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OK, now, Brian, you've probably dealt with questions like this. At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biolo. The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name BRIAN MURARESKU: Right. And I just happened to fall into that at the age of 14 thanks to the Jesuits, and just never left it behind. We call it ego dissolution, things of that nature. And what we find at this farmhouse is a sanctuary that Enriqueta Pons herself, the archaeologist who's been on site since 1990, she calls it some kind of sanctuary dedicated to the goddesses of the mysteries. You may have already noticed one such question-- not too hard. Mark and Brian cover the Eleusinian Mysteries, the pagan continuity hypothesis, early Christianity, lessons from famed religious scholar Karen Armstrong, overlooked aspects of influential philosopher William James's career, ancient wine and ancient beer, experiencing the divine within us, the importance of "tikkun olam"repairing and . But let me say at the outset that it is remarkably learned, full of great historical and philological detail. The Tim Ferriss Show. So you lean on the good work of Harvard's own Arthur Darby Nock, and more recently, the work of Dennis McDonald at Claremont School of Theology, to suggest that the author of the Gospel of John deliberately paints Jesus and his Eucharist in the colors of Dionysus. But I realized that in 1977, when he wrote that in German, this was the height of scholarship, at least going out on a limb to speculate about the prospect of psychedelics at the very heart of the Greek mysteries, which I refer to as something like the real religion of the ancient Greeks, by the way, in speaking about the Eleusinian mysteries. Now I understand and I appreciate the pharmaceutical industry's ability to distribute this as medicine for those who are looking for alternatives, alternative treatments for depression and anxiety and PTSD and addiction and end of life distress. Thank you for that. So that's from Burkert, a very sober scholar and the dean of all scholarship on Greek religion. And she talks about kind of being born again, another promise from John's gospel. And so I don't think that psychedelics are coming to replace the Sunday Eucharist. BRIAN MURARESKU: We can dip from both pies, Dr. Stang. For me, that's a question, and it will yield more questions. It still leaves an even bigger if, Dr. Stang, is which one is psychedelic? So I'm not convinced that-- I think you're absolutely right that what this establishes is that Christians in southern Italy could have-- could have had access to the kinds of things that have been recovered from that drug farm, let's call it. CHARLES STANG: All right. So there's a house preserved outside of Pompeii, preserved, like so much else, under the ash of Mount Vesuvius's eruption in the year 79 of the Common Era. Brendon Benz presents an alternative hypothesis to recent scholarship which has hypothesized that Israel consisted of geographical, economic . 44:48 Psychedelics and ancient cave art . And so with a revised ancient history, in place Brian tacks back to the title of our series, Psychedelics and the Future of Religion. BRIAN MURARESKU: Right. And so in the epilogue, I say we simply do not know the relationship between this site in Spain and Eleusis, nor do we know what was happening at-- it doesn't automatically mean that Eleusis was a psychedelic rite. What was being thrown into it? Let's move to early Christian. So imagine how many artifacts are just sitting in museums right now, waiting to be tested. And that's all I present it as, is wonderfully attractive and maybe even sexy circumstantial evidence for the potential use of a psychedelic sacrament amongst the earliest Christians. Psychedelics are a lens to investigate this stuff. And what about the alleged democratization with which you credit the mysteries of Dionysus, or the role of women in that movement? Mark and Brian cover the Eleusinian Mysteries, the pagan continuity hypothesis, early Christianity, lessons from famed religious scholar Karen Armstrong, overlooked aspects of influential philosopher William James's career, ancient wine and ancient beer, experiencing the divine within us, the importance of " tikkun olam "repairing and improving I mean, this is what I want to do with some of my remaining days on this planet, is take a look at all these different theories. Pagan Continuity and Christian Attitudes: When did Paganism End? There have been really dramatic studies from Hopkins and NYU about the ability of psilocybin at the end of life to curb things like depression, anxiety, and end of life distress. CHARLES STANG: So in some sense, you're feeling almost envy for the experiences on psychedelics, which is to say you've never experienced the indwelling of Christ or the immediate knowledge of your immortality in the sacrament. And did the earliest Christians inherit the same secret tradition? Theories of Origins about Witch Hunts - King's College And we had a great chat, a very spirited chat about the mysteries and the psychedelic hypothesis. Now, it doesn't have to be the Holy Grail that was there at the Last Supper, but when you think about the sacrament of wine that is at the center of the world's biggest religion of 2.5 billion people, the thing that Pope Francis says is essential for salvation, I mean, how can we orient our lives around something for which there is little to no physical data? Continuity theory - Wikipedia And I describe that as somehow finding that key to immortality. But we do know that the initiates made this pilgrimage from Athens to Eleusis, drunk the potion, the kykeon, had this very visionary event-- they all talk about seeing something-- and after which they become immortal. So I present this as proof of concept, and I heavily rely on the Gospel of John and the data from Italy because that's what was there. They were mixed or fortified. I'm going to stop asking my questions, although I have a million more, as you well know, and instead try to ventriloquist the questions that are coming through at quite a clip through the Q&A. I mean, if Burkert was happy to speculate about psychedelics, I'm not sure why Ruck got the reception that he did in 1978 with their book The Road to Eleusis. That's our next event, and will be at least two more events to follow. The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name Here's the big question. PDF Thesis-The Religion of Constantine I - University Of Ottawa CHARLES STANG: Right. I mean, that's obviously the big question, and what that means for the future of medicine and religion and society at large. What about Jesus as a Jew? It seems to me, though, that the intensity and the potency of the psychedelic experience is of an order of magnitude different than what I may have experienced through the Eucharist. Just from reading Dioscorides and reading all the different texts, the past 12 years have absolutely transformed the way I think about wine. I understand the appeal of that. Now, Mithras is another one of these mystery religions. But if the original Eucharist were psychedelic, or even if there were significant numbers of early Christians using psychedelics like sacrament, I would expect the representatives of orthodox, institutional Christianity to rail against it. They did not. 40:15 Witches, drugs, and the Catholic Church . So I see-- you're moving back and forth between these two. If beer was there that long ago, what kind of beer was it? And she talks about the visions that transformed the way she thinks about herself. Brian has been very busy taking his new book on the road, of course, all online, and we're very grateful to him for taking the time to join us this evening. Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2023 Psychedelics Today: Mark Plotkin - Bio-Cultural Conservation of the Amazon. So frankly, what happens during the Neolithic, we don't know, at least from a scientific vantage. I think it's important you have made a distinction between what was Jesus doing at the Last Supper, as if we could ever find out. And that's where oversight comes in handy. It would have parts of Greek mysticism in it, the same Greek mysteries I've spent all these years investigating, and it would have some elements of what I see in paleo-Christianity. Not because it's not there, because it hasn't been tested. And the quote you just read from Burkert, it's published by Harvard University Press in 1985 as Greek Religion. The Immortality Key has its shortcomings. Administration and supervision endeavors and with strong knowledge in: Online teaching and learning methods, Methods for Teaching Mathematics and Technology Integration for K-12 and College . Then what was the Gospel of John, how did it interpret the Eucharist and market it, and so on. I also sense another narrative in your book, and one you've flagged for us, maybe about 10 minutes ago, when you said that the book is a proof of concept. The pagan continuity hypothesis at the heart of this book made sense to me. And Brian, once again, thank you so much. There's a moment in the book where you are excited about some hard evidence. And there were probably other Eleusises like that to the east. 7:30 The three pillars to the work: the Eucharist as a continuation of the pharmako and Dionysian mysteries; the Pagan continuity theory; and the idea that through the mysteries "We can die before we die so that when we die we do not die" 13:00 What does "blood of Christ" actually mean; the implied and literal cannibalism I go out of my way, in both parts of the book, which, it's divided into the history of beer and the history of wine, essentially. There was an absence of continuity in the direction of the colony as Newport made his frequent voyages to and . Because very briefly, I think Brian and others have made a very strong case that these things-- this was a biotechnology that was available in the ancient world. And when we know so much about ancient wine and how very different it was from the wine of today, I mean, what can we say about the Eucharist if we're only looking at the texts? A combination of psychoactive plants, including opium, cannabis, and nightshade, along with the remains of reptiles and amphibians all steeped in wine, like a real witch's brew, uncovered in this house outside of Pompeii. And I started reading the studies from Pat McGovern at the University of Pennsylvania. Like savory, wormwood, blue tansy, balm, senna, coriander, germander, mint, sage, and thyme. So this is the tradition, I can say with a straight face, that saved my life. BRIAN MURARESKU: Right. Liked by Samuel Zuschlag. His aim when he set out on this journey 12 years ago was to assess the validity of a rather old, but largely discredited hypothesis, namely, that some of the religions of the ancient Mediterranean, perhaps including Christianity, used a psychedelic sacrament to induce mystical experiences at the border of life and death, and that these psychedelic rituals were just the tip of the iceberg, signs of an even more ancient and pervasive religious practice going back many thousands of years. In the afterword, you champion the fact that we stand on the cusp of a new era of psychedelics precisely because they can be synthesized and administered safely in pill form, back to The Economist article "The God Pill". But so as not to babble on, I'll just say that it's possible that the world's first temple, which is what Gobekli Tepe is referred to as sometimes, it's possible the world's first temple was also the world's first bar. These sources suggest a much greater degree of continuity with pre-Christian values and practice than the writings of more . I don't think we have found it. So again, if there were an early psychedelic sacrament that was being suppressed, I'd expect that the suppressors would talk about it. I don't know why it's happening now, but we're finally taking a look. I'd never thought before about how Christianity developed as an organized religion in the centuries after Jesus' murder. There's evidence of the mysteries of Dionysus before, during, and after the life of Jesus, it's worth pointing out. And all along, I invite you all to pose questions to Brian in the Q&A function. #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian Mysteries, Discovering the Divine, The Immortality Key, The Pagan Continuity Hypothesis, Lessons from Scholar Karen Armstrong, and Much More by The Tim Ferriss Show Show Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and Conservation podcast, Ep Plants of the Gods: S4E2. And the big question is, what is this thing doing there in the middle of nowhere? You see an altar of Pentelic marble that could only have come from the Mount Pentelicus quarry in mainland Greece. And I'm happy to see we have over 800 people present for this conversation. But you will be consoled to know that someone else will be-- I will be there, but someone else will be leading that conversation. The book was published by Saint Martin's Press in September 2020 and has generated a whirlwind of attention. By which I mean that the Gospel of John suggests that at the very least, the evangelist hoped to market Christianity to a pagan audience by suggesting that Jesus was somehow equivalent to Dionysus, and that the Eucharist, his sacrament of wine, was equivalent to Dionysus's wine.