Psychedelics and regious visions.

[there4eyeM]

Is it not likely, if not totally obvious, that so many 'revelations' in so many religions are the product of altered states of consciousness, often induce by ingesting natural substances?

 

[Moonglow]

it is no secret that even the Jews had their LSD like tree bark...

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Is it not likely, if not totally obvious, that so many 'revelations' in so many religions are the product of altered states of consciousness, often induce by ingesting natural substances?

Many in tribal religions are. Judaeo-Christian-Islamic accounts though don't sound like psychedlic experiences though. I've done lots of acid and never did I have a religious experience. I think religious experiences on hallucinogenics will be the norm if you're already religious, but absent if not as in my own case.

Some of the apocryphal texts in Judaism sound more like modern accounts of encounters with UFOs and aliens in fact. Book of Enoch for example. Doubt that's what happened though as the technology of ancient China could fit too but goes largely overlooked and unremarked by most commentators.

 

[there4eyeM]

"Psychedelics and Religious visions"; sorry for the typo.

Burning bushes that speak, fiery chariots, angels and a great deal of the book of 'Revelations' could all easily fit into the description of 'hallucinations'. The interesting thing about these altered states is that they are just as real as 'unaltered', after all. There is nothing to say that what was 'seen' was not true. Perhaps only to and for that 'seer', but true nonetheless.
I think this could also account for many other world views of religions, not just Biblical ones. The Egyptian pantheon is filled with fantastic creature/humans that could have come from the psyche of a holy person/shaman in religious ecstasy.
Many of the precepts that settled into cultures around the world could easily have had their source in such experiences, and become laws.

 

[BluePhantom]

Is it not likely, if not totally obvious, that so many 'revelations' in so many religions are the product of altered states of consciousness, often induce by ingesting natural substances?

Well there is some evidence for this. When consulting the oracles, for example, a virgin would take some form of intoxicant. Essentially, they would get her stoned and she would babble incoherently and a priest would interpret the message from the god. As far as visions in Judeo-Christian apocalypticism (Daniel, Revelation, etc), I don't think so. I don't think they were recording actual visions so much as using symbolism to make a point. That was just one of the characteristics of ancient apocalyptic literature.

 

[there4eyeM]

Fasting will get you to an altered state as will deep meditation. The point is that once these enter the ritual and the culture, they become the rigid principles and discourage or forbid others to have their own 'revelations'.

 

[Snouter]

Christ, the Jews had nothing but racist idiocy. Absolutely no psychedelics.

 

[hobelim]

Fasting will get you to an altered state as will deep meditation. The point is that once these enter the ritual and the culture, they become the rigid principles and discourage or forbid others to have their own 'revelations'.

If you take drugs instead of fasting for forty days and forty nights it isn't a real hallucination....

 

[there4eyeM]

'Hallucinations' are a very democratic thing; if two people are present and one sees something the other doesn't, who is hallucinating?
How can you say what someone experiences alone is a hallucination? If you are there, you still only have your point of perceptions. If three or more are there, we can have a consensus.
Of course, that could also be a subject of debate...

 

[there4eyeM]

Christ, the Jews had nothing but racist idiocy. Absolutely no psychedelics.

You say that as if that made them different from their neighbors.

 

[hobelim]

'Hallucinations' are a very democratic thing; if two people are present and one sees something the other doesn't, who is hallucinating?

Its probably the guy with the tie-dye shirt and bongos walking around barefoot in the streets of the city.

 

[hobelim]

Is it not likely, if not totally obvious, that so many 'revelations' in so many religions are the product of altered states of consciousness, often induce by ingesting natural substances?

What seems to be the common revelation received by people in altered states of consciousness is that the normal state of consciousness for the majority of people is complete insanity.

 

[there4eyeM]

'Hallucinations' are a very democratic thing; if two people are present and one sees something the other doesn't, who is hallucinating?

Its probably the guy with the tie-dye shirt and bongos walking around barefoot in the streets of the city.

What guy? I don't see him!

 

[Abishai100]

Imagery Instagram

Native-Americans use peyote (a hallucinogen) to evoke religious experience.

Americans use vigilantism-themed comic book characters such as Daredevil (Marvel Comics) to celebrate populism excitement (maybe media is a new daydream drug).

When ethnic minorities in America wear masks and costumes for Halloween, the popular festival of self-disguise, do they feel they are indulging in euphoria about identity-sharing contracts (or friendship)?

Aldous Huxley wrote that when we have euphoric images/hallucinations of the eternal or the mysterious, it helps us conceptualize aspirations towards Heaven and angst about Hell.

When I watch the iconic American horror film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" (1974), which presents the story of wandering teenagers encountering a demonic cannibalistic maniac named Leatherface who wears a mask made of human skin and wields a terrifying chainsaw, I imagine eco-activists making sentiment personalization statements such as, "Maybe Leatherface would rather use a chainsaw to kill people instead of ripping down Earth's trees."

What if God actually wants us to fantasize about escape?





The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Film)

 

[hangover]

Is it not likely, if not totally obvious, that so many 'revelations' in so many religions are the product of altered states of consciousness, often induce by ingesting natural substances?

A study done on a group of church goers, half were given psilocybin, the other half a placebo, then went and listened to a sermon. the ones on psilocybin said they felt the presence of God.

Remembering the Marsh Chapel Experiment The Quad

 

[there4eyeM]

The probability is great that profound religious experiences have been the result of altering the state of consciousness through various means. This doesn't mean they are not genuine, just that perhaps more of us should experiment and reach our own revelations.