And Moses Said: i am a golden god!People have sure leapt on the story about how Moses may have been under the influence when he went up Mount Sinai, but while it is interesting to note the importance given to one possibly
psychoactive plant—acacia—in the Bible, there are a lot of gaps. Israeli Researcher Benny Shanon—author of one of the best phenomenological studies of the psychedelic experience—has suggested in an academic article (and a resultant slew of radio interviews) that certain plants native to Sinai contain the same psychoactive ingredients as the Amazonian shamanic plant medicine ayahuasca (described in a recent Jewcy article by yours truly). Whoa, Nellie—here are three simple reasons why the "Moses on Drugs" theory is nothing to get high about:
- Most (secular) Biblical scholars say the Exodus never happened anyway; it was a legend told by one group of Canaanites to create a distinct identity for themselves. Shanon has taken the weird position that the Exodus did happen, though it was not supernatural. Ergo, some explanation is needed. Ergo, ergot (or DMT).
- The "similarities" between the ayahuasca experience and Mount Sinai are slim and stretched. Yes, ayahuasca leads to visions and spiritual epiphanies. It also leads to apparent encounters with spirits (forbidden by the Torah), complex visual revelations (mostly absent in the Torah, but present in Ezekiel and Hechalot mysticism), and a lot of nausea (curiously absent in the Torah's narrative). Worse, many popular press reports on Shanon's article have lumped the psilocybin and ayahuasca experiences together, when actually they're very different.
- What is all this trying to prove? That Moses was "merely" stoned? That Western religion came from a psychedelic experience? (Terrence McKenna said that decades ago.) Or, conversely, that psychedelics lead to God? (Ram Dass got that one.) None of this is new: I've seen articles suggesting the knei bosem in the sacred incense is cannabis, and McKenna has an interesting riff that the tree of life is a mushroom. Is this supposed to "explain" the Exodus narrative like low tides "explain" the parting of the Red Sea? Why is such an "explanation" useful? Isn't it easier to just assume the whole thing is a legend?
Related: New Psychedelics Are Transforming The Future Of Spirituality