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. And I feel like I accomplished that in the afterword to my book. Please materialize. So we're going down parallel paths here, and I feel we're caught between FDA-approved therapeutics and RFRA-protected sacraments, RFRA, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or what becomes of these kinds of substances in any kind of legal format-- which they're not legal at the moment, some would argue. But it was not far from a well-known colony in [INAUDIBLE] that was founded by Phocians. Did the ancient Greeks use drugs to find God? And I guess my biggest question, not necessarily for you, but the psychedelic community, for what it's worth, or those who are interested in this stuff is how do we make this experience sacred? First, the continuity of the offices must be seen in light of the change of institutional charges; they had lost their religious connotations and had become secular. But curiously, it's evidence for a eye ointment which is supposed to induce visions and was used as part of a liturgy in the cult of Mithras. So that's something else to look into. So your presentation of early Christianity inclines heavily toward the Greek world. Although she's open to testing, there was nothing there. 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. Copyright 2023 The President and Fellows of Harvard College, The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name. After the first few chapters the author bogs down flogging the Pagan Continuity Hypothesis and exulting over his discovery of small scraps of evidence he found in a decade of research. So thank you, all who have hung with us. And that that's how I-- and by not speculating more than we can about the mystical supper, if we follow the hypothesis that this is a big if for some early communities of Greek speakers, this is how I'm finding common ground with priests both Catholic and Orthodox and Protestants. BRIAN MURARESKU: I'm bringing more illumination. 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. 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. All right, so now, let's follow up with Dionysus, but let's see here. We know that at the time of Jesus, before, during, and after, there were recipes floating around. 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. Eusebius, third into the fourth century, is also talking about them-- it's a great Greek word, [SPEAKING GREEK]. It was one of the early write-ups of the psilocybin studies coming out of Johns Hopkins. And did the earliest Christians inherit the same secret tradition? And then at some point they go inland. BRIAN MURARESKU: Now we're cooking with grease, Dr. Stang. Maybe I have that wrong. This event is entitled, Psychedelics, The Ancient Religion With No Name? So, I mean, my biggest question behind all of this is, as a good Catholic boy, is the Eucharist. The Immortality Key - Book Review and Discussion - Were early - Reddit BRIAN MURARESKU: I would say I've definitely experienced the power of the Christ and the Holy Spirit. CHARLES STANG: Wonderful. Then there's what were the earliest Christians doing with the Eucharist. And I think we get hung up on the jargon. CHARLES STANG: Brian, I wonder if you could end by reflecting on the meaning of dying before you die. And I wonder whether the former narrative serves the interests of the latter. And I just happened to fall into that at the age of 14 thanks to the Jesuits, and just never left it behind. . Did the potion at Eleusis change from generation to generation? BRIAN MURARESKU:: It's a simple formula, Charlie. An Exploration of Religion: An Interview with Brian Muraresku So listening right now, there's at least one orthodox priest, there's at least one Catholic priest, an Episcopalian, an Anglican, and several others with whom I've been talking in recent months. So there's a whole slew of sites I want to test there. I'm paraphrasing this one. What's the wine? What was the real religion of the ancient Greeks? At Cambridge University he worked in developmental biolo. #649: Rick Rubin, Legendary Music Producer The Creative Act I imagine there are many more potion makers around than we typically recognize. For those who didn't have the time or the money or the temerity to travel all the way to Eleusis from Spain, here's your off-site campus, right? In the first half, we'll cover topics ranging from the Eleusinian Mysteries, early Christianity, and the pagan continuity hypothesis to the work of philosopher and psychologist William James. All he says is that these women and Marcus are adding drugs seven times in a row into whatever potion this is they're mixing up. The Immortality Key - David Bookstaber It's arguably not the case in the third century. Because ergot is just very common. Thank you, sir. So whatever was happening there was important. To some degree, I think you're looking back to southern Italy from the perspective of the supremacy of Rome, which is not the case in the first century. Books about pagan continuity hypothesis? So the big question is, what kind of drug was this, if it was a drug? Here's another one. It's really quite simple, Charlie. It was a pilgrimage site. That there is no hard archaeobotanical, archaeochemical data for spiked beer, spiked wine. Liked by Samuel Zuschlag. Brought to you by So the closer we get to the modern period, we're starting to find beer, wine mixed with interesting things. You also find a Greek hearth inside this sanctuary. CHARLES STANG: Yeah. Because they talk about everything else that they take issue with. And I-- in my profession, we call this circumstantial, and I get it. Origin of the Romanians - Wikipedia I write it cognizant of the fact that the Eucharist doesn't work for many, many people. So we move now into ancient history, but solidly into the historical record, however uneven that historical record is. 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 So here's a question for you. 32:57 Ancient languages and Brian's education . BRIAN MURARESKU: Good one. #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian They followed Platonic (and other Greeks) philosophy. And Brian, it would be helpful for me to know whether you are more interested in questions that take up the ancient world or more that deal with this last issue, the sort of contemporary and the future. CHARLES STANG: All right. Here's the big question. There's a good number of questions that are very curious why you are insisting on remaining a psychedelic virgin. Where does Western civilization come from? So what have you learned about the Eleusinian mysteries in particular since Ruck took this up, and what has convinced you that Ruck's hypothesis holds water? But the point being, if the Dionysian wine was psychedelic-- which I know is a big if-- I think the more important thing to show here in this pagan continuity hypothesis is that it's at least plausible that the earliest Christians would have at the very least read the Gospel of John and interpreted that paleo-Christian Eucharistic wine, in some communities, as a kind of Dionysian wine. Psychedelics are a lens to investigate this stuff. Because at my heart, I still consider myself a good Catholic boy. Pagan Continuity and Christian Attitudes: When did Paganism End? I've no doubt that Brian has unearthed and collected a remarkable body of evidence, but evidence of what, exactly? I'm happy to argue about that. I was satisfied with I give Brian Muraresku an "A" for enthusiasm, but I gave his book 2 stars. And Dennis, amongst others, calls that a signature Dionysian miracle. 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. "The Jews" are not after Ye. And even Burkert, I think, calls it the most famous of the mystery rituals. and he said, Brian, don't you dare. #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian 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. And there were probably other Eleusises like that to the east. Brian is the author of a remarkable new book that has garnered a lot of attention and has sold a great many copies. BRIAN MURARESKU: I'm asked this question, I would say, in pretty much every interview I've done since late September. And I'm trying to reconcile that. BRIAN MURARESKU: Right. And according to Wasson, Hofmann, and Ruck, that barley was really a code word. These were Greek-- I've seen them referred to as Greek Vikings by Peter Kingsley, Vikings who came from Ionia. So somewhere between 1% and 49%. So this is the tradition, I can say with a straight face, that saved my life. And to be quite honest, I'd never studied the ancient Greeks in Spain. Who were the Saints? What was discovered, as far as I can tell, from your treatment of it, is essentially an ancient pharmacy in this house. I mean, something of symbolic significance, something monumental. I think the wine certainly does. Books about pagan continuity hypothesis? : r/AskHistorians - reddit I think the only big question is what the exact relationship was from a place like that over to Eleusis. Thank you all for joining us, and I hope to see many of you later this month for our next event. And I want to-- just like you have this hard evidence from Catalonia, then the question is how to interpret it. Reviewed in the United States on January 29, 2023 I wonder if you're familiar with Wouter Hanegraaff at the University of Amsterdam. I am so fortunate to have been selected to present my thesis, "Mythology and Psychedelics: Taking the Pagan Continuity Hypothesis a Step Further" at. 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? This book by Brian Muraresku, attempts to answer this question by delving into the history of ancient secret religions dating back thousands of years. So let's talk about the future of religion, and specifically the future of Roman Catholicism. So what I think we have here in this ergtotized beer drink from Catalonia, Spain, and in this weird witch's brew from 79 AD in Pompeii, I describe it, until I see evidence otherwise, as some of the very first heart scientific data for the actual existence of actual spiked wine in classical antiquity, which I think is a really big point. And I think we're getting there. It draws attention to this material. Richard Evans Schultes and the Search for Ayahuasca 17 days ago Plants of the Gods: S3E10. So I think it's really interesting details here worth following up on. Now, I think you answered that last part. And I think that's an important distinction to make. Revolutionary Left Radio: Early Christianity: Psychedelics, Ancient And so I don't think that psychedelics are coming to replace the Sunday Eucharist. And maybe therein we do since the intimation of immortality. That's staying within the field of time. And now we have a working hypothesis and some data to suggest where we might be looking. And when Houston says something like that, it grabs the attention of a young undergrad a bit to your south in Providence, Rhode Island, who was digging into Latin and Greek and wondering what the heck this was all about. That's only after Constantine. The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: 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 (#646) - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss 3 Annual "Best of" Apple Podcasts 900+ Million episodes downloaded Now, the great scholar of Greek religion, Walter Burkert, you quote him as musing, once-- and I'm going to quote him-- he says, "it may rather be asked, even without the prospect of a certain answer, whether the basis of the mysteries, they were prehistoric drug rituals, some festival imp of immortality which, through the expansion of consciousness, seemed to guarantee some psychedelic beyond." The actual key that I found time and again in looking at this literature and the data is what seems to be happening here is the cultivation of a near-death experience. To become truly immortal, Campbell talks about entering into a sense of eternity, which is the infinite present here and now. What about Jesus as a Jew? 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 that's what I get into in detail in the book. I mean, in the absence of the actual data, that's my biggest question. 18.3C: Continuity Theory - Social Sci LibreTexts And nor did we think that a sanctuary would be one of the first things that we construct. Or maybe in palliative care. And then was, in some sense, the norm, the original Eucharist, and that it was then suppressed by orthodox, institutional Christianity, who persecuted, especially the women who were the caretakers of this tradition. First, I will provide definitions for the terms "pagan", "Christian", 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 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. According to Muraresku, this work, which "presents the pagan continuity hypothesis with a psychedelic twist," addresses two fundamental questions: "Before the rise of Christianity, did the Ancient Greeks consume a secret psychedelic sacrament during their most famous and well-attended religious rituals? I'm not sure many have. 1,672. He's talking about kind of psychedelic wine. Now is there any evidence for psychedelic use in ancient Egypt, and if not, do you have any theory as to why that's silent? Was there any similarity from that potion to what was drunk at Eleusis? We're going to get there very soon. CHARLES STANG: OK. So I was obsessed with this stuff from the moment I picked up an article in The Economist called the God Pill back in 2007. So if Eleusis is the Fight Club of the ancient world, right, the first rule is you don't talk about it. But we at least have, again, the indicia of evidence that something was happening there. If you look at Dioscorides, for example, his Materia Medica, that's written in the first century AD around the same time that the Gospels themselves are being written. So even from the very beginning, it wasn't just barley and water. Thank you. To assess this hypothesis and, perhaps, to push it further, has required years of dogged and, at times, discouraging works in archives and archaeology. he goes out on a limb and says that black nightshade actually causes [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH], which is not unpleasant visions, i.e. 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? Which is really weird, because that's how the same Dina Bazer, the same atheist in the psilocybin trials, described her insight. But we do know that something was happening. 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 become one with Christ by drinking that. I'm going to come back to that idea of proof of concept. 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. CHARLES STANG: OK. #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The - Chartable PDF Thesis-The Religion of Constantine I - University Of Ottawa The phrasing used in the book and by others is "the pagan continuity hypothesis". I'll invite him to think about the future of religion in light of all this. Tim Ferriss is a self-experimenter and bestselling author, best known for The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been translated into 40+ languages. So I see-- you're moving back and forth between these two. Read more about The Immortality Key by Brian Muraresku Making Sense by Sam Harris Brendon Benz presents an alternative hypothesis to recent scholarship which has hypothesized that Israel consisted of geographical, economic . He was wronged by individuals, allegedly. So Plato, Pindar, Sophocles, all the way into Cicero, Marcus Aurelius, it's an important thing. Plants of the Gods: Hallucinogens, Healing, Culture and - TopPodcast And if it's one thing Catholicism does very, very well, it's contemplative mysticism. These Native American church and the UDV, both some syncretic form of Christianity. I mean, I asked lots of big questions in the book, and I fully acknowledge that. "The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity" [1] According to this theory, older adults try to maintain this continuity of lifestyle by adapting strategies that are connected to their past experiences. I understand the appeal of that. 18.3C: Continuity Theory. The Gnostics did have continuity with paganism. But in any case, Ruck had his career, well, savaged, in some sense, by the reaction to his daring to take this hypothesis seriously, this question seriously. Just imagine, I have to live with me. Let me start with the view-- the version of it that I think is less persuasive. 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. Because for many, many years, you know, Ruck's career takes a bit of a nosedive. We have an hour and a half together and I hope there will be time for Q&A and discussion. So it wasn't just a random place to find one of these spiked wines. Wise not least because it is summer there, as he reminds me every time we have a Zoom meeting, which has been quite often in these past several months. And so with a revised ancient history, in place Brian tacks back to the title of our series, Psychedelics and the Future of Religion. And so for me, this was a hunt through the catacombs and archives and libraries, doing my sweet-talking, and trying to figure out what was behind some of those locked doors. Frankly, if you ask the world's leading archaeobotanists and archaeochemists, where's the spiked beer and where's the spiked wine, which I've been doing since about 2007, 2008, the resounding answer you'll get back from everybody is a resounding no. And very famous passages, by the way, that should be familiar to most New Testament readers. What about all these early Christians themselves as essentially Jews? This limestone altar tested positive for cannabis and frankincense that was being burned, they think, in a very ritualistic way. The most colorful theory of psychedelics in religion portrays the original Santa Claus as a shaman. Then what was the Gospel of John, how did it interpret the Eucharist and market it, and so on. Not in every single case, obviously. If we're being honest with ourselves, when you've drunk-- and I've drunk that wine-- I didn't necessarily feel that I'd become one with Jesus. Some number of people have asked about Egypt. I would love to see these licensed, regulated, retreat centers be done in a way that is medically sound and scientifically rigorous. So again, if there were an early psychedelic sacrament that was being suppressed, I'd expect that the suppressors would talk about it. I am excited . Get personalized recommendations, and learn where to watch across hundreds of streaming providers. 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 . 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 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. So frankly, what happens during the Neolithic, we don't know, at least from a scientific vantage. And when I read psychedelic literature or I read the literature on near-death experiences, I see experiences similar to what I experienced as a young boy. These two accuse one Gnostic teacher named Marcus-- who is himself a student of the famous theologian Valentinus-- they accuse him of dabbling in pharmacological devilry. 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. What the Greeks were actually saying there is that it was barley infected with ergot, which is this natural fungus that infects cereal crops. There have been breakthroughs, too, which no doubt kept Brian going despite some skepticism from the academy, to say the least. You know, it's an atheist using theological language to describe what happened to her. 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. CHARLES STANG: All right. Part 1 Brian C. Muraresku: The Eleusinian Mysteries, Discovering the Divine, The Immortality Key, The Pagan Continuity Hypothesis and the Hallucinogenic Origins of Religion - Feb 22, 2023 Others would argue that they are perfectly legal sacraments, at least in the Native American church with the use of peyote, or in the UDV or Santo Daime, I mean, ayahuasca does work in some syncretic Christian form, right? Now-- and I think that we can probably concede that. But maybe you could just say something about this community in Catalonia. To this day I remain a psychedelic virgin quite proudly, and I spent the past 12 years, ever since that moment in 2007, researching what Houston Smith, perhaps one of the most influential religious historians of the 20th century, would call the best kept secret in history. And if it only occurs in John, the big question is why. Brian C. Muraresku (@BrianMuraresku) / Twitter And I describe that as somehow finding that key to immortality. The (Mistaken) Conspiracy Theory: In the Late Middle Ages, religious elites created a new, and mistaken, intellectual framework out of Christian heresy and theology concerning demons. 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. You want to field questions in both those categories?

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