I was made aware today of a Youtube video entitled Jesus Was A Mushroom. Apparently there are quite a few of these, and they all relate to a theory by a biblical scholar named John Marco Allegro whose study of the dead sea scrolls in the late sixties led him to the conclusion that Christianity was based on fertility cults of the near east known for rituals involving Amanita Muscaria. Books on the subject are readily available on Amazon.
It's all a bit much to go into here, but one of the fascinating things i've learned in delving into all this is that the word christian is derived from the sumerian language and translates as "smeared in semen"!
At any rate, it got me to thinking about the relationship between civil law and drug use. One would think that if the prohibition attempts of the '30's in America, and in other places at other times had anything at all to show us, it is that prohibition simply doesn't work. And yet governments the world over continue to throw great wads of money at the same, blithely ignoring the monumental failure of it all. Never mind that drastic laws against naturally occuring mind-altering substances take precedence over laws concering the use of alcohol and tabacco, which, while naturally occuring, need refining and processing to be used. The wherefores and whys of all that are best left for another post.
We rail against the wrong things so very often. Laws we proclaim are intended for the health and safety of us all really only create a very profitable black market, and those who engage in that market certainly seem to have far more insight into human nature than any government ever has.
Something to think about.
[The photo is of a fine example of an Amanita Muscaria mushroom, on which John Marco Allegro alleges Christianity was originally based. I took the photo in 2004 in the front garden of our then home.]
