Ethics

Israelites and Hallucinogens

By Adam Kolber

Benny Shanon (Psychology, Hebrew University) suggests that the biblical Israelites may have been high on a hallucinogen available in the Sinai desert that led them to have certain spiritual experiences.  From a Reuters article:

The thunder, lightning and blaring of a trumpet which the Book of Exodus says emanated from Mount Sinai could just have been the imaginings of a people in an "altered state of awareness," Shanon hypothesized.

"In advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is accompanied by profound religious and spiritual feelings," Shanon wrote.

"On such occasions, one often feels that in seeing the light, one is encountering the ground of all Being ... many identify this power as God."

Full post as published by Neuroethics and Law on March 05, 2008 (boomark / email).