Moses high on drugs?

Thus claims this Israeli “researcher” who claims that Moses was on psychedelic drugs when he heard God deliver the Ten Commandments. The Agence France-Presse report says that Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, writes in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy that “such mind-altering substances formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times”.

“The Bible says people see sounds, and that is a classic phenomenon,” Shanon said, citing the example of religious ceremonies in the Amazon in which drugs are used that induce people to “see music.” Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush", he added.

He mentioned his own experience when he used ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant, during a religious ceremony in Brazil's Amazon forest in 1991. “I experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations”.

Wow. This ayahuasca drug must be really, really powerful. If his claims are true, it is most likely that Moses has likewise “induced” himself as well as hordes of Israelites and Egyptians to imagine the parting of the Red Sea. Come to think of it, probably it is not only Moses for that matter, but ALL biblical personages who had “spiritual-religious visions” probably took this drug or some form of it. Maybe that is why Marx said religion is the opium of the masses? Now we are not sure whether this Israeli “researcher” intends to discredit Moses, religion in general, or whether he simply wants to expose the ill-effects of dangerous mind-altering drugs. What we do know as a fact in this day and age, is that dangerous drugs definitely cause wild hallucinations. Shanon himself affirms so, having admitted taking the ayahuasca drug way back in 1991.

It is also a fact that dangerous drugs cause permanent brain damage.