The Missing Link Between Religion and Science
October 27, 2007
There is growing interest in a compound found in the human brain called DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) due to the fact that it could be the missing link between Science and Religion.
DMT is naturally produced by an enzyme in the human body as well as those of other mammals. It is also found in certain plants grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions. What makes DMT interesting is that DMT is a hallucigenic. It is the key ingredient in the drink ayahuasca, which is used by shamans and religious leaders in South America and Africa. It even used to be used in the Middle East. It is used as part of their religious ceremonies and it is believed that by drinking it, the eye of our soul is opened. People describe scenarios where for up to 8 hours they experience hallucinations where they become part of the natural world or where they meet strange beings ranging from gods, devils to even aliens. Some have speculated that the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil that Adam and Eve were warned again, could have been in fact ayahuasca, which was used by some of Israel’s neighbours.
In the modern, secular world we can of course dismiss these religious experiences as nothing but the side effects of raised levels of DMT, yet we have very little understanding of what DMT does and how it affects the human mind. There has been some research done in regards to raised levels of DMT at the University of New Mexico under Dr. Rick Strassman in 1998. He found that some subjects had experienced meeting “helpers” which ranged from everything from clowns, reptiles, mantises, bees, spiders, cacti, gnomes, and stick figures. Some experienced meeting aliens and believed that they were abducted and probed by these aliens. Since 1998 there has been little research done as it was felt that DMT was too psychotropic to use on human subjects.
The problem though is that there is very little understanding in the scientific community in regards to the way that DMT could naturally increase in the human brain. Some medical scientists believe that a sharp rise in DMT could be to blame for various hallucations and visionary experiences people have had. One of the effects which Dr. Strassman noted was that these experiences were very similar in nature to NDEs or Near Death Experiences. It could be the case that as the body shuts down, that the remaining DMT is used as many of his subjects saw a light with a religious figure or family member at the end of it.
When we consider religion and the amount of people whom have had differing visual experiences of seeing everyone from Jesus to Mary to even Elvis, one has to wonder if this natural substance is not to blame.
Then take the Apostle Paul’s conversion. Paul was a critic and persecutor of Christians and was on his way to Damascus when he saw a blinding light. He fell to the ground and heard and saw Jesus confront him. It is then said that he remained without sight for the rest of the day. We know today that there were groups in the Middle East who either smoked or drank ayahuasca which contains DMT. Everything about his experience is consistent with a very strong DMT rise.
All the stories found within various religious experiences ranging from the burning bush, to Paul’s conversion, to Mohammed’s vision of Gabriel do not make sense to our modern, scientific understanding of the world. Maybe not until now…
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6 Responses to “The Missing Link Between Religion and Science”
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Nice! We created god and not the other way around. I always believed that… but somehow could get a lot of people to understand that.
Ayahuasca is native only to South America and is made from 2 plants, one of which is banisteriopsis caapi, which is a MAO inhibitor, the other plant is one which contains DMT, either Psychotropia Viridis or another similar plant. These plants are not found in either Africa or the Mid-East. Some people believe that syrian rue, which is native to the mid-east and is also a MAO inhibitor served a similar use to Ayahuasca. However, it is not technically Ayahuasca.
It seems fair to assume that “religious experiences” or similar experiences (such as being at a baseball game where you experience the crowd rush and the excitement of seeing your team winning, or whatever it is that draws people to sports events) could cause elevated levels of various chemicals in the brain.
I cannot accept the term that it’s a “link between religion and science,” however. We already have this link, and it’s not a chemical but recognized fields of science: sociology and psychology have studied religious people for years.
I also suspect that, with the definitions of religion that are necessary for an actual study, an elevated level of a particular chemical is an unreasonably simple explanation. It could indeed explain certain “flashes of insight,” like the one that Paul claimed, but I think that you need a better explanation when it comes to the average citizen that believes in astrology and isn’t overly religious about it.
A “religious experience” can be had by non-religious people, and they don’t necessarily turn religious about it. Similarly, there are religious people that haven’t had religious experiences. If this drug facilitates religious thought, I suspect it’s a rather minor and insignificant detail in the explanation.
The human brain is a powerful thing. It’s very possible that someone experiencing the effects of DMT (or indeed many other chemicals) could interpret it in a religious context. History has been filled with writing and iconography depicting the link between spiritual sacraments and mystical experiences.
In a Johns Hopkins study, almost two thirds of a group who were administered psilocybin “described the effects of psilocybin in ways that met criteria for a full mystical experience”. Psilocybin is the main active chemical found in magic mushrooms. It affects similar parts of the brain as DMT and LSD.
The association between hallucinogens and religion/mysticism is a strong link - one which I believe reinforces the idea that religion (like every other subjective experience) is a product of the brain.
given the the fact that there are so may things in this world that are unexpainable, it is almost impossable to say that all we experiance in life is just a coincidence. that we all are just lucky that the earth is placed at the perfect distance from the sun and every thing on the earth works in a perfect cycle! insted of using dmt as a way to cancel out religion, why can’t it be the gate way to eternity and life after death? maybe these experiances prove that there is a higher power all around us at all times, but can only be seen when in a certain state of mind. have you ever woundered why people have always pondered life most unexpainable question ones in which should drive a man insane, yet most people come to terms with the fact they will never know . is this just another coincidence?
Steve,
You’ve reminded me of my favorite Douglas Adams quote.
In other words, we are as we are because of the characteristics of our environment.
As far as “perfect cycles” - wouldn’t a more-perfect cycle be better described by nice, neat, round numbers? How perfect is a year that is 365.24 days long, requiring a leap year every 4 years, but skipping one leap year for every 100 years?
Yeah, enough of this.