An Israeli researcher is claiming in a study published this week the prophet may have been stoned when he set the Ten Commandments in stone.
According to Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, psychedelic drugs formed an integral part of the religious rites of Israelites in biblical times.
Writing in the Time and Mind journal of philosophy, he says concoctions based on the bark of the acacia tree, frequently mentioned in the Old Testament, contain the same molecules as those found in plants from which the powerful Amazonian hallucinogenic brew ayahuasca is prepared.
"The thunder, lightning and blaring of a trumpet which the Book of Exodus says emanated from Mount Sinai could just have been the imaginings of a people in an altered state of awareness," writes Shanon. "In advanced forms of ayahuasca inebriation, the seeing of light is accompanied by profound religious and spiritual feelings."
This is great news. I'm going to write to the Archbishop of Canterbury to ask for clarification of the following points:
1 - What other important religious documents were produced by stoned people?
2 - Does this mean that Mr Tambourine Man can now be considered to contain the rule of religious law?
3 - If the Ten Commandments really were written by a stoner, what happened to all the other ones like "Thou shalt skin up", "thou shalt get me twelve Mars bars" and "Thou shalt... no, it's gone".
4 - Where can we get hold of some of this ayahuasca nonsense? We want to write our own bible!

