The Role of Entheogens in the
Creation of The Bible

Acknowledgments - I would like to thank Winfried Gerbracht for his knowledge of the chemistry and psychoactivity of the tryptamines. Winfried is seeking sponsorship for his research into the ibopyrines, a range of synthetic analogs of iboga alkaloids that offer potential for the low-cost treatment of drug and alcohol addiction. Anyone interested is asked to get in touch.

I would like to apologize for the poor quality of some of the drawings.

Introduction

In this piece I would like to present some insights that seek to put across the idea that the early Christians may have relied on psychoactive plants to induce the visionary experiences that allowed them to create The Bible. But that they also appreciated Having been interested for some time in both biblical mysticism and psychoactive drugs, I have often been intrigued by the similarity between the molecular structure of the indole alkaloids, with their hexagonal and pentagonal rings, and the significance placed on the number "65" in the Qabalistic interpretation of The Bible and related esoteric documents.

In this piece I will looking at an esoteric interpretation of the Old and New Testaments, taken, principally, from Qabalah - the doctrine that is the principle source for the majority of the Western esoteric schools of thought.¹ I will point out similarities between the mystical and psychological symbolism of the number "65" and the experiences afforded by ingesting psychoactive drugs. In addition, I will look at just what all this might mean within the wider context of our unfolding physical and cultural evolution.

The notion that The Bible, among other noted religious literature,² might be symbolically alluding to the use of psychoactive plants in several of its more prominent texts is not new.³ However, I hope to go a little further than others and suggest that the use of psychoactives, at a variety of crucial stages in our physical, cultural, and spiritual evolution, was merely a temporary measure, and one that took place ultimately just to facilitate our development of a natural means to experience visionary states of consciousness.

Rather than produce a empirical analysis of texts and scientific and psychological data, I have tried to create an interesting article which I hope will interest those who come across it. Students of esoterica might like to note that the school of Qabalist thought with which I am mostly familiar is that revealed by Dr Paul Foster Case of Builders of the Adytum (BOTA).⁴

I will start by relating a concept at the heart of many esoteric belief systems, known to Qabalists as "Descent and Return."

Descent and Return

In the doctrines of Hinduism and Qabalah, which between them represent the principle sources of esoteric wisdom in the East and the West, there exists one key concept around which all others revolve.⁵ These schools of thought assert that there exists an infinite, unlimited consciousness from which our limited world descends and to which it will eventually return.^6,7 In attempting to relate to the reader any notion of what this unlimited consciousness might be like, certain conceptual problems have to be recognized. Language, like the human mind in normal consciousness, is dualistic in nature and cannot therefore deal directly with theoretical concepts of total unity. Indeed, language has only three options when attempting to convey some notion of infinite consciousness. It can relate what it is like, it can relate what it is not like, or it can relate techniques (ie. meditation, ritual work) intended to allow the individual to experience it first-hand.⁸ Here I will use the first option and assign this theoretical concept a name - the Void.⁹ According to esoteric belief, from this Void, this unlimited and eternal source, all creation, all space and time, unfolds and to this Void all will eventually return.

Qabalist and Hindu cosmology, along with much modern physics, relate that there exists a primal "mind-stuff" - a matter-intelligence dipole that serves as both the root substance and intelligence of the universe. This primal "mind-stuff" is believed to have come into being at the beginning of time in an event usually known as the "Big Bang." This is known to Qabalists as "the Descent."

"Mind-stuff" descends into being from the Void and seeks to bring about its eventual return to this infinite, eternal consciousness. This it achieves by progressively evolving itself into a series of increasingly developed "vessels of consciousness" - living life forms and minerals. These "vessels of consciousness" are grouped by Qabalah into five ascending levels or kingdoms - minerals, plants, animals, humans, and "enlightened" humans. These levels are often referred to as the first, second, third, fourth and fifth kingdoms, each with a corresponding level of consciousness - mineral consciousness, plant consciousness, animal consciousness, human (or self-) consciousness, and superconsciousness, (see Figure 1). "Mind-stuff" evolves in this way because to develop consciousness is to transform itself into whatever the conscious entity experiencing it experiences it as. In this school of thought, therefore, a cat, for example, is a creature which transforms "mind-stuff" into animal consciousness, and we, as humans, are creatures that transform "mind-stuff" into human consciousness, that is to say, whatever it is that is appearing around us.

The human level of consciousness, usually termed "self-consciousness," is the level immediately beneath the highest level of consciousness, known as superconsciousness.¹⁰ Superconsciousness is direct experience of the Void - timeless, infinite consciousness. To experience superconsciousness is to transmute "mind-stuff" back into its unlimited source for, as mentioned above, "mind-stuff" becomes whatever it is experienced as being.

Throughout the ages, men and women have felt drawn to pursue various physical and spiritual disciplines in an attempt to experience superconsciousness. These disciplines include yogic and tantric techniques, initiatory rituals, and the use of psychoactive plants, nowadays known as entheogens. Those who have succeeded, after entering superconsciousness, return to self-consciousness for, as yet, insufficient people are capable of entering superconsciousness to cause all creation to irrevocably return to its unlimited source. However, with each experience of this infinite and timeless realm, so all sentient creation is drawn a small step closer to the Void. One day, so the Christian mystics believed, all creation will ascend out of limitation and back to the source. The "return" will have taken place.

Individuals capable of entering the state of superconsciousness are usually referred to as being "enlightened."¹¹ and, according to Qabalah, there is a specific psycho-physiological process by which individual humans may develop the ability to achieve this. It may manifest either spontaneously or through the following of specific practices and is usually known as "kundalini-awakening."¹²

Figure 1 depicts this cycle of "descent and return." The vertical axis relates the level of consciousness and the horizontal, time. As minerals, plants, animals, and humans progressively develop from the primal "mind-stuff" that is their essence, so, simultaneously, evolves consciousness. Note that I have used a non-linear time-scale and that the movement from one level of consciousness to the next occurs, not gradually, but in leaps. According to Qabalah, consciousness is "quantized" - existing only as discreet levels.¹³

The Bible

The Qabalistic interpretation of the Old and New Testaments relates this "descent and return" process via symbolism and metaphor. The Old Testament focuses in particular on the early development of consciousness, from the original "descent" (Genesis), through to the evolution of mankind and the selection of a physical body type which might, at some time in the future, facilitate the experience of superconsciousness. The story of the Israelites, and their symbolic journey out of Egypt in search of the "promised land," is a metaphor for the process by which consciousness develops towards the final state.¹⁴ The New Testament explores the same process from a more emotional perspective. It relates symbolically the nature of the inner struggle that the individual on the path toward enlightenment will undergo.¹⁵ Qabalistically, The Bible may be regarded as a literary vehicle that allows the dissemination of esoteric teachings to the few, whilst maintaining an outer appearance of relative mundanity to the many.

The metaphysical symbolism of The Bible, like that of its close relative, esoteric Tarot symbolism, may be understood as applying on three distinct but related levels - that of the developing human being (microcosm), that of the developing mankind, world or culture (macrocosm), or that of developing consciousness itself. Throughout this piece, I will explore concepts within the context of each of these three levels.

Five and Six

In creating literature that related the "descent and return" process, the learned men of the time made use of not only the "objective" perspective - that of developing "mind-stuff" - but also a "subjective" point of view - one that allowed them to actually undertake work for the benefit of the process. This subjective perspective is commonly known as of "microcosm and macrocosm." The "microcosm" was the individual human, understood as being both a physical being, and a "point of awareness." This microcosm existed within a larger entity - a "macrocosm." This "macrocosm" was usually the world, but could also be mankind, culture, or society - essentially any larger body into which the processes of the microcosm could be placed. Frequently, the macrocosm was conceived of being a higher-dimensional world of archetypal forms. It was believed that both these entities were brought into existence by developing consciousness as it returned inexorably along its path to the source. An interesting aspect of the microcosm-macrocosm concept relates to the high degree of symbolic parity that was believed to exist between the development of each over time. The Qabalists believed that the processes of the microcosm - man - symbolically resembled the processes of the macrocosm - humanity, the world, society or culture. Use of this insight made it possible for the ancients to make predictions about the future of the world by examining the processes at work within man and gave rise to the well known esoteric saying, "As above, so below. As below, so above."

To briefly sum up what has been written so far, there is the Void - the unlimited, eternal source from which all creations springs and to which it will one day return - and there are the two means by which the ancients related to their brethren the nature of what they had learned. The first was the objective - "mind-stuff" seeking to return to its source via evolution. The second was the subjective - the individual person, or point of awareness, existing within a larger but symbolically similar framework - a world or culture. In esoteric manuscripts, the microcosm and macrocosm are each assigned a number - five for the former, and six for the latter.

The number 5 symbolizes the microcosm, Man. The number may be thought of as representing the four elements, earth, water, fire and air, plus the element of spirit, which the ancients believed were what made up man and placed him above the rest of creation. The number of the senses is also five, and those individuals capable of experiencing superconsciousness are referred to in Qabalah as members of the "fifth kingdom" - minerals, plants, animals, and "non-enlightened" humans making up the four preceding kingdoms.¹⁶ The number 6 symbolizes the world. It is the number of faces of a cube, the Qabalistic symbol for the three dimensions and therefore physical existence. Many natural processes revolve around the number six and the six-sided benzene ring is at the heart of organic chemistry.

The numbers 5 and 6 together usually take the form of "65" in Qabalist literature and this number symbolizes the movement of man and the world, as products of evolving consciousness, towards the Void. The number represents the progressive evolution of consciousness. The number's importance is reflected by its prominence in Qabalah. The word "lux" is Latin for "light" and in esoteric documents is written "L.V.X." As Roman numerals, these letters are 50, 5 and 10, which add to give 65. Members of Qabalistic orders use the phrase "In L.V.X." at the end of communications to allude to the common goal that they share. "Light" symbolically means "consciousness," and to "enlighten" is to develop consciousness. The word "enlightenment" is used to refer to the state a person enters when he or she has developed the ability to repeatedly enter superconsciousness. In addition, both modern psychology and Qabalah believe that the individual achieves true maturity through becoming progressively more aware of mental processes at work within them of which were previously unconscious, again a function of increasing consciousness.

In the esoteric interpretation of the Old Testament, great prominence is given by Qabalists to the figure of Enoch, who first appears in Genesis 5. Enoch is regarded as the first individual to achieve superconsciousness. The action of him doing so is believed to have "charged" the whole of matter with the presence of superconsciousness, making it possible for future generations to also enter this state. Genesis 5 relates the first ten generations of man, from Adam through to Noah. Enoch is the seventh.

And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years: And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him. And Methuselah lived an hundred eighty and seven years, and begat Lamech. And Methuselah lived after he begat Lamech seven hundred eighty and two years, and begat sons and daughters: And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty and nine years: - Genesis 5:21-27

From the above passage we can see that Enoch lived for 65 years and then "walked with God." At this age, he also fathered a son, Methuselah, and then continued to "walk with God" for a further 300 years until his physical death. Enoch's significance is hinted at by the presence of the phrase "walking with God," a metaphor for achieving superconsciousness, and reinforced by numerous other esoteric devices. Enoch lives, in total, for 365 years, a year usually containing 365 days, which indicates that a "grand cycle" is being completed here. In addition, he is the seventh of ten generations, numbers qabalistically associated with completion. Enoch's son, Methuselah, born at the time Enoch achieved superconsciousness, himself lives to a highly symbolic age - 969 years. The number 6 surrounded by two 9's symbolizes the world being drawn toward the completion of the descent and return cycle. It is related that Enoch "walked with God and was not," meaning that, in the superconscious state, time is transcended. Finally, Enoch achieves the enlightened state at the age of 65, the number again symbolizing the movement toward superconsciousness.

We can see that, in esoteric literature, the number 65 symbolically represents a variety of processes all associated with increasing levels of consciousness. On one level it represents the psychological process of individuation, brought about as a person becomes progressively more aware of automatic mental processes working within. On another, it symbolizes the evolution of self-consciousness to superconsciousness, which the ancients believed would one day bring about the return of all creation to its unlimited source.

The Tryptamines

The tryptamines are a range of chemical alkaloids that share one common molecular feature - an indole nucleus with a side-chain commencing from the "3" position (see figures). The indole structure itself is a six-sided "benzene" ring bonded to a five-sided "pyrrole" ring. The most interesting thing about tryptamines is that many of them can facilitate so-called "psychedelic" experiences. Most classical hallucinogens - LSD, psilocybin, DMT, etc - are tryptamines. In addition, some neurotransmitters, substances the body uses to communicate within itself, and related substances (such as serotonin and melatonin) are tryptamines. The molecules below are examples of tryptamines.

The Indole Ring with positions numbered	Tryptamine	DMT N,N,dimethyltryptamine

Serotonin	Psilocybin	LSD

Integrative Experiences and the Tryptamines

As other writers have commented, the experience of consuming tryptamines such as LSD or DMT bears many similarities to the visionary experiences related in The Bible and similar religious literature.¹⁷ Often related are:

- "transcendental" or "unitive" experiences in which the sense of separation between objects, or the coherent individuality of other sensory perceptions, appears to be diminished or entirely absent.
- a sense of time dilation or non-temporality.
- the making conscious of repressed situations from an individual's past.

These characteristics place the experience of ingesting certain tryptamines well within the framework of experiences referred to by the number "65." So it is interesting to note that the molecular structure of these compounds appears to relate to the experience of taking them via esoteric number symbolism. One might ask - is this mere coincidence?

(Before trying to answer this question, I should mention that it is not the presence of the linked hexagon-pentagon shape alone that seems to bring about the visionary experiences associated with using tryptamines. Instead, it seems that it is a specific modification of this characteristic structure that does the work. Science reveals that these types of hallucinogenic experiences appear to occur as a result of the drug's action at the serotonin 2 (5HT2) receptor. This occurs only with indoles where the "2" position is occupied by either a hydrogen or methyl group. The presence of larger groups at this position appears to prevent action at 5HT2 and thus not lead to psychedelic experiences. Unfortunately, I have not been able to draw a meaningful association between the molecular structure of 5HT2 active tryptamines, as opposed to simply indoles themselves, and concepts found in fields like esoteric geometry or astronomy. Perhaps later research will yield some more insights but, for the time being, I will look at the indole structure alone).

That the number "65" was used by the writers of The Bible to represent rising consciousness and that the molecular structure of the active ingredients of most psychoactive plants is based around linked pentagonal and hexagonal rings could be mere coincidence, but it could also suggest that the use of these plants was what enabled the ancients to understand the processes at the heart of human nature. Whilst the traditional reasons for attributing the number 65 to the process of evolving consciousness are those listed earlier, there may be room for other perspectives.

In particular, one might look at what esoteric schools of thought believe to be true about numbers and geometric figures. Qabalah asserts that both the body and the world are originally derived from geometric forms, that the structures of geometry are, in essence, archetypes for the world of form.¹⁸ If we assume for a moment that this is so, and that man, the universe, and, therefore, certain psychoactive plants, ultimately, at a higher dimensional level, all share a common origin, how might man likely have come to realize that his heritage was so shared? Contemporary accounts of the experience of ingesting psychoactive compounds frequently relate the spontaneous appearance within the visual field of geometric forms, sometimes apparently related to the substance's molecular structure.¹⁹ It would seem that this would present one possible route by which the ancients might have come to regard the processes of man and the universe as being related to the number sequence 65. It is also worth mentioning here that researchers have recently discovered that the nucleic connections in human DNA also resemble fused hexagonal and pentagonal rings. ²⁰

I will now look at the early chapters of the Old Testament, particularly those places where the text appears to relate to the ingestion of plant psychedelics.

The Journey of the Israelites

The biblical book of Exodus, the second book of The Bible, contains an account of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt and their wanderings through the desert to Mount Sinai. Symbolically, the book can be understood as relating the personal journey of the spiritually-developing individual from a land of psychic oppression, through a period of confusion and despair, and on to the "promised land." In addition, this metaphor can be understood in the context of developing mankind or developing consciousness itself.

In Qabalah, the Israelites have no meaningful race significance. They simply symbolize those individuals, from any race background, on the path to achieving enlightenment. The land of Egypt symbolically refers to a state of oppression, particularly psychic oppression.²¹ Qabalistically, Egypt symbolizes negative psychic forces, overt materialism, and the corruption of sexual impulses. The flight from Egypt is therefore both an individual journey from materialism and negative psychicism and the journey of the collective psyche, or developing consciousness, from the same things.

Having been led out of Egypt by Moses, the Israelites find themselves travelling through a desert and, as the days pass, become increasingly despondent. The desert is a metaphor for the mental state that the developing individual passes through as he or she begins to lose interest in materialistic pursuits and ego pleasures. Exodus 16 commences with the Israelites voicing their despondency, complaining that it would be better for them to die in Egypt, with bellies full, than here in the desert, starving. This passage then follows:

Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. - Exodus 16:4, Authorized Kings James Version.

The word translated as "Lord" throughout much of The Bible is, in the original, represented by the Hebrew letters "Yod Heh Vav Heh," sometimes written "Yahveh."²² In Qabalah these letters are translated "That which was, is, and is to come." This phrase refers to the Void, the words relating the Void's non-temporal nature. Throughout much of The Bible, the Void is envisioned as an anthropomorphized "divine teacher" figure - "the Lord." Entering the state of superconsciousness, and thus being freed from the restraining bonds of time and space, can allow prophetic insight. Thus, it can be inferred, Moses has entered a superconscious state and is receiving a revelationary insight. The Lord's message is then communicated to the Israelites:

And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At even [evening], then ye shall know that the Lord hath brought you out from the land of Egypt: And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for that he heareth your murmurings against the Lord: and what are we, that ye murmur against us? - Exodus 16:6-7.

A little later the text continues:

And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. - Exodus 16:10.

Thus it would seem that the Israelites have been granted an experience of superconsciousness to sustain them spiritually throughout their desert wanderings. In addition, it appears that this experience has been brought about through the action of a divine agency referred to as "bread from heaven." The nature of this "bread from heaven," or "manna," as it is otherwise known, has been speculated upon by various writers, several quite convincingly proposing that manna is, in fact, a psychoactive plant. It has been variously suggested that manna might have been an ergot fungus resembling LSD,²³ a psilocybin-containing mushroom,²⁴ or the fly agaric mushroom (active ingredient - muscimol).²⁵ The psychoactive component of the first two of these substances is an tryptamine. Towards the end of Exodus 16, further reference to manna is made, indicating that its use may only be temporary:

And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. - Exodus 16:35

Sustained on their spiritual quest by their use of manna, the Israelites finally reach Mount Sinai. A covenant with God is forged by Moses who receives the Ten Commandments. The story continues in the biblical books of Numbers and Joshua with the Israelites again returning to the wilderness where Moses eventually dies. Moses' death at 120 years of age indicates his enlightened status to Qabalists and others familiar with Gematria, the numerology system used by scholars of biblical Hebrew and Greek. The Bible traditionally ascribes "three score years and ten" to man's lifetime, and the extra fifty Moses achieves identifies him as having achieved superconsciousness via the kundalini-awakening process. Fifty is the number ascribed to the Hebrew letter "nun," which is associated with kundalini-awakening via esoteric Tarot and astrological symbolism.²⁶

The story of the Israelites recommences with their adoption of a new leader, Joshua, "son of Nun." Joshua's appellation identifies him as also being enlightened and thus capable of entering the state of superconsciousness. Joshua leads the Israelites across the River Jordan and into the land of Canaan. Metaphorically, the crossing of the Jordan and the spending of the passover in Canaan may be understood as symbolizing the acts by which the individual becomes capable of accessing superconscious states without the aid of entheogens. Joshua chapter 5 records:

For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the Lord: unto whom the Lord sware that he would not shew them the land, which the Lord sware unto their fathers that he would give us, a land that floweth with milk and honey......
..........And the children of Israel encamped in Gilgal, and kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the month at even in the plains of Jericho. And they did eat of the old corn of the land on the morrow after the passover, unleavened cakes, and parched corn in the selfsame day. And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year. - Joshua 5:6, 10-13.

This passage signifies that the Israelites remained in their metaphorical wilderness until they had been purged of all impure drives. It then relates that the manna that had been given to them in the wilderness ceased and they were fed on the fruit of the land of Canaan.

The underlying image left by these apparent references to the use of psychoactive plants is that of plant alkaloids being used to sustain the individual on a spiritual path until mental and physical development has sufficiently proceeded for their use to be unnecessary.

The Road to Infinity

They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven....
....Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world - John 6: 30-32, 49-51

To examine more deeply what the Israelites' temporary use of entheogens may mean, I will look briefly at what esoteric schools believe takes place in the brain to allow the initiate to experience superconsciousness without the use of drugs, and draw parallels with some scientific research into the existence of endogenous psychoactives (those naturally occurring within the body). I will then examine the symbology of the Israelites progress within the wider contexts of both the evolutionary and cultural development of man.

It is recorded in Qabalist and alchemist literature that access to superconsciousness, without the use of drugs, is made possible by slight changes in the organs of the brain. In particular, it is believed that the kundalini-awakening process induces certain changes in the structure of the pineal gland and from this emerges the liquid "Elixir of Life" - the principal goal of the alchemical process. Amongst other qualities, this Elixir is believed to allow access to superconscious experience.²⁷

Scientific research in the seventies famously discovered the presence within the body of the principle psychoactive tryptamine, DMT. Although not yet investigated, it would seem fully possible that this, endogenous hallucinogen has its origin in the pineal, already known to be the source of the related tryptamines melatonin and serotonin. (If this is so it could represent the beginnings of a neurological model for the kundalini-awakening process and related mystical experiences.²⁸)

The completion of the necessary changes in the chemistry of the pineal is symbolized, in the story of the Israelites, by the action of them crossing the River Jordan and spending the passover in Canaan. From this moment on they need no longer rely on the use of entheogens to gain access to superconscious states, these states can be acquired without chemical assistance. They have become enlightened.

In the wider context of developing human culture, the imagery of the text seems to indicate that the use of entheogens to facilitate access to superconscious states in pre-Christian times may have been necessary for the human brain was insufficiently developed for these states to be otherwise attainable. Those who used entheogens in such a way during this period gained such a level of knowledge of their own true nature and destiny that they were empowered to "do the work of the Lord" and create cultural structures that would serve to direct mankind's evolution, making it possible for future generations to eventually access superconsciousness without the use of drugs. By this statement I mean that orthodox Christianity may be viewed as a cultural vehicle created to slowly facilitate specific changes in the chemistry of the human brain. By depriving believers of unitive experiences, through the enforcement of restrictive moral and cultural practices, the physical body of Christian populations would, over many generations, be driven by evolution to attempt to facilitate these same experiences through minor changes in brain anatomy. The idea that organisms evolve to overcome restrictions placed in their environment is well established in biology. The validity of this principle is further alluded to in the story of the Israelites. Having reached Mount Sinai, after many years in the wilderness, Moses receives from the "Lord" a series of commandments, strict moral platitudes by which his followers must live. Morally sustained in this manner, the Israelites return to the wilderness for another period of 40 years before finally crossing the Jordan and entering Canaan, the "promised land" - enlightenment.²⁹

Moving to the evolutionary context, or the wider framework of developing consciousness, it would seem that the biblical tale recounted above implies that the use of psychoactive substances by our primate ancestors may have led to the evolution of human beings, and thus self-consciousness.

Figure 2 depicts the cycle (drawn anticlockwise) of "descent and return" through the various stages in the development of consciousness - mineral, plant, animal, and human. Note that time is again non-linear. From this, principally Qabalistic perspective, it can be seen that the use of entheogens occurs at three crucial stages in the development of consciousness, on each occasion to apparently "bootstrap" the evolving "mind-stuff" to a new level of development. In one context, therefore, entheogens are the instruments of the Lord - divine emissaries sent by the infinite to direct our development.

Conclusions

The main argument of this piece is that tryptamines, in plant form, are, if not the source, then very likely the channel by which much of The Bible has been created. This is based, in part, on two observations developed from examining the actual text. Firstly, that the text reveals, in symbolic form, such specific details about the processes by which creation came into being, and how this limited consciousness seeks to return to its source, that it demonstrates a level of knowledge of man's true nature and destiny that could only have been gained by someone who had achieved superconsciousness, a state likely inaccessible at the time of The Bible's writing without the use of drugs. The validity of this statement is of course dependent on the degree to which the interpretation of The Bible that I have used throughout this piece is believed by the reader. Secondly, that the biblical tale of the Israelites temporary use of "manna," in the time of their flight from Egypt, may be considered as a corroboration of the argument placed within the text itself.

Moving away from the actual text, the argument is further strengthened, in my opinion, by the observation that the molecular structure of the tryptamines, to some degree, places them symbolically within The Bible. Numerological symbolism drawn from Qabalah, (the number system used throughout The Bible to indicate or reinforce hidden meanings³⁰) identifies the number 65 as being related to the process of developing consciousness, whether through access to superconsciousness or by the revealing of mental processes at work within the individual of which he or she was previously unaware. Both these functions are performed by certain tryptamines, drugs which contain the characteristic indole rings.

In addition, it should be noted that alchemical texts, in particular, relate that access to superconscious experiences, without drugs, is afforded by certain changes that are believed to take place in the pineal gland during the kundalini-awakening process. Scientific research has discovered the existence of naturally-occurring DMT, the principle psychoactive tryptamine, within the body. It would thus seem fairly plausible that endogenous DMT is a principle component in the various mystical experiences reported today, and that the discovery of the process by which the body might manufacture DMT itself may have occurred through either drug-induced or spontaneous mystical experiences.

In attempting to demonstrate the principle hypothesis, two intriguing secondary hypotheses come to light. The placing of the Israelites temporary use of "manna" within the wider context of developing consciousness tends to indicate that the use of entheogens may have occurred at key points in our physical and cultural evolution. Firstly, as a means by which the primates, via the ingestion of plant psychoactives, were led along the evolutionary path to becoming humans and animal consciousness could thus develop into self-consciousness. Secondly, as a means by which the Christian religion, with its imposing moral framework, came into being as a means to bring about evolutionary changes in brain anatomy as repeated generations of individuals were drawn, at a subconscious level, to try and facilitate the unitive experiences denied them by their culture.

Before concluding this piece I will briefly mention that it may be the case for many readers that the nature of what I contend The Bible to be about is both so revelatory and contentious that they find their minds swamped with emotive criticisms of the so-called evidence. Proof as to it being at least one valid interpretation can be drawn from reading the works of the various Western esotericists and Eastern mystics detailed in the Notes³¹

Notes

(1) The esoteric doctrine of Qabalah (sometimes Cabala or Kabbalah) serves as the principal fountainhead for the teachings of the majority of the other Western Mystery Schools, as they are usually generically known. Qabalah has three principle source documents - The Sefer Yetzirah (Book of Formation), The Bible, and The Zohar, though none serve directly. The ideas of Qabalah are always hidden behind a veil of symbolism, metaphor, and gematria.

(2) See especially the Rig Veda and references to "soma."

(3) See especially Allegro, Heinrich, McKenna, Merkur, and Wasson.

(4) Dr Paul Foster Case (1884 - 1954) wrote extensively on many subjects related to Qabalah, including Alchemy, Sound and Colour, Astrology, and The Tree of Life. He is especially noted for his work on the esoteric Tarot and the Cube of Space. Although several books of his are publicly available, the majority of his teachings are available only from the organization he founded, Builders of The Adytum (BOTA), as postal courses.

B.O.T.A.
5101 North Figueroa Street,
Los Angeles,
California 90042
U.S.A.
tel: (+1) 323 255-7141
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(5) See note 1 for the offshoots of Qabalah. Hindu cosmology, as revealed by the Vedas and similar sources, forms the basis of Hindu and Buddhist creation mythology. It should be remembered that doctrines such as Buddhism in the East, and Gnosticism in the West, focus less on understanding and interpreting the world and more on leading people along the path to enlightenment.

(6) The Sefer Yetzirah, the Qabalist Book of Formation, deals with the creation of the universe extensively, though always in symbolic form. In Book 1 it is recorded that "Ain Soph," the Infinite Being, a metaphor for the Void, began creation by engraving the divine names through the 32 paths of wisdom - represented by the 10 "sephiroth" of the Tree of Life and the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet (Sefer Yetzirah I). The Emerald Tablet of Hermes, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (Thoth or Hermes) around the time of Abraham, expounds "And as all things are from One, by the mediation of One, so all things have their birth from this One Thing by adaptation." Devotees from many mystery schools with their origins in Qabalah are frequently referred to as those on the "path of return." The Kybalion is a Hermetic manifesto dedicated to Hermes Trismegistus and written by Dr Paul Foster Case, William V. Atkinson and the "Master R," under the pseudonym of The Three Initiates, in the early twentieth century. It brings to a close its chapter on The Void with the following passage:

"And at the end of the Grand Cycle of Aeons, when THE ALL [the Void] shall draw back into itself all of its creations - you will go gladly, for you will then be able to know the Whole Truth of being At One with THE ALL. Such is the report of the Illumined - those who have advanced well The Path." Kybalion Chapter V p. 75-76.

(7) Hindu cosmology is one of the matters addressed by the Vedas. The term "Brahman" denotes the "Void" and the term "Ishwara" the Void's potentiality in manifest creation. Ishwara is envisioned as being ruled by three gods (anthropomorphized, archetypal aspects of temporal existence) Brahma - the Creator, Vishnu - the Sustainer, and Shiva - the dissolver. It is believed that the universe is forever either in a state of actual existence, such as now, or in potential existence, such as at the end of time, when it is drawn back to its source and awaits re-emergence. The Bhagavad Gita speaks of the Void thus: