Wow this thread has certainly been a hive of activity.
I just wanted to mention that you will now need a RATS subscription to view the thread I am refering to.

I've never looked at this thread before because I thought from the title that it was probably just a nice welcome note followed by other nice welcome notes.

When the thread jumped to the top of the list, I clicked on it. When I saw John Allegro's name I thought, 'oh goody!'. That guys's ideas, The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross, fascinate me. Then I clicked on your link to the other thread and was disappointed to come up with "This page no longer exists." What a bummer.

As an aside I wish Mr. Marrs could spend more time on these forums. I don't expect machine gun style typing like John Lear, but a Marrs posting is a comparatively rare thing, though much appreciated when it occurs.

[edit on 21-1-2008 by ipsedixit]

Howdy Twitchy,

Oh, boy, you want me to get involved in quasi-religious debates and discussions of extropy? Are you trying to get me into trouble? Remember that I live in the Bible Belt and to question the inerrancy of the Holy Book can get you dragged behind a pickup truck. But, seriously, I try to steer clear of religious arguments because I feel each individual has the right to believe in whatever he or she wants, no matter how dumb or unsupported that may be. Now, just between you and me, I think John Allegro was one of the few men working with the Dead Sea Scrolls who was not totally compromised or bought by religious authorities. I feel his description of the Copper Scroll as a treasure map was correct. I cannot prove this but I strongly suspect that the French aristocrats of Cathar heritage had such a scroll, most probably obtained from the loot that Alaric the Goth brought back to the Pyrenees Mountains following his sacking of Rome in about 400 C.E. This prompted these aristocrats and their relative, St. Bernard, to foment the First Crusade, which resulted in the capture of Jerusalem and the eventual birth of the Knights Templar. And I don’t want to start any arguments but reflect on this: There were only three religious groups of Jews in Jesus’ time – the Pharisees, the Sadducees and the Essenes. Jesus spoke out against the Pharisees and the Sadducees but, strangely, there is nothing in the Bible about, much less against, the Essenes. If Jesus had spoken out against the Essenes, you can bet that the religious authorities would have left this in as they would have relished an attack on what they considered religious competitors. Each Jew of the time had to belong to one of these groups, so it seems reasonable to infer that Jesus, if not a card-carrying Essene, was at least very familiar with their teachings and philosophies. But, of course, all serious debate and study of what actually occurred in Palestine 2,000 years ago was cut short at the Council of Nicea and buried by the emerging Roman Church. So hard truth is hard to find. Terence McKenna’s theories of novelty and time waves are most interesting but seems to miss the understanding becoming prevalent in quantum physics that each second in time branches into endless possible time waves or timelines. We know only the point where our consciousness exists because our consciousness is like the old phonograph needle touching only one of the many time “grooves” or timelines. And all this exists together in a vast universal energy grid or as Einstein called it, the Unified Field. By the way, this explains why the spiritual masters apparently are quite correct when they tell us that we are all parts of the whole. When you do unto others, you really are doing unto yourself as well. Whew, it’s almost midnight, too late for such deep thinking --- at least without a few beers.

Adios,
Jim

P.S. to Ipsedixit: I too wish I could spend more time on this forum but some of us have to work for a living, have a family to care for, chores to do and never enough time to get it all done. But I’ll try harder.