rsine69
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Israeli Study: Moses Was High on Drugs
When Moses climbed high onto Mount Sinai and heard God deliver the 10 Commandments, was he high on drugs?
Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, thinks that he was, since mind-altering drugs were an integral part of religious rites of the Israeli people during biblical times, reports Agence France Presse.
"As far as 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.
It doesn't end there. Shanon also thinks that Moses was on drugs when he saw the "burning bush."
He explained to Israeli public radio, "The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a classic phenomenon" of some types of hallucinogenic drugs. For example, drugs are used during religious ceremonies in the Amazon that induce people to "see music."
Shanon knows firsthand of what he speaks. The professor visited Brazil's Amazon forest in 1991 and during a religious ceremony there used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant. "I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations," Shanon recalls, noting that the psychedelic effects of ayahuasca are similar to those produced by concoctions based on the bark of the acacia tree, which is frequently mentioned in the Bible.
The study findings were reported in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy.
--From the Editors at Netscape
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3/9/2008, 8:26 am
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Lesigner Girl
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Re: Israeli Study: Moses Was High on Drugs
I just finished reading that on Netscape's site.  I can see where psychotropic drugs might inspire someone to make up such stories or actually believe he experienced them. Of course, that wouldn't explain how a guy could know the names of places he hadn't seen and that hadn't been named by the time of his death, and also talk about them in past tense, but I don't believe the main character of the story wrote it anyway. 
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3/9/2008, 2:57 pm
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Lesigner Girl
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Re: Israeli Study: Moses Was High on Drugs
I've never done any truly mind-altering substances, but I've heard a few horror stories.
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3/9/2008, 7:45 pm
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Kourtesan
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Re: Israeli Study: Moses Was High on Drugs
It will influence.
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3/9/2008, 8:01 pm
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Lesigner Girl
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Re: Israeli Study: Moses Was High on Drugs
jinzleftbuttcheek said:
I think the author was on drugs........mumble... mutter...
Huh? I didn't say nut'n LG! *insert halo*
Maybe they all were. 
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3/9/2008, 10:08 pm
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