When Irenaeus is talking about [SPEAKING GREEK], love potions, again, we have no idea what the hell he's talking about. It is my great pleasure to welcome Brian Muraresku to the Center. And we know from the record that [SPEAKING GREEK] is described as being so crowded with gods that they were easier to find than men. So even from the very beginning, it wasn't just barley and water. And you find terracotta heads that could or could not be representative of Demeter and Persephone, the two goddesses to whom the mysteries of Eleusis were dedicated. And I think sites like this have tended to be neglected in scholarship, or published in languages like Catalan, maybe Ukrainian, where it just doesn't filter through the academic community. He dared to ask this very question before the hypothesis that this Eleusinian sacrament was indeed a psychedelic, and am I right that it was Ruck's hypothesis that set you down this path all those many years ago at Brown? So I went fully down the rabbit hole. From about 1500 BC to the fourth century AD, it calls to the best and brightest of not just Athens but also Rome. 32:57 Ancient languages and Brian's education . So I point to that evidence as illustrative of the possibility that the Christians could, in fact, have gotten their hands on an actual wine. But I don't hold-- I don't hang my hat on that claim. Joe Campbell puts it best that what we're after is an experience of being alive. So again, that's February 22. She found the remains of dog sacrifice, which is super interesting. Because every time I think about ancient wine, I am now immediately thinking about wine that is spiked. And I answer it differently every single time. Maybe I have that wrong. Thank you. I think it's important you have made a distinction between what was Jesus doing at the Last Supper, as if we could ever find out. I mean, that's obviously the big question, and what that means for the future of medicine and religion and society at large. What Brian labels the religion with no name. That's how we get to Catalonia. In this episode, Brian C. Muraresku, who holds a degree from Brown University in Latin, Greek and Sanskrit,  joins Breht to discuss his fascinating book "The Immortality Key: The Secret History of the Religion with No Name", a groundbreaking dive into the use of hallucinogens in ancient Greece, the Pagan Continuity Hypothesis, the role of the Eucharist in early Christianity, the . Brian C. Muraresku (@BrianMuraresku) / Twitter And he was actually going out and testing some of these ancient chalices. And considering the common background of modern religions (the Pagan Continuity hypothesis), any religious group who thinks they are chosen or correct are promoting a simplistic and ignorant view of our past. In the same place in and around Pompeii, this is where Christianity is really finding its roots. So I was obsessed with this stuff from the moment I picked up an article in The Economist called the God Pill back in 2007. In the first half, we'll cover topics ranging from the Eleusinian Mysteries, early Christianity, and the pagan continuity hypothesis to the work of philosopher and psychologist William James. difficult to arrive at any conclusive hypothesis. Two Reviews of The Immortality Key - Graham Hancock #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian Psychedelics Weekly - Prince Harry and Psychedelics, Proposed I just sense a great deal of structure and thoughtfulness going into this experience. That's only after Constantine. #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian Mysteries, Discovering the Divine, The Immortality Key, The Pagan Continuity Hypothesis, Lessons from Scholar Karen Armstrong, and Much More from The Tim Ferriss Show on Podchaser, aired Wednesday, 28th December 2022. Maybe there's a spark of the divine within. 18.3C: Continuity Theory - Social Sci LibreTexts And I-- in my profession, we call this circumstantial, and I get it. I wish that an ancient pharmacy had been preserved by Mount Vesuvius somewhere near Alexandria or even in upper Egypt or in Antioch or parts of Turkey. Now we're getting somewhere. It still leaves an even bigger if, Dr. Stang, is which one is psychedelic? Let's move to early Christian. A rebirth into a new conception of the self, the self's relationship to things that are hard to define, like God. What the Greeks were actually saying there is that it was barley infected with ergot, which is this natural fungus that infects cereal crops. The book proposes a history of religious ritualistic psychedelic use at least as old as the ancient Greek mystery religions, especially those starting in Eleusis and dating to roughly 2,000 BC. So it wasn't just a random place to find one of these spiked wines. So why the silence from the heresiologists on a psychedelic sacrament? And what do you believe happens to you when you do that? Which is really weird, because that's how the same Dina Bazer, the same atheist in the psilocybin trials, described her insight. If you die before you die, you won't die when you die. So I really follow the scholarship of Enriqueta Pons, who is the archaeologist on site there, at this Greek sanctuary that we're talking about in Catalonia, Mas Castellar des Pontos. This time around, we have a very special edition featuring Dr. Mark Plotkin and Brian C . So when Hippolytus is calling out the Marcosians, and specifically women, consecrating this alternative Eucharist in their alternative proto-mass, he uses the Greek word-- and we've talked about this before-- but he uses the Greek word [SPEAKING GREEK] seven times in a row, by the way, without specifying which drugs he's referring to. 474, ?] That's the big question. BRIAN MURARESKU: Right. Brought to you by And at the same time, when I see a thirst, especially in young people, for real experience, and I see so many Catholics who do not believe in transubstantiation, obviously, what comes to my mind is how, if at all, can psychedelics enhance faith or reinvent Christianity. And not least because if I were to do it, I'd like to do so in a deeply sacred ritual. He draws on the theory of "pagan continuity," which holds that early Christianity adopted . Copyright 2023 President and Fellows of Harvard College. And the quote you just read from Burkert, it's published by Harvard University Press in 1985 as Greek Religion. In fact, he found beer, wine, and mead all mixed together in a couple of different places. The answer seems to be connected to psychedelic drugs. So your presentation of early Christianity inclines heavily toward the Greek world. Did the ancient Greeks use drugs to find God? And what we find at this farmhouse is a sanctuary that Enriqueta Pons herself, the archaeologist who's been on site since 1990, she calls it some kind of sanctuary dedicated to the goddesses of the mysteries. Again, if you're attracted to psychedelics, it's kind of an extreme thing, right? So throughout the book, you make the point that ancient beer and wine are not like our beer and wine. And we know the mysteries were there. The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin The Eleusinian Mysteries, Discovering the Divine, The Immortality Key, The Pagan Continuity Hypothesis, Lessons from Scholar Karen Armstrong, and Much More (#646) - The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss 3 Annual "Best of" Apple Podcasts 900+ Million episodes downloaded It's some kind of wine-based concoction, some kind of something that is throwing these people into ecstasy. John H Elliott - Empires Of The Atlantic World.pdf The Continuity Hypothesis of Dreams: A More Balanced Account The mysteries of Dionysus, a bit weirder, a bit more off the grid. I'm skeptical, Dr. Stang. There's all kinds of reasons I haven't done it. And if it only occurs in John, the big question is why. I don't think we have found it. Tim Ferriss Show #646: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Plotkin: The Eleusinian Mysteries, Discovering the Divine, The Immortality Key, The Pagan Continuity Hypothesis, Psychedelics, and More. And so I do see an avenue, like I kind of obliquely mentioned, but I do think there's an avenue within organized religion and for people who dedicate their lives as religious professionals to ministry to perhaps take a look at this in places where it might work. But I want to ask you to reflect on the broader narrative that you're painting, because I've heard you speak in two ways about the significance of this work. So we're going down parallel paths here, and I feel we're caught between FDA-approved therapeutics and RFRA-protected sacraments, RFRA, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or what becomes of these kinds of substances in any kind of legal format-- which they're not legal at the moment, some would argue. First, I will provide definitions for the terms "pagan", "Christian", You see an altar of Pentelic marble that could only have come from the Mount Pentelicus quarry in mainland Greece. And there were moments when the sunlight would just break through. She had the strange sense that every moment was an eternity of its own. You mentioned there were lots of dead ends, and there certainly were. Just from reading Dioscorides and reading all the different texts, the past 12 years have absolutely transformed the way I think about wine. According to Muraresku, this work, BOOK REVIEW which "presents the pagan continuity hypothesis with a psychedelic twist," addresses two fundamental questions: "Before the rise of Christianity, did the Ancient Greeks consume a secret psychedelic sacrament during their most famous and well-attended religious rituals? I wish the church fathers were better botanists and would rail against the specific pharmacopeia. It would have parts of Greek mysticism in it, the same Greek mysteries I've spent all these years investigating, and it would have some elements of what I see in paleo-Christianity. But the next event in this series will happen sooner than that. Read more 37 people found this helpful Helpful Report abuse Tfsiebs So much research! Now I want to get to the questions, but one last question before we move to the discussion portion. So Pompeii and its environs at the time were called [SPEAKING GREEK], which means great Greece. The book was published by Saint Martin's Press in September 2020 and has generated a whirlwind of attention. BRIAN MURARESKU: I wish I could answer that question. I would expect we'd have ample evidence. And besides that, young Brian, let's keep the mysteries mysteries. We know from the literature hundreds of years beforehand that in Elis, for example, in the Western Peloponnese, on the same Epiphany-type timeline, January 5, January 6, the priests would walk into the temple of Dionysus, leave three basins of water, the next morning they're miraculously transformed into wine. So the Eastern Aegean. They were relevant to me in going down this rabbit hole. Wise not least because it is summer there, as he reminds me every time we have a Zoom meeting, which has been quite often in these past several months. Origin of the Romanians - Wikipedia And now we have a working hypothesis and some data to suggest where we might be looking. You won't find it in many places other than that. That event is already up on our website and open for registration. would certainly appreciate. The continuity between pagan and Christian cult nearby the archaeological area of Naquane in Capo di Ponte. Those of you who don't know his name, he's a professor at the University of Amsterdam, an expert in Western esotericism. You know, it's an atheist using theological language to describe what happened to her. To be a Catholic is to believe that you are literally consuming the blood of Christ to become Christ. The Tim Ferriss Show Transcripts: Brian C. Muraresku with Dr. Mark Not because they just found that altar. I've no doubt that Brian has unearthed and collected a remarkable body of evidence, but evidence of what, exactly? Psychedelics are a lens to investigate this stuff. I imagine there are many more potion makers around than we typically recognize. Richard Evans Schultes and the Search for Ayahuasca 17 days ago Plants of the Gods: S3E10. BRIAN MURARESKU: I would say I've definitely experienced the power of the Christ and the Holy Spirit. The most influential religious historian of the twentieth century, Huston Smith, once referred to it as the "best-kept secret" in history. And shouldn't we all be asking that question? To become truly immortal, Campbell talks about entering into a sense of eternity, which is the infinite present here and now. Do you think that the Christians as a nascent cult adapted a highly effective psycho technology that was rattling . You're not confident that the pope is suddenly going to issue an encyclical. But what I see are potential and possibilities and things worthy of discussions like this. Maybe for those facing the end of life. And I look forward to talking about this event with you after the fact eventually over a beer. I am so fortunate to have been selected to present my thesis, "Mythology and Psychedelics: Taking the Pagan Continuity Hypothesis a Step Further" at. It was-- Eleusis was state-administered, a somewhat formal affair. But I'm pressing you because that's my job. These were Greek-- I've seen them referred to as Greek Vikings by Peter Kingsley, Vikings who came from Ionia. I mean, I wish it were easier. So how does Dionysian revelries get into this picture? Let me start with the view-- the version of it that I think is less persuasive. Now, you could draw the obvious conclusion. I'm trying to get him to speak in the series about that. And so I don't know what a really authentic, a really historic-looking ritual that is equal parts sacred, but also, again, medically sound, scientifically rigorous, would look like. Now-- and I think that we can probably concede that. Tim Ferriss is a self-experimenter and bestselling author, best known for The 4-Hour Workweek, which has been translated into 40+ languages. The Gnostics did have continuity with paganism. Because even though it's a very long time ago, Gobekli Tepe, interestingly, has some things in common with Eleusis, like the worship of the grain, the possibility of brewing, the notion of a pilgrimage, and interaction with the dead. And at some point in my narrative, I do include mention of Gobekli Tepe, for example, which is essentially twice the age of Stonehenge. And she talks about the visions that transformed the way she thinks about herself. The long and short of it is, in 1978 there was no hard scientific data to prove this one way or the other. And I think that we would behoove ourselves to incorporate, resuscitate, maybe, some of those techniques that seem to have been employed by the Greeks at Eleusis or by the Dionysians or some of these earliest Christians. I mean, this is what I want to do with some of my remaining days on this planet, is take a look at all these different theories. Correcting Key Points in Muraresku, The Immortality Key And for those of you who have found my line of questioning or just my general presence tedious, first of all, I fully appreciate that reaction. And so for me, this was a hunt through the catacombs and archives and libraries, doing my sweet-talking, and trying to figure out what was behind some of those locked doors. So Gobekli Tepe, for those who don't know, is this site in southern Turkey on the border with Syria. In 1950, Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote " The Influence of the Mystery Religions on Christianity " which describes the continuity from the Pagan, pre-Christian world to what would become early Christianity in the decades and centuries before Jesus Religion & Mystical Experiences, Wine But I realized that in 1977, when he wrote that in German, this was the height of scholarship, at least going out on a limb to speculate about the prospect of psychedelics at the very heart of the Greek mysteries, which I refer to as something like the real religion of the ancient Greeks, by the way, in speaking about the Eleusinian mysteries. Many people see that as symbolic or allegorical or just a nice thing, which is not the case. 101. But it survives. And I want to say that this question that we've been exploring the last half hour about what all this means for the present will be very much the topic of our next event on February 22, which is taking up the question of psychedelic chaplaincy. Nage ?] So thank you, all who have hung with us. Not because it's not there, because it hasn't been tested. That they were what you call extreme beverages. There have been really dramatic studies from Hopkins and NYU about the ability of psilocybin at the end of life to curb things like depression, anxiety, and end of life distress. Now, what's curious about this is we usually have-- Egypt plays a rather outsized role in our sense of early Christianity because-- and other adjacent or contemporary religious and philosophical movements, because everything in Egypt is preserved better than anywhere else in the Mediterranean.

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