this is a neat documentary that attempts to shed light on the origins of some of the world's religions. it explains and gives evidence for the idea that observation of the stars, worship of the sun, and consumption of entheogenic plants made up a foundation for the stories we read in our holy books today. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4555365073003895154
wow not a single reply lol. i just watched it again today and noticed they added a definition for the term pharmacratic inquisition which i find makes a lot of sense. Pharmacratic Inquisition nov. verb. - The Christian persecution of archaic religions based on sacramental ingestion of entheogenic plants and the consequent personal access to ecstatic states; whose first great victory was the destruction of the Eleusinian Mysteries at the end of the fourth century; which then reached a gruesome climax in the persecution of witches in the Middle Ages; and which continues in today's Pharmacratic State in the guise of a public health 'War on Drugs.'
The core of the vedic tradition and "Hinduism" that stemmed from it, which is the oldest organized religion, stemmed from meditative inquiry. As such, this whole theory is incorrect in assuming that all religion and spirituality is simply ungrounded sun worship and drug induced fantasticality.
i think you would enjoy watching it. they make many good points and if nothing else it brings up some interesting coincidences with pleasant illustrations. i found it both comical and completely reasonable to suggest that holy cows stem from the holy mushrooms found in their poo
Thats a baseless theory. Cows are considered sacred in the Hindu tradition because they are selfless, because they provide milk which is the purest and original nourishment of a mother for her children, and because they are placid animals, all of which embody the supposed qualities of the divine mother. There is no real evidence of the use of mushrooms in Hinduism, especially in the early days. Cannabis started being used in Shaivism, a sect of Hinduism much later on, and there are indications of the use of a substance called "soma", which nobody can clearly or vaguely even say what substance it was, in the early days, but that is the extent of the drug involvement of the Hindu tradition.
you don't think it's reasonable to suggest that in addition to those qualities, at some point people stumbled upon the mushrooms and ate them, recognizing the effects and the cows as their humble creator? while the video does mention Hinduism it's not the only religion covered in the documentary. their definition of the documentary would suggest that the writers are operating from the standpoint that symbols and mythology are still open to interpretation, and that the true meanings are not openly divulged and rather violently suppressed.
Hinduism is a very transparent tradition, and has an ocean of mouth-to-mouth and textual documentation. Mushrooms have never been mentioned. The root of cows being considered sacred is known however, and is for the aforementioned reason.
kay. the mushroom aspect was ignored i would still recommend watching the video purely as entertainment. it only briefly mentions Hinduism and if you are interested in the origins of other religions that are less transparent it is incredibly intriguing to hear alternate explanations which seem to make natural sense.