So whatever these [SPEAKING GREEK] libations incense were, the church fathers don't get into great detail about what may have been spiking them. "Pagan" and "Christian" Marriage: The State of the Question Let's move to early Christian. And we know from the record that [SPEAKING GREEK] is described as being so crowded with gods that they were easier to find than men. Books about pagan continuity hypothesis? I think psychedelics are just one piece of the puzzle. This 'pagan continuity hypothesis' with a psychedelic twist is now backed up by biochemistry and agrochemistry and tons of historical research, exposing our forgotten history. Because they talk about everything else that they take issue with. And I think that that's the real question here. And how can you reasonably expect the church to recognize a psychedelic Eucharist? It's really quite simple, Charlie. What does God mean? He dared to ask this very question before the hypothesis that this Eleusinian sacrament was indeed a psychedelic, and am I right that it was Ruck's hypothesis that set you down this path all those many years ago at Brown? 48:01 Brian's psychedelic experiences . I mean, so it was Greek. And I look forward to talking about this event with you after the fact eventually over a beer. CHARLES STANG: OK, great. I'm happy to argue about that. And he found some beer and wine-- that was a bit surprising. #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The - Chartable CHARLES STANG: So in some sense, you're feeling almost envy for the experiences on psychedelics, which is to say you've never experienced the indwelling of Christ or the immediate knowledge of your immortality in the sacrament. 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. Where are the drugs? And then that's the word that Euripides uses, by the way. BRIAN MURARESKU: OK. BRIAN MURARESKU: We can dip from both pies, Dr. Stang. 32:57 Ancient languages and Brian's education . 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. 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? Now we're getting somewhere. 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. That's, just absurd. . Then there's what were the earliest Christians doing with the Eucharist. and he said, Brian, don't you dare. 8 "The winds, the sea . The only reason I went to college was to study classics. The Immortality Key, The Secret History of the Religion With No Name. I've no doubt that Brian has unearthed and collected a remarkable body of evidence, but evidence of what, exactly? He's the god of wine. #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian All rights reserved. There is evidence that has been either overlooked or perhaps intentionally suppressed. 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. #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian 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. And it was their claim that when the hymn to Demeter, one of these ancient records that records, in some form, the proto-recipe for this kykeon potion, which I call like a primitive beer, in the hymn to Demeter, they talk about ingredients like barley, water, and mint. And I think sites like this have tended to be neglected in scholarship, or published in languages like Catalan, maybe Ukrainian, where it just doesn't filter through the academic community. 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 "@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! Maybe there's a spark of the divine within. You're not confident that the pope is suddenly going to issue an encyclical. BRIAN MURARESKU: It just happens to show up. And so even within the New Testament you see little hints and clues that there was no such thing as only ordinary table wine. The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name So throughout the book, you make the point that ancient beer and wine are not like our beer and wine. 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." So how exactly is this evidence of something relevant to Christianity in Rome or southern Italy more widely? Maybe for those facing the end of life. In May of last year, researchers published what they believe is the first archaeochemical data for the use of psychoactive drugs in some form of early Judaism. But it's not an ingested psychedelic. Samuel Zuschlag - Durham University - Charlotte, North - LinkedIn When there's a clear tonal distinction, and an existing precedent for Christian modification to Pagan works, I don't see why you're resistant to the idea, and I'm curious . Origin of the Romanians - Wikipedia So it wasn't just a random place to find one of these spiked wines. To sum up the most exciting parts of the book: the bloody wine of Dionysius became the bloody wine of Jesus - the pagan continuity hypothesis - the link between the Ancient Greeks of the final centuries BC and the paleo-Christians of the early centuries AD - in short, the default psychedelic of universal world history - the cult of . 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. They linked the idea of witches to an imagined organized sect which was a danger to the Christian commonwealth. And even in the New Testament, you'll see wine spiked with myrrh, for example, that's served to Jesus at his crucifixion. Because at my heart, I still consider myself a good Catholic boy. 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? Rather, Christian beliefs were gradually incorporated into the pagan customs that already existed there. Video: Psychedelics: The Ancient Religion with No Name? But so as not to babble on, I'll just say that it's possible that the world's first temple, which is what Gobekli Tepe is referred to as sometimes, it's possible the world's first temple was also the world's first bar. Brendon Benz presents an alternative hypothesis to recent scholarship which has hypothesized that Israel consisted of geographical, economic . I might forward the proposition that I don't think the early church fathers were the best botanists. A combination of psychoactive plants, including opium, cannabis, and nightshade, along with the remains of reptiles and amphibians all steeped in wine, like a real witch's brew, uncovered in this house outside of Pompeii. Here's your Western Eleusis. Again, how did Christianity take hold in a world with such a rich mystical tradition? So at the very-- after the first half of the book is over, there's an epilogue, and I say, OK, here's the evidence. Brought to you by Wealthfront high-yield savings account, Peloton Row premium rower for an efficient workout, and You Need A Budget cult-favorite money management app.. Rick Rubin is a nine-time GRAMMY-winning producer, one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world, and the most successful producer in any genre, according to Rolling Stone. And so in some of these psychedelic trials, under the right conditions, I do see genuine religious experiences. An actual spiked wine. An Exploration of Religion: An Interview with Brian Muraresku Did the potion at Eleusis change from generation to generation? 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. But we at least have, again, the indicia of evidence that something was happening there. With more than 35 years of experience in the field of Education dedicated to help students, teachers and administrators in both public and private institutions at school, undergraduate and graduate level. But it survives. #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 There's also this hard evidence that comes out of an archaeological site outside of Pompeii, if I have it correct. Theories of Origins about Witch Hunts - King's College OK, Brian, I invite you to join us now. They found a tiny chalice this big, dated to the second century BC. And that's what I get into in detail in the book. This discussion on Febrary 1, 2021, between CSWR Director Charles Stang and Brian Muraresku about his new book, The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name,a groundbreaking dive into the role of psychedelics in the ancient Mediterranean world. So if you were a mystic and you were into Demeter and Persephone and Dionysus and you were into these strange Greek mystery cults, you'd be hard-pressed to find a better place to spend your time than [SPEAKING GREEK], southern Italy, which in some cases was more Greek than Greek. That's all just fancy wordplay. PDF Thesis-The Religion of Constantine I - University Of Ottawa So here's a question for you. CHARLES STANG: Well, Mr, Muraresku, you are hedging your bets here in a way that you do not necessarily hedge your bets in the book. To be a Catholic is to believe that you are literally consuming the blood of Christ to become Christ. Brought to you by GiveWell.org charity research and effective giving and 5-Bullet Friday, my very own email newsletter.Welcome to The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is usually my job to deconstruct world-class performers to tease out their routines, habits, et cetera that you can apply to your own life. I am excited . Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin: The Eleusinian Mysteries, Discovering the Divine, The Immortality Key, The Pagan Continuity Hypothesis, Psychedelics, and More | Tim Ferriss Show #646 And I wonder whether the former narrative serves the interests of the latter. Including, all the way back to Gobekli Tepe, which is why I mentioned that when we first started chatting. And this is what I present to the world. And I want to say to those who are still assembled here that I'm terribly sorry that we can't get to all your questions. Read more 37 people found this helpful Helpful Report abuse Tfsiebs So much research! The Tim Ferriss Show | iHeart I would expect we'd have ample evidence. 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. It's a big question for me. So I want to propose that we stage this play in two acts. And so in my afterword, I present this as a blip on the archaeochemical radar. The most colorful theory of psychedelics in religion portrays the original Santa Claus as a shaman. 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.