http://www.egodeath.com/EntheogenTheoryOfReligion.htm — properly
formatted copy
The Entheogen Theory of Religion and Ego Death
by Michael S. Hoffman
April 24, 2006 draft
Salvia Divinorum, Issue 4
Contents
The Entheogen Theory of Religion:
Origins of Christianity in Entheogenic Initiation
Sociopolitical Strategy of Canonical Christianity
Altered State Integrated into Ancient Culture
Modernity a Single-State Culture
Freedom for Higher-Order Religion
Role of Democracy for Ecstatic Danger
Initiation as Natural Developmental Sequence
The Entheogenic Future of Religion
The Dissociative Cognitive State:
Restructuring Enabled by Loose Association Binding
Splitting of Representation and Referent Layers
The Moving Control-Agent as Mental Construct
Religious Effects of Salvia Divinorum
Myth Describes Dissociative Phenomena
The Block Universe and Frozen Worldlines:
Time as a Space-like Dimension
Physical Fastening of All Thoughts and Actions
Fixed Worldlines of Subjective Experiencing
Religion as Accommodation to Everything Being Pre-set
Vertical, Timeless Determinism
Two Jumps to Transcend Determinism
Fatedness and Control in Astral Ascent Mysticism
Self-Control and the Hidden Source of Thoughts:
The Goal of Understanding Ego Death
Deliberately Postulating Coming Control-Loss
The Control Breakdown Potential as a Problem
Transcendent Solution to Restoring Viable Control
Sin as Misattribution of Control-Thoughts
Wrath, Compassion, and Making Peace
Sacrificing to End Battling the Thought-Source
Vertical Atonement for Rebellion-Guilt
The Sacred Marriage
Bibliography
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The Entheogen Theory of Religion
The entheogen theory of religion holds that the main origin and
ongoing wellspring of religion is visionary plants, such as Psilocybe
mushrooms, Peyote, Ayahuasca combinations, Cannabis, Opium, Henbane,
Datura, Mandrake, Belladonna, ergot, and Amanita mushrooms.
Visionary plants have been commonly used around the world throughout
the history of religion and culture (Hofmann, Schultes, & Ratsch
1992), including in the various forms of Western Esotericism (Heinrich
1994). Greek and Christian mythic-religious systems often refer to
visionary plants (Ruck, Staples, & Heinrich 2001). Leading mystics
throughout the history of various religions have used on-demand,
visionary-plant sessions with rationality-oriented mystic-state
experiencing (Merkur 2001).
Meditation, shamanic drumming, and liturgical ritual were developed as
activities to do in the plant-induced dissociative state, not as
methods of inducing the dissociative state in the first place.
Origins of Christianity in Entheogenic Initiation
The extent of entheogen use throughout Christian history has barely
been considered yet (Hoffman 2006). Early Christianity involved
mystical, religious, visionary experiencing, including the experience
of the transformative, transcendent power of the Holy Spirit at
Eucharistic agape meals (Johnson 1998). Early Christian writings show
familiarity with ecstatic mania, inspiration, elevated sobriety, and
"drunkenness" (Nasrallah 2003).
The Jesus figure is portrayed in the New Testament as a
spirit-possessed altered-state shamanistic healer (Davies 1995). The
figure of Paul the Apostle is portrayed as a shamanistic mystic
(Ashton 2000), and the apostles are portrayed as adepts in shamanic
altered-state mystic experiencing (Pilch 2004).
Solving the riddle of the original mystic-metaphorical meaning of
Christianity requires also understanding the surrounding metaphorical
altered-state initiation systems throughout Christian history,
including Roman religion, Neoplatonism, Western Esotericism, and
astral ascent mysticism.
The large window of the Legend of Eustace in Chartres cathedral shows
many 'mushroom trees', including clear depictions of mushrooms;
hundreds of depictions of mushrooms appear in Christian art (fig. 1).
Sociopolitical Strategy of Canonical Christianity
The New Testament editors utilized the era's standard mastery of
mystic-state metaphor and the altered-state experience of communal
unity to direct the Jewish mystic-metaphor system into the figure of
Jesus, profitably sweeping together the various quasi-Christian
groups. They claimed themselves to have been appointed as the
administrators of the Eucharistic gatherings by Jesus, who they
portrayed as having been around just long enough to commission them
exclusively with all authority.
Jesus and all the apostles were entirely and strictly mythic (Doherty
1999, Drews 1924). The figure of Paul served as a controverted
authorial token (Detering 1995). The authors and redactors of the
writings attributed to Paul don't mention any biographical information
about the life of Jesus because the gospel story was a later, literary
creation, based on many sources, including Roman imperial ruler cult,
Josephus' writings, and Hellenistic literature.
Mystic revelation about self-will nullity was so routine, Roman
imperial theology utilized the mystic-state revelation to legitimate
the Roman sociopolitical arrangement. Christianity essentially charged
the Roman system with mysticism-abuse and became popular as an
counter-narrative about how the entheogen-accessed mystic revelation
should be used for sociopolitical concerns.
Altered State Integrated into Ancient Culture
The entheogenic altered state was integrated into culture, using
metaphor to map all domains together, including banquets and parties,
games, civic procession to a sacrificial altar, punishment, release of
captives, sport, taxation, alliances, and war.
A common standard "banqueting tradition" practice with reclining at
table while drinking 'mixed wine' ran across many seemingly disparate
cultural practices throughout antiquity (Smith 2003). 'Mixed wine' was
the central, reliable means of accessing the intense mystic altered
state throughout antiquity. Ancient 'mixed wine' specifically meant
visionary-plant mixtures (Ruck 1978), such as Psilocybe mushroom wine.
If Electric Kool-Aid in an Acid Test type of gathering were switched
with 'mixed wine' in a Hellenistic symposium, neither party would
notice much difference.
Socrates' initiation of elite youths outside official democratic
channels carried political implications and risks, because ancient
politics and religion were deliberately interlinked by mystic-state
experiencing.
Modernity a Single-State Culture
The adept use and comprehension of metaphor faded after the battle
between politicized Christianity and Scientism around 1700, leaving a
long-term standoff between mystically neutered religious literalism
versus exclusively ordinary-state-based Science. The culturally
predominant type of religion in the modern era neutralized and reduced
the traditional initiation system by a combination of
non-transformative surface ritual and intellectual speculation based
only in the ordinary cognitive state.
The modern cultural experience resulted from the predominance of the
ordinary cognitive state. The lack of culturally integrated
altered-state initiation caused the egoic mental world-model, based in
only a single cognitive state, to become completely predominant.
Authentic initiation is widely present in modern culture, including
art, literature, religion, and popular culture, but is not integrated
into the official culture; for example, the song "Help!" written by
John Lennon, the album Ride the Lightning by Metallica, and the Matrix
movie series.
Freedom for Higher-Order Religion
Lower-order religion is derivative, limited to mundane conduct-of-life
doctrine suited for the ordinary state of consciousness; the
higher-order version of each religion is primary and is concerned with
dissociative-state phenomena, particularly the ecstatic transformation
of personal control-agency concepts, resulting in re-attribution of
the origin of one's will and thoughts.
The drug schedules and the involved worldview are out of touch with
religion. Laws against psychoactives amount to blanket laws against
primary religious experiencing; such laws stand in the way of the
religious revelation about control-system limits and dependence on the
transcendent. The ever-expanding drug schedules directly conflict with
the only kind of religious freedom that amounts to specifically
religious freedom; that is, freedom to regularly and ergonomically
access primary religious experiencing. The system of schedules is not
from God, but is an invention that ignores the central role of
visionary plants in religion, multi-state cognitive psychology, and
the innate human drive to self-transcendence.
The essence of religious freedom is specifically the freedom to
reliably access mystic-state consciousness, as in early, house-church
Eucharistic agape meals, the ancient banqueting tradition, and the
mystery religions, all of which utilized psychoactive plants as their
central sacrament. As long as modern culture forbids itself the true,
ergonomic Eucharist, legislating against the entheogen-based ecstatic
heart of religion, religious freedom is restricted to selecting among
various brands of lower-order religion; higher-order religion is
effectively outlawed and placed off-limits, out of reach.
The spiritual essence of religion is precisely the testing and
culmination of autonomous personal control-agency through consuming
the entheogenic sacrament; suppressing entheogens because of their
danger is inherently an illegalization of authentic religion, and
amounts to obstructing the only religious freedom that is meaningful
in a specifically religious sense.
Role of Democracy for Ecstatic Danger
The proper role for representative democracy regarding drugs is to
work out how visionary plants and psychoactive substances are to be
healthily integrated into American culture, making dissociative-state
religious initiation as ergonomic and as safe as possible. Drugs are
not a problem to be eliminated and suppressed, but a means of maturing
to be channeled.
The Supreme Court of the United States has recognized the legitimacy
of Peyote and Ayahuasca in worship; these plants have the same effects
as LSD and Psilocybe mushrooms, including causing the person's power
of will and power of self-control to become seized, then restored in a
religiously transformed configuration.
The threat of the encounter with the power of the divine is the threat
of loss of control of one's thoughts when studying self-knowledge in
the ecstatic state. This inherent danger of entheogens, a danger
inherent in the encounter with the power that transcends our personal
control of our will, is mitigated by having a systematic theory about
the nature of self-control agency, in conjunction with mastering the
skilled use of entheogens and understanding how past cultures have
accommodated this necessary danger which is the gateway to mature
religious knowledge.
Initiation as Natural Developmental Sequence
Greek and non-modern cultures integrated an altered-state-based series
of initiations. Initiation classically combines a series of
visionary-plant sessions with learning perennial philosophy, followed
by subsequent religiously integrated dissociation such as symposium
"drinking-party" associations, festival banquets, and Eucharistic
agape meals, all of which used visionary-plant mixtures.
Entheogenic religious initiation was a prerequisite for symposium
banqueting, so that participants were experienced. The banqueting
tradition including symposium "drinking parties" included prayer and
sacrifices; social recreation and religious experiencing were not
opposed activities.
The intention of a recreational or other non-religious user of
entheogens is commonly overcome by the inherently entheogenic nature
of the visionary plants, including revealing how personal control
depends on a source of thoughts outside one's domain of control – a
realization which is the gateway to religion. Young adults naturally
seek initiatory transformation; the modern culture of Prohibition
demands that they suppress this drive and permanently stunt their
growth, settling into the non-initiate's mindset for life, foregoing
enlightenment and religious revelation.
The Entheogenic Future of Religion
Ergonomic tools such as systematized theory and controllable
entheogens in post-modernity will make the mystic state common
knowledge again, but more explicitly and systematically than in
antiquity. Salvia divinorum makes the dissociative-state experience
accessible, practical, and ergonomic. With the systematic ego death
theory in hand, there is no need for heroic doses of psychoactives;
moderate dosage is most effective.
New, culturally intelligible metaphor-systems will result from
culturally integrated agency-transformative entheogen use, including
self-control cybernetics.
The religio-political philosophy in the spirit of the U.S.A. is to
accept entheogens, accept culturally supported self-control seizure,
accept the transcendent as the ultimate ruler or governor, but reject
all earthly systems of government as being divinely authorized or
approved.
Drug plants will be revived as the authentic vehicle for the mystic
state in communal religion, because they are immediately available to
all people and fully ergonomic. Christianity will reawaken to its
original idea of applying altered-state-based mental worldmodel
transformation (about time, self, and control) and
experiential-insight revelation toward providing an alternate
sociopolitical idea, configuration, or counter-narrative to all
attempts to abuse mystic-state revelation by utilizing mysticism to
prop up worldly systems of sociopolitical governments claiming to be
divinely mandated.
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