Israeli researcher says Moses was high on drugs

[Highlifeman21]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080304...NYGQs3ZL4DW7oF

JERUSALEM (AFP) - 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 the Hebrew 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.

Oh that Moses....

[camisadelgolf]

Wait, wait, wait . . . so let me get this straight . . .

Moses, according to books written hundreds of years ago by people dumber than the people of today, is a man who supposedly:

changed a rod into a serpent
inflicted and healed leprosy
changed water into blood
overran Egypt with frogs
was largely responsible for the Red Sea being parted so he and his people could pass through more easily
held up a rod of God that enabled the Israelites to defeat the Amalekites, cure Israelites of snake bites, make water suddenly appear by tapping a stone, etc.
lived to 120 years old
was buried by God Himself

. . . and he might have been on drugs? No way.

[SunDeck]

On the third, never before seen, tablet:

"Thou shalt not partake of the brown acid."

"Bogart not that joint."

"Thou shalt share the bong water with thy neighbor."

"Thou shalt not party on the seventh day, unless there be a previously scheduled reggae concert."