared to the Rainforrest in S America or Central and Western America.
The area of Babylon did have the Soma mushrooms available, however preperation was left to the priests of that kingdom, "Joe Babylon" was more of a malted beer drinker. -
An example of this actually playing out is the Peruvian Whistling Vessels. They are thought of to be something of religious importance, however they stopped using them when the Spanish landed on the shores. The amazing part is the fact that none of the spaniards saw a trace of the vessels and none of their writting has any mention of them at all. The only reason we know they are important is by digging up graves and finding one burried with nearly every person they dug up.
Here was something that was of great importance to the people, however nothing was written about it. -
Ohiophinphan Chaplain Staff Member Luxury Box
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Sounds like another Zeitgeist.
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