Magic Mushrooms Can Take You To Same Place As Religion (John Hopkins Univ)

[kpete]

Magic Mushrooms Induce Effects “Descriptively Identical” To Religious Experiences, Say Scientists…


Magic mushrooms can induce mystical effects, study finds
By Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor
Published: 11 July 2006

A universal mystical experience with life-changing effects can be produced by the hallucinogen contained in magic mushrooms, scientists claim today.

Forty years after Timothy Leary, the apostle of drug-induced mysticism, urged his hippie followers to "tune in, turn on, and drop out", researchers at Johns Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland, have for the first time demonstrated that mystical experiences can be produced safely in the laboratory. They say that there is no difference between drug-induced mystical experiences and the spontaneous religious ones that believers have reported for centuries. They are "descriptively identical".

And they argue that the potential of the hallucinogenic drugs, ignored for decades because of their links with illicit drug use in the 1960s, must be explored to develop new treatments for depression, drug addiction and the treatment of intolerable pain.

Anticipating criticism from church leaders, they say they are not interested in the "Does God exist?" debate. "This work can't and won't go there."

much more at:
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article1171389.ece
via:http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/07/10/magic-mushrooms-induce-ef_n_24773.html

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. Of course Shamans have known this for thousands of years.

Magic Mushrooms have taught me a lot about myself, both good and bad. They definitely do bring about an insight.

[Stardust]

2. Aw c'mon - aren't there any DU trippers out there? n/t

[lvx35]

74. I've been a fan of both...

...mushrooms and spiritual practice, but I must say they are different...To me, there is nothing in the mushroom experience that's innately spiritual. The sensations are part of the everyday senses, let loose in weird ways. Spiritual excercise is transcendant of senses.

[mike_c]

3. oh goody....

:popcorn:

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

4. I am sure the Native Americans who have known this

for thousands of years will be glad to know the "experts" have found out.

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

5. not to poo-poo this, but

duh

:hippie:

[Blue_In_AK]

24. Ha -

see my identical post below, before I read yours. :)

[MadAsHellNewYorker]

54. lol

:hi:

[im10ashus]

93. Holla!

My sentiments exactly.

B-)

[Fermezlabush]

6. Neurotheology? Will the nutz love it or hate it? Heads may explode.

[Quantess]

16. Are you kidding?

They would say Johns Hopkins researchers have been possessed by Satan.:evilfrown:

[Canuckistanian]

7. Tried both - neither had any effect on me

But, some people seem to need the experience. More power to them.

[welshTerrier2]

8. well, OK then ... i'll have a mushroom pizza to go ...

and no anchovies ...

[Wonk]

9. Magnetic fields can produce similar experiences, as well

http://wired.com/wired/archive/7.11/persinger_pr.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2003/godonbrain.shtml

[stevedeshazer]

10. The things a boy in Oregon can find in the pasture...

Some guy I once knew, of course. Naturally, I turned him in to the proper authorities.

I used to be Lutheran. Now I'm a Pedestrian.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

19. they taste so nasty though!

like chewing dirty styrofoam.

at least, that's what I heard. ;)

[stevedeshazer]

23. Funny, that's the last thing he said,

handcuffed, being led to the paddywagon.

"AAAARRRGH!!!!!STYROFOAM!!!!!

Got a cigarette?" :crazy:

[JuniperLea]

45. I heard they are best with

Constant Comment tea:)

It's been over 25 years since I've seen them.

Let the Old Gods return!

[randr]

11. Neuroreceptors in our brains have evolved with mushrooms

[daleo]

12. Thank God for mushrooms

Or maybe "Thank Mushrooms for god". Its hard to be sure.

[MidwestTransplant]

21. Ha ha!

[walldude]

13. Wow figured that out all on their own did they...

:eyes: They could have just listened to John Lennon. Instant Karma. Or if they needed a more "scientific " viewpoint they could have read Paddy Chayefsky's Altered States. Or for the total "mystical" experience the Tibetan Book Of The Dead. It's not like people haven't been figuring this out for the last 10,000 years.

[MuseRider]

14. I can vouch for that!

Just try watching Sleeping Beauty on those things. You will be looking for God after that.

[walldude]

17. Hehe I was more a Fantasia guy. No denying the Disney

animators of old were gettin high...

[MuseRider]

18. LOL

I used to think that would be the perfect job!

[Bzzzz]

It was said...

ol' Walt loved getting high and did so when he was writing Fantasia.

[Schema Thing]

15. try Salvia Divinorum.... you'll get in touch with God AND the Devil

give life to two imaginary birds with one stone(d)

[johnaries]

20. I did 'shrooms, and I remember once staring at a lamp

for maybe an hour or more. Just thinking what a cool lamp it was, and appreciateing the contours and lines of the lamp base as well as the lamp shade, and how the light played and filtered through the lamp shade.

And it was my lamp; I had it for 2 years or more before that.

I just never really appreciated it before.

Of course, my best friend told me later that when he went to the bathroom and looked in the mirror that his face was melting.

However, we were partying with a redhead and a blonde, so we weren't going to say anything "wierd"......

[Blue_In_AK]

22. May I say...

well, DUH......... :rofl:

[alcibiades_mystery]

25. This has been the argument in psilocybin communities

since Gordon Wasson introduced "magic mushrooms" into Western cultures in the mid-1950's (in an article in Life Magazine, no less, titled "In Search of the Magic Mushroom" - this is where the street name comes from). Before Wasson's "discovery" and subsequent dispersion of psilocybin, it was only really used in the Mazatec region of Mexico. There was no psilocybin in use - PERIOD - in Western cultures before 1957. Wasson and his subsequent collaborators (Hoffman, Jonathan Ott, Carl Ruck, etc.) argued for years that many historical mystical states were in fact myco-related. Of course, as everyone knows, Hoffman's discovered LSD while working on ergot-derived substances. The argument linking psilocybin with mystical states is not only NOT new, it is the very argument that most people involved in psilocybin research have been making for 50 years now.

[hpot]

26. Don't need mushrooms to get high

There are ways to experience hallucinations in meditation. It requires focus on specific points of the body. Interestingly, you can get different results depending on the point that is focused on.

Here is one actually described in the Christian bible by Jesus.

Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

I tried it and it took me an average of 30 minutes to attain results. While in this state I perceived peace and a brilliant white light emanating from my skull even though my room was completely dark. Some call it bliss or samadhi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samadhi

There are two others that are really fun. One meditation can make you feel like your neck has stretched to the ceiling and the other makes you grow at an exponential rate (surpassing the world). To stop the experience all one needs to do is open their eyes.

Fortunately, you can’t get arrested for a self-induced delusion.

[ellisonz]

28. You should try eating shrooms...

and then meditating.

[JuniperLea]

46. Elevation...

meditation rules! I love that "floaty" feeling.

[nosmokes]

27. yeah, i guess, but LSD really works much better

imho. the best of all is peyote, though. iwas only lucky enough to ever get my hands on that stuff 4 times, and it is *the kind*

[trekbiker]

62. I preferred the shrooms to acid.. always wanted to try Peyote

but never had the chance. now, 20+ years into a professional career not sure how I would handle any of these things anymore. Still plan to try Peyote before I get planted though..

[nosmokes]

64. yeah, it was magic.

i've been clean and sober for 7 years and no plans to change that, but if i ever choose to, it'd be to have a communion with peyote again. it's that good.

[librechik]

66. -word-

[LostinVA]

29. I saw some of these mushrooms while running in woods Sunday

Trust me, I know what they look like. I was a semi-shroom head in college. The SO wouldn't let me pick them, though -- she was afraid I was wrong,. and we'd wind up being poisoned.

[NNN0LHI]

30. I watched a fella become a Jesus freak right in front of my eyes once

He had a bad acid trip and saw God. That was over 30 years ago. He is still the same way today.

Don

[Bzzzz]

31. WOW...

talk about a BAD trip.

[NNN0LHI]

33. That Window Pane was some heavy shit man. I'm telling ya n/t

[Swamp Rat]

34. I think everyone knows a person like that.

Shoulda stuck with the "Orange Sunshine," and not eaten an entire sheet.

[laruemtt]

32. stoney, is that you?

remember the night in the cemetery when we all were trying to dig in the dirt, wanting to be with the "dead" who were all partying under ground?

[OxQQme]

35. Memories are made of this

Virtually 'flying' across the playa in a squadron of thirty bicycles equipped with playing cards taped on, touching against the spokes of the wheels, at two in the morning under a full moon during the first Burning Man.

What a long strange trip it's been.

[laruemtt]

36. cool trip. somehow

in retrospect seems the carefree nature of it all was the secret we've lost in the early 21st century. wonder if it can ever be gotten back.......

[Kolesar]

47. I know an acid user who became paranoid, delusional, & unemployable

He used it frequently for a period in his youth. It ruined his life.

[Bridget Burke]

101. Anyone who did acid "frequently" already had some problems...

Of course, lots of "acid" contained little LSD. Most people encountering the real stuff realized that it should remain an occasional treat.

[niallmac]

37. Do they make you hate people who eat different

kinds of mushrooms?

[laruemtt]

38. what's hate? n/t

[niallmac]

69. I read about it somewhere. Nevermind. n/t

[OzarkDem]

39. I wonder if they help with hot flashes?

B-)

[NNN0LHI]

42. Nice n/t

[mopinko]

40. epileptics are more religious

i think religion is a neurological holdover from the days of following the big monkey.

[in_cog_ni_to]

41. I remember those. They were cut up in teeny tiny pieces, added to a glass

of water and DOWN THE HATCH. Not as powerful as windowpane or orange sunshine :scared:, but were a more 'mellow' trip.

[Ilsa]

43. I think EEGs and other brain scans comparing persons having

intense religious experiences with those taking hallucenogenics would be interesting to evaluate.

[DireStrike]

79. It would be quite fascinating... if it were legal and possible to induce

both states in a controlled setting...

[JuniperLea]

44. The Oracle of Delphi

I'm about a quarter of the way into this book by William Broad. I'm all for "divine madness". What this world needs is a new pneuma, or the rediscovery of an old one.

My b/f has a theory to which I subscribe: Smoking pot renders Kool-Aid ineffective and that's one of the reasons "they" don't want it legalized.

Nature gave us everything we need.

[deaniac21]

77. It can also render the alveoli ineffective.

[JuniperLea]

80. That theory was pretty much debunked in the last long-term study

No lung damage at all, and some relief for asthma.

[deaniac21]

81. I am sorry that you feel smoke in the lungs is good.

[JuniperLea]

82. I couldn't care less... tell it to the scientists who studied it

for the past 25 years.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

84. Umm...scientific research shows it helps.

It dilates the airways and helping more oxygen into your lungs. By the way, the links are not the organizations that published the studies, which are from mainstream scientific groups.

http://www.marijuanalibrary.org/ARRD_asthma_1975.html
http://cannabisnews.com/news/7/thread7749.shtml
http://www.safeaccessnow.org/article.php?id=36

[deaniac21]

85. Great sources!!

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

87. Excuse me, but perhaps you should read things more carefully.

"By the way, the links are not the organizations that published the studies, which are from mainstream scientific groups."

I guess you missed that part of my post.

The first link actually contains a study from American Review of Respiratory Disease, Volume 112, 1975.

The second link is an article from a regular newspaper (you know, the kind that people get delivered every morning) about research conducted at
the University of California-Irvine and the Institute for Experimental medicine.

The third link is a cited article using sources such as...
UCLA Pulmonary Studies
Harvard
Hepler & Frank, 1971, UCLA
Medical College of Georgia
U. of North Carolina School of Medicine
National Eye Institute
Medical College of VA
University of South Florida
Canadian Board of Dentistry

Clearly those are terrible sources for medical information.

[JuniperLea]

90. Exactly!

And it's not the kind of thing you'll find on a drug company website that's for sure. It barely made mainstream news for a nanosecond.

[deaniac21]

94. I think I'll go with my pulmonologist and the AMA.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

95. Fine for you, but I don't think you have a right to discount a treatment

that works for other people. If you don't want to smoke (vaporizers allow you to do it without getting the smoke) pot then don't, but there's no reason other people should be deprived of a valid medical treatment.

[deaniac21]

97. .

:rofl:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

99. I'm sorry, but I was trying to have constructive discussion here.

Perhaps you would like to contribute?

[JuniperLea]

88. Oh blow it out your hooka

Who the hell do you think is going to publish these results? A drug company?


Riiiiiight.

[deaniac21]

92. Ever cough after a bong hit? That is natures sign that it is

curing your lungs.

[JuniperLea]

96. No

So you refuse to see the scientific evidence?

[deaniac21]

98. I am able to look at the evidence with a clear mind. The study

from UCLA showes some benefit but without looking at the smoke damage. If you want to believe that drawing any kind of smoke deeply into your lungs is beneficial, knock yourself out.

[JuniperLea]

100. Thanks for your permission

If it gives an asthmatic some quality of life, I'm sure the trade-off is warranted.

[intheflow]

48. Just saw this on Good Morning America.

They want to make this into a pill. Couldn't find God the natural way, Big Pharmaceutical needs a cut of God. x(

[MeandYou123]

49. Mushrooms?

I never knew there was any truth behind the use of them. Thanks for the interesting articles.

[Phillycat]

50. Well, shit. I could have told them that. nt

[mikelgb]

51. mushrooms can be scary

in the wrong environment

stay away from ham

[RevolutionStartsNow]

65. LOL

That cracked me right up.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

86. Apparently, so are hot dogs while on acid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPgpYux8HJQ

Hilarious video!

[Bridget Burke]

102. So can religion.

Look before you leap.

[izzybeans]

52. The Bill Hicks thesis nt

[smoogatz]

53. Just don't take them in a crowded bar.

It'll make you paranoid. Go out in the woods where you can, like, groove on nature, man.

[anarch]

55. that's a blatant lie! I've eaten lots of mushrooms, and never wound up

in a church.

[unpossibles]

57. hail Eris!

maybe you wound up in a church that was disguised as a brothel?

[anarch]

58. well now, there are churches and there are *churches*

Actually, the whole universe is a church...but especially the bowling alleys.

[unpossibles]

60. haha... true

I suppose the 7-10 split may be the perfect metaphor for life. or not.

[Warren DeMontague]

70. Yeah, I should have known this thread would bring out the Discordians.

[Wonk]

72. "Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! Oh God! "

"Cash or plastic?"

[unpossibles]

56. this is awesome

I like how the study seems relatively positive (although the story I read this morning on Yahoo stressed "DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!" lol)

But any way, no wonder this scares the hell out of the 'norms':

Eighty per cent of the volunteers reported moderately or greatly increased well-being or life satisfaction. Relatives, friends and colleagues confirmed the changes.

you can't have people walking around actually enjoying life and liking themselves and feeling empathetic with their fellow earthlings... that just won't do.

And the third of the people who got freaked out; I'd think it would be hard to not freak out in such a sterile environment. They should have taken them on a field trip out into the woods or the desert and watched them interact with the cosmos. Oh well.

Sadly, the cynic in me doesn't see the mainstream going for this kind of thing any more than they did before. True Freedom - freedom from fear and self-loathing - scares the masses. Which is another reason I think that some people don't seem to click to this kind of trip.

[paparush]

59. Yeah...and you don't have to sing those off-key hymns...

[KamaAina]

61. This might be what inspired Randall Terry to found Operation "Rescue"

the idea supposedly came to him while he was tripping his face off on a beach in Texas. Apparently he reverted to a fetal state or something, and bang! The modern radical anti-choice movement was born. :puke:

[Warren DeMontague]

71. Some people clearly shouldn't do drugs.

Particularly the dumb ones. From what I've seen, you're not gonna get anything that isn't already part of the raw materials.

There's no drug on Earth which is going to turn Bush into Richard Feynman.

[trekbiker]

63. I hope this thread ends up in the hands of the Freepers... that would

make for some fun reading..

the only people I ever witnessed having "bad trips" (basically paranoia on steroids) were freeper types with huge insecurities. One time back in the 70's I had to "rescue" one of my redneck buddies off a 10 foot bank that he was convinced was a 100 ft cliff. Dude cried like a baby

[kdpeters]

67. Ketamine can have a similar effect

Or at least in my opinion it can.

[WinkyDink]

68. Not exactly a new idea, even for Americans.

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=545254795&searchurl=isbn%3D0340128755

[RandomKoolzip]

73. Best thread ever. No, seriously.

I suggest everyone - including conservatives - ought to have at least ONE psychedelic experience in their lives.

Once, on mushrooms, I realized I didn't need religion in my life, because what I was experiencing was EXACTLY like a classic religious epiphany. Everything became archetypal - the people I was with looked as though they'd stepped out of a triptych from some ancient church, all sounds, sights, animals, trees, objects etc. seemed imbued with benevolence, and if only for a moment, I felt one with the universe. The only thing missing was the presence of some messianic figure, then I realized EVERYONE I saw was a god of some sort.

Then I started laughing uncontrollably and rocking back and forth (as I was wont to do when tripping), hip to the fact that I was the only one in the group tripping, which seemed absurd, since they all seemed to feel the same benign feelings about me as I did them. It was then that I knew that I had no need for religion - people go to church all their lives to attain a glimmer of that feeling, that union of essence and experience, and all I had to do was eat some caps in the right setting, with an agreeable bunch of friends.

Plus, this stuff takes you to the frontier of your conscience - you take lessons away from an experience like that, like for instance: all living things are interconnected, that harming one is harming all. You learn the role of humanity in the grand scheme of things. You learn that all borders, all artifical constructs like "countries" and "societies" are just hurdles that keep humans from progressing as a species together. You learn that although there is no god and that your life, when placed in the context of the vast history of the universe's past and future, is insignificant, what you do to improve the lives of all other humans and creatures around you in the window between your birth and your death is more crucial than any money or status or fame. You learn sympathy, compassion, and a set of values that don't need any cosmological framework to be utilized.

No wonder mushrooms are illegal. Bill Hicks had it exactly right: how are we supposed to keep making nuclear arms after learning things like that? How are we supposed to keep declaring war on our brothers and sisters if we view them as such, and not as distant "others?" If everyone were to take in the lessons gleaned from the psychedelic experience and apply them to their lives in both the quotidian and the catholic sense, life on earth would improve immeasurably.

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

75. I've experienced this and religious bliss.

I don't see any difference - and neither did the yogis that Ram Das gave acid to.

[RandomKoolzip]

78. The difference, as I see it, is that I didn't

source my epiphany to a cosmological narrative. I saw the archetypal framework one sees or senses during a religious epiphany, but in existentialist terms: everyone is god more than god is talking to me.

[lectrobyte]

76. And in other shocking news, marijuana can take you to the 711 at 2am.

[zulchzulu]

83. Shrooms sure are a fun way of cleaning out the pipes

Remember that the set and setting are important. Do shrooms and hang out with your insane mother-in-law and beware...stick to the water or up in the mountains...and bring a drum...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

89. So now what?

Do we legalize mushrooms or outlaw religion?

[tigereye]

91. I could see that it might be ecstatic in a similar way

to some religious experiences. But I've never had a religious experience that paralleled the mushroom experience.

I think they attune you to the beauty and wonder of nature. And make you surprised and perplexed by the noisiness of cars and other human inventions. ;)


but that was a very long time ago.