Recently, Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at Hebrew University presented the hypothesis that Moses was high on drugs and hallucinating when receiving the ten commandments. He wrote:
As far Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don’t believe, or a legend, which I don’t believe either, or finally, and this is very probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics
There are a lot of problems with this theory. First, Shanon overlooks the possibility that it is simply an interpretation of natural events, a simple and clear explanation that works well with both science and history. Second, there is no good reason to assume that the event was not only legend, in fact it is both possible and likely. Finally, Shanon’s theory isn’t based on evidence, but blatant guesswork. The only “historical” record concerning Moses available is the bible, and that certainly does not discuss Moses’ stash.
Filed under: Archaeology, Archaeoporn, Pseudo-Science, Religion | Tagged: Benny Shanon, Drugs, Moses
I’m slightly confused:
“Second, there is no good reason to assume that the event was only legend, in fact it is both possible and likely.”
I’m in agreement with the second part of that sentence, if it means that the account of lawgiving could be merely a legend (I’d be in disagreement if it meant that the lawgiving incident itself is both possible and likely, i.e., historical) – and I’m puzzled by the first part, which asserts there’s no good reason to assume that very thing.
Forgive me – I sometimes read things over-literally and have a hard time finding my way out of the resulting confusion.
Thanks for the catch, I forgot one word, which really was quite important.
You are welcome. All is clear to me now. Thank you!
Forgive me for jumping in, but we know that people can reach other states of mind just by praying, or by being without food for awhile, and just maybe thats whats happened here, go out of your mind to find it as it were and meditate on somrthing and come up with clearer anwers to your problems, in this case how to mind a large group of people safely and get them home in one piece perhaps it is our higher mind that can talk to god, simple but maybe true a lot of these things are for practical reasons at the time
I’m sure Benny Shanon prides himself that he is an educated man…..in the field of cognitive psychology. I’m sure Benny also prides himself in the fact that he teaches at Hebrew University. The problem that Benny has is that he has a “carnal mind.” He may be educated as am myself…..but education has nothing to do with the interpretation of GOD’S word. Benny needs to become spiritually minded…and only Jesus can do that for him. Consider this verse: 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
I don’t think that the theory is as far fetched as it sounds – if you read the actual paper. Why wouldn’t the israelites have used psychoactive drugs to get closer to god, if they had them available – everyone else does, after all. And if they did, why wouldn’t that have influenced the myths and legends they developed?
I’ve written more at http://bhascience.blogspot.com/2008/03/moses-druggie-or-what.html
Well, the possibility exists, but from the position of an archaeologist or a biblical scholar, there is no evidence at all for such a supposition or the apparently religiously motivated reluctance to relegate Moses to mythic status.
Shanon completely ignores the generally accepted interpretations of the event found among scholars, creating a new one without actual evidence.
If the events at Sinai were powerful enough to inspire an entire nation to embrace concepts of justice and personal responsibility, while surrounded by cultures that were superstitious and fatalistic, than what Moses experienced was very real, whatever “it” was. The popular concept of God “working through” individuals like Moses to create divinely-inspired scripture involves a bearded white man sitting in heaven, whispering instructions in his earthly scribe’s ear. If this is the case, than God is an Egyptian, because many of the religious rites Moses handed down are identical to ones practiced in Egypt. So I propose that maybe God “works with” people and the cultures they understand, and that doesn’t make it any less divine; in fact, it makes it all the more amazing and beautiful that humans play their role in the divine plan.
What are the accepted interpretations, as a matter of interest? I wonder whether they necessarily conflict with the idea of a role for hallucinogens in early hebrew culture.
You don’t have to believe that the events described actually took place. From what he writes in the paper he’s secular himself, I think. His principal idea is that a given hallucinogen induces a characteristic effect, and that this will be reflected in the myths and legends told. Problem with the bible is that a lot of it is pretty trippy – I don’t have much confidence that he’s trawled through it objectively.
To give the guy credit, he accepts that it’s tendentious. But it’s worth floating out there as an idea. I don’t suppose that there’s any archaeological evidence though! Presumably there would be, at least if anyone had looked for it (chemical residues in the crockery, etc).
Once again…..he is operating from a “carnal mind” on spiritual matters….can’t be done.
The most commonly accepted interpretations are that the story represents either a legend of eponymous ancestry or that it represents an interpretation of natural events, thunder and lightening etc.
The law code itself is well recognized as originating from other traditions of the Near East, such as the Hittite law codes.
I’m not sure how much difference it makes whether or not the author is secular or that we can take his hypothesis seriously without believing “that the events described actually took place”. Basically, his hypothesis seems to boil down to something like this: if Moses existed — something for which we have little (no?) evidence aside from some record in religious texts — then it is not wholly incompatible with the other things we know about life / the world in those times that he might have been high. This doesn’t seem particularly tendentious to me, rather, it seems pretty much vacuous!
Well, he’s not just saying “Bible: that’s all a bit weird isn’t it? They must’ve been on drugs!”
What he does is give specific examples of the ‘miracles of moses’ and argues that they are similar to the specific effects of a combination of DMT and MAO. He makes the claim (which can be disputed) that a combination of DMT and MAO was available to them. He also says that all the talk of acacia wood (a source of MAO) in ceremonial items might be linked to this.
All of these should be taken with a hefty pinch of salt – criticised, but not necessarily dismissed as impossible. Most hypotheses start out sounding like a flight of fancy!
I don’t know whether Shanon thinks moses existed. Pretty unlikely as far as my knowledge of the subject goes. But the point is that somebody wrote this stuff. And they must have been inspired to write it by something. Oral tradition, to be sure. But oral tradition would have woven into it the experience of the tellers, as well as the individual doing the writing.
I agree with Tom Rees. For those that would like to watch Shanon’s hour long lecture on this topic (made four years prior to this publication) go to:
http://www.pot.tv/archive/shows/pottvshowse-2477.html
As I addressed in another post, there are problems with Tom’s argument.
Largely, and Shannon makes this point in his paper, that it doesn’t appear that the Israelites had access to the substance he proposed.