Religion born in the flesh of a fungus?

A lot of you may have seen reports of a recent study where the effects of the
Psilocybe family of mushrooms, produced "spiritual" or "mystical" experiences
in the test subjects.

From one report:

What's more, most of the 36 adult participants -- none of whom had taken psilocybin before -- counted their experience while under the influence of the drug as "among the most meaningful and spiritually significant experiences of their lives," Griffiths said. Most said they became better, kinder, happier people in the weeks after the psilocybin session -- a fact corroborated by family and friends.

Entire report from Health Central.com
'Magic Mushroom' Drug Study Probes Science, Spirituality


The study is also labeled as controversial, due to the illegality of the substance.
I have to admit that I laughed when I first read this.
I laughed, because the first thing that came to my mind was an image of every "Shaman" who ever lived, anywhere on the planet, say "no kidding"..!

What do you think of this report?
And what do you think of Psychedelics being the possible triggers of Human spirituality movements all over the world?

I say, 'No kidding!'

queenie
You're such a shaman..

Or is it "shawoman"...Shaperson?

Definitely '-man'

Gender is only skin deep!



But true beauty grows in the dark forest.

Duh!!

I had just hit 'post reply' and then clarity dawned!


The scarab beetle! Life from dung!!! Of course! The cycle of life=organic eternity.

Get it?

Well, ive heard theories where the psilocybin mushroom may have been the "forbiden fruit" of the Bible. Who knows, all i know is tripping has been studied a lot by the government and then they made it illegal. Duno, one of life's little mysteries.

Scyman,

I have read things to that effect as well.
If there were such a thing as a fruit of "enlightenment" something like this might fit the bill.

I'm a little surprised a the lack of response on this.

How would it make you feel if it were determined that gods, the human soul, spirituality in general, were nothing more than the result of mind altering mushrooms?

Originally posted by spacedoubt
How would it make you feel if it were determined that gods, the human soul, spirituality in general, were nothing more than the result of mind altering mushrooms?

How about this:

The potential result of the temporary alteration of mind induced by ingestion of toxic mushrooms is a permanent heightened awareness and certainty of spirituality, which alters the soul.

??

I do think that the report that you showed for the testing of the occurrance's of the religious aspect is nesseccary for the population as a whole, but at the same time, "I grew up in the late 60's early 70's ,nuf said!!"
But I thought I would contribute to the cause none the less, "If that is alright?"

In the United States, hallucinogens are classified as Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act because they are considered to have high abuse liability and to be of no therapeutic value. The Schedule I classification gives rise to the common assumption that the hallucinogens have no value of any type, or no net value relative to their risks. Yet psychoactive plants having hallucinogenic effects have been valued for thousands of years in many cultures, in structured contexts, for their ability to facilitate spiritual (i.e., mystical/transcendent) experiences (Schultes and Hofmann 1992). The phenomenology of such mystical experiences has been well-described and, as discussed below by Dr. Hood, can be reliably measured. Many scholars of religion believe that "naturally-occurring" mystical experiences, often occasioned by prayer, fasting, solitude or other austerities, have provided the bedrock phenomenological foundation for most of the world's religions (Smith 2000). That is, the founders of many religions had profound mystical experiences on which they based their teachings.

And here is the source:

www.csp.org...

BTW, "What prompted you to look into this particular area of research anyway?"

I would like to expand on this post..

in ezekiel(sp?) right before he sees those wheels within wheels, he is told to eat something...
The 'forest' people used to cover their mushrooms in honey, so it tasted sweet... but it turned your stomach.. (anyone who's taken them knows)... idigenous people LOVE LOVE LOVE honey, because it is one of the only things that is sweet in the forest, and they use it for lots of things, covering and making their mushrooms more tastey isn't out of the question then, which would fit perfectly with the scripture...

aside from that, NN-'___' is released everynight when we sleep, we NEED it, or we don't function properly. Hence the problem with insomniacs..

Allred5923

Thanks for your contribution.
In the short term, I was prompted to post this because I just read the article, on various websites. It was current news..

Now, in the long term. I've always been fascinated by Paleo-Homo Sapiens.
Supposedly around for about 100,000 years..Carrying around this big fat brain.
A big brain wired for so much more than spearing game, and digging roots.
Probably the first brain capable of taking an inner journey.

I've been curious about the "brinks".
What were we like, at the brink of the first cities, and civilizations.
The brink of religion and spirituality, what was the spark?