Religion in all cultures have been applying a religious sense of awe to brainwash people massively.

In ancient greece there were the "inexplainable" temple wonders, that were actually natural physics and clever mechanics at work, that would amaze the people and convince them the Gods are real and present at the temples. Large Temple Doors would open appearantly all by them selves or by the force of the Gods ( actually by a hidden hydraulic systems)or there would be an immense hovering statue of a God inside a temple( Clever application of a magnetic repulsion system)

Then, when the dumb and dumbfounded people were in an awestruck state of high suggestability these goolish greek priests would proceed to shove there manipulative structure of lies into their unsuspecting, wide open minds. This way they could totally brainwash them and control these people's lives.


The Christian as well as the Judaic religion both have the Bible: A piece of extensive, philosophical poetry and mythology.
Reading or being read from this bundle of philosophical Poetry and Mythology, Symbology and Morality somehow has the same awestriking capacity as the Greek Temple wonders. It captivates masses of people, obsesses them. The magical, poetic and mythical stories of the bible inspire some kind of Awe in them. Puts them in a highly suggestable, twilight zone somehow. Yet again this makes them very easy to manipulate and control. Then, when the people where in that state, either from reading the Bible or from being preached the bible, these Goolish Christian Priests then Proceed to shove their manipulative structure of lies into the people's unsuspecting, wide open minds.


Now what did the Mayas (ab)use to induce this highly suggestable, awestruck, religious state? Entheogens. Off course.
If a wicked Maya King had in service a Wicked Maya priest, this Priest would have abused mushrooms to get the mayan people in his temple into this infamous reprogrammable, awestruck religious state. The mushrooms would convince them the "Gods" of which the Priest speaks indeed exists. After their unmistakably divine experiences, these people would trust the priest and be eager to Learn more of the Gods from the Priest.

The Goolish Mayan priests then proceed to shove their manipulative structure of lies int.... Well you know the drill. :/

Organized religions suck.

Join the discordians. Or don't.

I have one. The first time I took mushrooms I was 17 and a fairly peaceful person. I was already smoking pot and dropped acid a couple of times. It was a ++ experience. I felt an empowering feeling in my body. I held my hands as if holding a battle axe and imagined vividly the awesome raw power of being a Viking and charging into battle to kill. It was thrilling. I am of Swedish ancestry that has been traced back to the Vikings. My grandfather told me of the berserkers that would eat mushrooms (amanitas, I think) and go into battle. This is what sparked the daydream. The mushrooms did not dictate any morality related to it. They did not tell me it was wrong to kill a person. I told myself that as I was raised with those values; however, the feeling was electrifying, and had I been raised in a culture that found it socially acceptable, it would not have been a problem.

Didn't they believe that these kid's would become intermediates between the spirit world and our world? heard something like that once.
I'd say they should have given it a second thought.

Not really. Most prehispanic cultures believed that the high priests and/or rulers were THE intermediates between the Gods and them. They considered that both the Gods and them were living in a "spirit world".

They sacrificed children (took their hearts out / took their blood out / decapitated them) to please the Gods (they thought they were feeding them in some cases), so that the Gods would reward them with good rains.

The actions taken by our ancestors do not reflect that of the ones taken today. Undeniably, mushrooms have helped some people become more open, happier individuals, and when abused, just how it is with everything in this world, it may yield serious consequences.

Saying that mushrooms are the cause or support for a civilizations radical beliefs about themselves and God is nonsensical when you consider how devoted, and sober individuals of today are whom decide that God wants them to bomb an abortion clinic.

They are tools. Like with any tool, people can use them in all sorts of wacky ways

I think you all will be very interested...

http://www.huffingtonpos...der-detai_n_596263.html

MMA fighter eats mushrooms...need I say more?

UniverseCannon said it best. It specifically depends on the individual, their state of mind, their intent, and lastly their interpretation of the experience.

The topic in this thread can be debated until we are all dead in the ground.

This thread needs to be closed.

What debate?

It seems that everyone here agrees that it comes down to the user, and that eating psychedelics doesn't make you a good person just because.

The purpose of this thread was to refute the hypothesis that psychedelics turn you into a being full of "Light and Love".

These conclusions were reached on page 1.

Theres a huge difference between saying that 'psychedelics don't help turn anyone into a being of light and love'-and saying that 'psychedelics don't help turn everyone into a good being of light and love'...

who said that?

"...a Jedi's strength flows from the Force. But beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will..."

-Yoda

He is referring to

Saying psychedelic experiences are not the only cause of any life changing events is as foolish as saying they are for everyone.

There are other colors besides black and white.

Take a look at the book 'acid dream", mk-ultra cia agents didn't turn into hippies, they just became really weird (and they had a 10kg lsd stash) ...
Psychedelics are only a tool after all.

Yup, just as with fire; you can illuminate the dark and cook food, or you can set Rome ablaze and play the fiddle whilst it burns...

Sounds like someone holds a grudge against the shroom...lol

This reminds me of a conversation with a Buddhist teacher. He said, "Being enlightened doesn't make you a nice person."

Psychedelics are similar to enlightenment in that they bring about ego-death and a lack of attachment. It has nothing to do with niceness or even goodness. It is only a shard of truth, and each person and society must decide how to incorporate it.

I wouldn't even call that enlightenment, perhaps a flicker.. because it doesn't necessarily
continue once the psychedelic experience terminates.

the term "enlightenment" all too often gets thrown around by psychedelic afficionados as some sort of fashionable word describing a few hours of pyshotropic-induced altered consciousness. pure enlightenment is a continuous state of being, and those who claim to have it, most likely don't.

Recognizing, of course, that there are various views on enlightenment, I will say that quite a few Buddhist teachers believe that the event of enlightenment is transitory. Have you heard of "comming down off the mountain" of enlightenment? The trouble with enlightenment is that one must continue to live in a relative world, and it's difficult to maintain "no-self" in that environment. In some sects, much of meditation is preparation to return to the world after enlightenment.

I perhaps should have used the term Kensho, but hesitate to get too much into Buddhism here, since it's a bit off-topic. It was easier to throw in 'similar' to generalize things out a bit.