John Allegro's theory (Jesus was a mushroom)

a reply to: Astyanax

Hmm, I see what you are saying.
Although I don't fully understand the link you are making with the rape and violence against women and ancient cults.

Philology, as any study, is open to interpretation to a degree, and it relies a lot on finding out what was the cultural and social background of the time, as well as the study of the evolution of language.

As you said, only decades if not centuries after Christ, do we start having mass written accounts of the story of Jesus. (And many of them telling different stories each)
But as we know, in the time before these written accounts most information was mouth to mouth, adding to that fear of persecution. So I don't find it implausible that really all these names and ideas could very well be code for something else.
A bit like alchemy.

But in the end there are so many theories about anything out there, it's really pick and choose to find the one that best suits the individual. Or just keep searching.

I found it incredibly far-fetched, one of those theories based on the origins and meanings of words in different languages

Why would you think that the original meaning of a word couldn't possibly have any connection to it's present form? Just because you don't like a theory doesn't automatically invalidate it.

a reply to: Astyanax

Yes, you would not find any documentation to indicate this kind of funny business because it was a secret. When it had to be written down it was done so in code. At least that's the way his theory goes...

Anyway, I'd like to learn more about this and how he came to his conclusions. I wonder if this priesthood is still around in some form? Does the Vatican or any other group have a connection to shrooms? Whether jesus was or wasn't a mushroom, mushrooms could still be involved... is that what healed the sick and cured blindness? Or maybe an initiate who has completed his journey through the mushroom realm was given powers or wisdom to cure things? I don't know, with mushrooms and religion there are so many possibilities!

Thanks for sharing bud!

a reply to: athousandlives

Well considering the effects that psychotropic drugs such as magic mushrooms have on the pineal gland and its links to altered states of consciousness one has to wonder? Certainly contains as much credibility as any other organized religious ideas and I imagine any experience gained would be of a personal nature.

I understood John Allegro was one of a group of Catholic Priests who had the Dead Sea Scrolls and were translating them. They kept all other scholars away from these scrolls for years before the Israeli's took that part of town and helped themselves to what was left of the scrolls that hadn't been removed to Rome.

What is interesting is that few of those priests stayed in the Catholic Church after working on the Scrolls. With the hold of information exacted by the Vatican, I doubt we have much of the real scrolls except those that were OK'd in Rome because the leaving the church by the priests would not have happened over the ones we actually have access to today. (also the wealth mentioned in them has already been removed, make of it what you want).

All ancient cultures had their form of achieving altered states of consciousness which they regarded as religious/ancestor worship experiences. The linkage between Shamanism and the religion we have today is Zoroastrianism and there we have the first of a continual linage of holy men/prophets running down through the ages in various cultures basically giving the same instructions and stories.

We know there is no reliable reference to Christ having ever lived, except from Christians - which should alert us as he certainly would have been mentioned frequently in Roman records - but he's not. We now have the Gnostic Gospels which tell us a story of a man who taught the public as a Rabbi general religious teachings and his own select group of disciples secret teachings. The argument between Christianity and its Christ is that he was a God. However in Zoroastrianism he is born of a mother and father with the essence of a god being in the water. This is the bit the Church doesn't want people to find out. So Christ being a mushroom is simply a joke except for many that is/was their idea of God and who is anyone to say they are wrong - you can't prove it?

Someone mentioned St John and Revelation, if they do their research they will find that the island was 'renowned for its plants!'

a reply to: athousandlives

Although I don't fully understand the link you are making with the rape and violence against women and ancient cults.

Yes, I should have explained that better. There's no connexion with The Sacred Musnroom and the Cross.

I meant that philological 'studies' are often used by people who have a racial, sectarian or chauvinist agenda that is unreasonable or based on false premises, because with a little imagination you can make philology do whatever you want.

a reply to: Shiloh7

He wasn't a Catholic, although he did start attending a Methodist Ministry before changing his career to Oriental Studies and Hebrew and Greek. I'm guessing it's because of both his religious and languages background that he was invited to work on the scrolls.
I too believe a massive amount of information has been withheld, especially after Allegro's ridicule after he published his part of the findings. After all they did find over 900 texts between 1946 and '56! Thats 60 years ago.

Wow, I have that book around here somewhere, forgot all about it.

a reply to: Astyanax

I get it, and I agree to a point. The thing is, unfortunately, anyone can take any information backed by some 'authority' be it religion, science, politics, history, philology or whatever, make it your ideology and abuse it as you see fit. Isn't that what happens everywhere?

a reply to: andy06shake

Well here at ATS I've read my share of threads on religion, pineal glands and altered states of consciousness, lol.
And I agree, my impression is that yeah, it's all about the personal experience. What you experience and how you react to it, define the ultimate, uhm, EXPERIENCE?
Peace