Psychology professor Benny Shannon from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is no stranger to mind-bending drugs himself, so he feels pretty comfortable in asserting that Moses was in fact tripping his balls off when he was summoned to the top of Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments from god.
He makes a strong argument in that the acacia tree, frequently mentioned in the Bible, contains one of the most psychedelic substances known to man. He also says the story of Moses and the burning bush has all the hallmarks of a trippy psychedelic experience – loss of sense of time, seeing bright lights or fire, the blurring of senses and profound religious/spiritual feelings.
I propose that this event involved no change in the real world, having nothing to do with either the bush or the fire. Rather, it is reflected in the radical alteration in the state of consciousness of the beholder – that is, Moses.
Moses’s sense of time changed and an actual moment in physical time was subjectively perceived as an eternity… enough time for the bush in front of him to be burnt and consumed.
But in the external physical domain, only a fraction of a second had elapsed, hence no actual change in the bush was perceived.
“As far as Moses on Mount Sinai is concerned, it was either a supernatural cosmic event, which I don’t believe, or a legend, which I don’t believe either, or finally, and probable, an event that joined Moses and the people of Israel under the effect of narcotics.
Well, it’s certainly not a new theory but definitely great to hear it’s one that’s backed up by a top academic with the life experience to support his argument. I suppose if you ask what’s more believable; an almighty wizard descended from the clouds with a stone tablet etched with 10 rules we all must follow and actually handed them to Moses or Moses was completely smashed off his nut and thought he saw those things, it’s a pretty easy call to make.