So thank you, all who have hung with us. And if it's one thing Catholicism does very, very well, it's contemplative mysticism. I know that that's a loaded phrase. difficult to arrive at any conclusive hypothesis. But clearly, when you're thinking about ancient Egypt or elsewhere, there's definitely a funerary tradition. So whatever was happening there was important. Maybe I'm afraid I'll take the psychedelic and I won't have what is reported in the literature from Hopkins and NYU. So, although, I mean, and that actually, I'd like to come back to that, the notion of the, that not just the pagan continuity hypothesis, but the mystery continuity hypothesis through the Vatican. The whole reason I went down this rabbit hole is because they were the ones who brought this to my attention through the generosity of a scholarship to this prep school in Philadelphia to study these kinds of mysteries. He's talking about kind of psychedelic wine. So back in 2012, archaeologists and chemists were scraping some of these giant limestone troughs, and out pops calcium oxalate, which is one of these biomarkers for the fermentation of brewing. But this clearly involved some kind of technical know-how and the ability to concoct these things that, in order to keep them safe and efficacious, would not have been very widespread, I don't think. I mean, that's obviously the big question, and what that means for the future of medicine and religion and society at large. The answer seems to be connected to psychedelic drugs. CHARLES STANG: My name is Charles Stang, and I'm the director of the Center for the Study of World Religions here at Harvard Divinity School. That is about the future rather than the ancient history. When you start testing, you find things. I wish that an ancient pharmacy had been preserved by Mount Vesuvius somewhere near Alexandria or even in upper Egypt or in Antioch or parts of Turkey. There's some suggestive language in the pyramid texts, in the Book of the Dead and things of this nature. These were Greek-- I've seen them referred to as Greek Vikings by Peter Kingsley, Vikings who came from Ionia. First I'll give the floor to Brian to walk us into this remarkable book of his and the years of hard work that went into it, what drove him to do this. Despite its popular appeal as a New York Times Bestseller, TIK fails to make a compelling case for its grand theory of the "pagan continuity hypothesis with a psychedelic twist" due to. Let's move to early Christian. It seems entirely believable to me that we have a potion maker active near Pompeii.
Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin: The Eleusinian Mysteries Klaus Schmidt, who was with the German Archaeological Institute, called this a sanctuary and called these T-shaped pillars representations of gods. 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.
The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name So what evidence can you provide for that claim? 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. They were relevant to me in going down this rabbit hole. And I think it's proof of concept-- just proof of concept-- for investing serious funding, and attention into the actual search for these kinds of potions. Those religions featured psychedelic beer and ceremonies lead by women . Here is how I propose we are to proceed. CHARLES STANG: Brian, I wonder if you could end by reflecting on the meaning of dying before you die. And I think it does hearken back to a genuinely ancient Greek principle, which is that only by fully experiencing some kind of death, a death that feels real, where you, or at least the you you used to identify with, actually slips away, dissolves. So how exactly is this evidence of something relevant to Christianity in Rome or southern Italy more widely? What's significant about these features for our piecing together the ancient religion with no name? I appreciate this. Little attempt has been made, however, to bridge the gap between \"pagan\" and \"Christian\" or to examine late antique, Christian attitudes toward sexuality and marriage from the viewpoint of the \"average\" Christian. Examine the pros and cons of the continuity theory of aging, specifically in terms of how it neglects to consider social institutions or chronically ill adults. It tested positive for the microscopic remains of beer and also ergot, exactly the hypothesis that had been put forward in 1978 by the disgraced professor across town from you, Carl Ruck, who's now 85 years old, by the way. "@BrianMuraresku with @DocMarkPlotkin The Eleusinian Mysteries, Discovering the Divine, The Immortality Key, The Pagan Continuity Hypothesis, Lessons from Scholar Karen Armstrong, and Much More" Please enjoy! There is evidence that has been either overlooked or perhaps intentionally suppressed. That they were what you call extreme beverages. Despite its popular appeal as a New York Times Bestseller, TIK fails to make a compelling case for its grand theory of the "pagan continuity hypothesis with a psychedelic twist" due to recurring overreach and historical distortion, failure to consider relevant research on shamanism and Christianity, and presentation of speculation as fact I mean, about 25 years ago, actually. I mean, so it was Greek. So that's something else to look into. Was there any similarity from that potion to what was drunk at Eleusis? CHARLES STANG: OK. Now let's move into the Greek mystery. BRIAN MURARESKU: Great question. I have a deep interest in mysticism, and I've had mystical experiences, which I don't think are very relevant. You mentioned there were lots of dead ends, and there certainly were. They are guaranteed an afterlife. And I want to say that this question that we've been exploring the last half hour about what all this means for the present will be very much the topic of our next event on February 22, which is taking up the question of psychedelic chaplaincy. And maybe therein we do since the intimation of immortality.
Psychedelics Weekly - Prince Harry and Psychedelics, Proposed But things that sound intensely powerful. And I'm not even sure what that piece looks like or how big it is.
The Immortality Key Book Summary by Brian C. Muraresku They followed Platonic (and other Greeks) philosophy. Including, all the way back to Gobekli Tepe, which is why I mentioned that when we first started chatting. Maybe I have that wrong. What does it mean to die before dying? Now, I don't put too much weight into that. 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 She found the remains of dog sacrifice, which is super interesting. And my favorite line of the book is, "The lawyer in me won't sleep until that one chalice, that one container, that one vessel comes to light in an unquestionable Christian context.". Well, wonderful. And her answer was that they'd all been cleaned or treated for conservation purposes. And I don't know if there's other examples of such things. As much as we know about the mysteries of Eleusis. BRIAN MURARESKU: Right. You see an altar of Pentelic marble that could only have come from the Mount Pentelicus quarry in mainland Greece. Tim Ferriss Show #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin: The Eleusinian Mysteries, Discovering the Divine, The Immortality Key, The Pagan Continuity Hypothesis, Psychedelics, and More. And I wonder whether the former narrative serves the interests of the latter. I want to thank you for your candor. You won't find it in many places other than that. . It's this 22-acre site of free-standing limestone, some rising 20 feet in the air, some weighing 50 tons. CHARLES STANG: All right. So I don't write this to antagonize them or the church, the people who, again, ushered me into this discipline and into these questions. And the second act, the same, but for what you call paleo-Christianity, the evidence for your suspicion that the Eucharist was originally a psychedelic sacrament.
Leonardo Torres Pagan, PhD - Subject Matter Expert & Editor - LinkedIn The continuity hypothesis of dreams suggests that the content of dreams are largely continuous with waking concepts and concerns of the dreamer. 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. And then at some point they go inland. He's joining us from Uruguay, where he has wisely chosen to spend his pandemic isolation. CHARLES STANG: You know, Valentinus was almost elected bishop of Rome. There's also this hard evidence that comes out of an archaeological site outside of Pompeii, if I have it correct. I don't think we have found it. So that's from Burkert, a very sober scholar and the dean of all scholarship on Greek religion. So I really follow the scholarship of Enriqueta Pons, who is the archaeologist on site there, at this Greek sanctuary that we're talking about in Catalonia, Mas Castellar des Pontos. And I just happened to fall into that at the age of 14 thanks to the Jesuits, and just never left it behind. And to be quite honest, I'd never studied the ancient Greeks in Spain. So why refrain? Here's the proof of concept. And I started reading the studies from Pat McGovern at the University of Pennsylvania. In fact, something I'm following up on now is the prospect of similar sites in the Crimea around the Black Sea, because there was also a Greek presence there. Oh, I hope I haven't offended you, Brian. So the big question is, what kind of drug was this, if it was a drug? And so the big hunt for me was trying to find some of those psychedelic bits. So the Eastern Aegean. OK-- maybe one of those ancient beers. And I, for one, look forward to a time when I can see him in person for a beer, ergotized beer or not, if he ever leaves Uruguay. BRIAN MURARESKU: Now we're cooking with grease, Dr. Stang. So Brian, I wonder, maybe we should give the floor to you and ask you to speak about, what are the questions you think both ancient historians such as myself should be asking that we're not, and maybe what are the sorts of questions that people who aren't ancient historians but who are drawn to this evidence, to your narrative, and to the present and the future of religion, what sort of questions should they be asking regarding psychedelics? What does that have to do with Christianity? There's John Marco Allegro claiming that there was no Jesus, and this was just one big amanita muscaria cult.
#649: Rick Rubin, Legendary Music Producer The Creative Act 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?
Mona Sobhani, PhD (@monasobhaniphd) / Twitter Continuity Questions - 36 Questions About Continuity - QuestionDB General Stanley McChrystal Mastering Risk: A User's Guide | Brought to you by Kettle & Fire high quality, tasty, and conveniently packaged bone broths; Eight Sleep. Now, I mentioned that Brian and I had become friends.
Tim Ferriss Show Podcast Notes I mean, what-- my big question is, what can we say about the Eucharist-- and maybe it's just my weird lens, but what can we say about it definitively in the absence of the archaeochemstry or the archaeobotany?
Continuity Hypothesis - Keith E Rice's Integrated SocioPsychology Blog #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian And I hear-- I sense that narrative in your book. A profound knowledge of visionary plants, herbs, and fungi passed from one generation to the next, ever since the Stone Age? But what I hear from people, including atheists, like Dina Bazer, who participated in these Hopkins NYU trials is that she felt like on her one and only dose of psilocybin that she was bathed in God's love. You might find it in a cemetery in Mexico. And if the latter, do you think there's a good chance that religions will adopt psychedelics back into their rituals?". Now, Mithras is another one of these mystery religions. And why, if you're right that the church has succeeded in suppressing a psychedelic sacrament and has been peddling instead, what you call a placebo, and that it has exercised a monstrous campaign of persecution against plant medicine and the women who have kept its knowledge alive, why are you still attached to this tradition? But unfortunately, it doesn't connect it to Christianity. BRIAN MURARESKU: Right. But it just happens to show up at the right place at the right time, when the earliest Christians could have availed themselves of this kind of sacrament. And so I don't think that psychedelics are coming to replace the Sunday Eucharist. BRIAN MURARESKU: OK. And so with a revised ancient history, in place Brian tacks back to the title of our series, Psychedelics and the Future of Religion. What about all these early Christians themselves as essentially Jews?
Two Reviews of The Immortality Key - Graham Hancock 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 Although she's open to testing, there was nothing there. #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 Brought to you by GiveWell.org charity research and effective giving and 5-Bullet Friday, my very own email newsletter. But we at least have, again, the indicia of evidence that something was happening there. So in the mountains and forests from Greece to Rome, including the Holy Land and Galilee. I write it cognizant of the fact that the Eucharist doesn't work for many, many people. 55 This is very likely as it seems that the process had already started in the 4th century. I'm not sure many have. Several theories address the issue of the origin of the Romanians.The Romanian language descends from the Vulgar Latin dialects spoken in the Roman provinces north of the "Jireek Line" (a proposed notional line separating the predominantly Latin-speaking territories from the Greek-speaking lands in Southeastern Europe) in Late Antiquity.The theory of Daco-Roman continuity argues that the . 474, ?] Books about pagan continuity hypothesis? CHARLES STANG: Right. That's only after Constantine. And much of the evidence that you've collected is kind of the northern half of the Mediterranean world. There he is. Why don't we turn the tables and ask you what questions you think need to be posed? I mean, something of symbolic significance, something monumental.
Phil's Picks | Phoenix Books So the mysteries of Dionysus are a bit more of a free-for-all than the mysteries of Eleusis. So your presentation of early Christianity inclines heavily toward the Greek world. And so if there is a place for psychedelics, I would think it would be in one of those sacred containers within monastic life, or pilgrims who visit one of these monastic centers, for example. [texts-excerpt] penalty for cutting mangroves in floridaFREE EstimateFREE Estimate I mean, I asked lots of big questions in the book, and I fully acknowledge that. In 1950, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote " The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity " which describes the continuity from the Pagan, pre-Christian world to what would become early Christianity in the decades and centuries before Jesus Religion & Mystical Experiences, Wine I'm currently reading The Immortality Key by Brian Muraresku and find this 2nd/3rd/4th century AD time period very interesting, particularly with regards to the adoptions of pagan rituals and practices by early Christianity.