# just wondering



## rvick (Sep 18, 2012)

not into a deep discussion, but has anyone who is or was an athiest ever taken psylocibin, peyote, LSD or any hallucinogenic?


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## JB0704 (Sep 18, 2012)

They might ask the same of believers......


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## ambush80 (Sep 18, 2012)

Very interesting......

Where are you going with this?


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## ambush80 (Sep 18, 2012)

I'll bite.

Yes, no, yes, yes.


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## centerpin fan (Sep 18, 2012)

rvick said:


> not into a deep discussion, but has anyone who is or was an athiest ever taken psylocibin, peyote, LSD or any hallucinogenic?



At least one has.  I'll let him "out" himself.


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## centerpin fan (Sep 18, 2012)

ambush80 said:


> I'll bite.
> 
> Yes, no, yes, yes.



Make that "at least two".


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## applejuice (Sep 18, 2012)

interesting question


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## drippin' rock (Sep 18, 2012)

You see the size of that chicken!?!!


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## hummdaddy (Sep 18, 2012)

what's this all about anyway? doing a science project?


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## rvick (Sep 19, 2012)

i just can not personally understand how anyone who has seen separate realities can not believe in God.


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## JB0704 (Sep 19, 2012)

rvick said:


> i just can not personally understand how anyone who has seen separate realities can not believe in God.



Are you calling a drugged up state of being a seperate reality?  I would think that falls more into the "drugged up state of being" category.....where reality is not percieved accurately.


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## drippin' rock (Sep 19, 2012)

How else do you explain burning bushes, staffs turning to snakes, and talking donkeys??


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## JB0704 (Sep 19, 2012)

drippin' rock said:


> How else do you explain burning bushes, staffs turning to snakes, and talking donkeys??



That's using drugs to explain faith.....he is claiming that drugs present an alternate reality, proving God.

I am just contesting that such a state does not present an alternate reality.


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## drippin' rock (Sep 19, 2012)

Don't know much about altered states or realities, but I have often thought drug usage would help on the visions and storytelling side of things....


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## JB0704 (Sep 19, 2012)

drippin' rock said:


> Don't know much about altered states or realities, but I have often thought drug usage would help on the visions and storytelling side of things....



Maybe so.....but don't think that's what the angle is here.  I could be wrong.


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## applejuice (Sep 19, 2012)

The sacred mushroom and the cross- Allegro

This book states that there is evidence of psychadelic use in early Christianity  and makes the claim that drugs "evolved" religion. 

Just a mans opinion , but an interesting one


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## dawg2 (Sep 19, 2012)

centerpin fan said:


> At least one has.  I'll let him "out" himself.





centerpin fan said:


> Make that "at least two".


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## dawg2 (Sep 19, 2012)

rvick said:


> i just can not personally understand how anyone who has seen separate realities can not believe in God.



So just curious, what did you see?


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## drippin' rock (Sep 19, 2012)

JB0704 said:


> Maybe so.....but don't think that's what the angle is here.  I could be wrong.



I know, I was just coming in from the side adding my 2 cents.  Maybe the thought is- altered state of mind is the same as alternate reality?  I don't agree nesessarily, but who knows?  I also don't think payote or it's ilk shows any form of reality.  It shows a jumbled up sub-conscious or things one might want to see.


Like REALLY big chickens


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## Artfuldodger (Sep 19, 2012)

We had a kid or two when I went to high school who did mushrooms and then became very religious.


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## ambush80 (Sep 19, 2012)

It's not just visions.  Psychedelics can affect emotions.  They can make people hyper introspective.  It's no surprise that they are used by primitive cultures in religious ceremonies.  People raising their hands up, crying, babbling, overcome with the 'spirit' look alot like high folk.

From the Gaurdian:

_The hallucinations happen because the drug mimics a chemical messenger in the brain called serotonin. While serotonin is usually described as a "feelgood" chemical - it is the neurotransmitter released by the drug ecstasy - it also plays a number of other roles.

The brain has at least 14 different receptors for serotonin, all of which play a different part in regulating functions such as our mood and how we interpret what our senses tell us.

"We think serotonin helps keep a handle on perception and actually stops us from hallucinating," says Clare Stanford, a psychopharmacologist at University College London.

A dose of LSD, or lysergic acid diethylamide, targets a specific serotonin receptor called 5-HT2A, and in doing so appears to throw our senses into a jumble. As a result, images we would never normally perceive become vivid and fool our brains into thinking they are real.

"The drug can also cause synaesthesia, a condition which happens naturally in a small percentage of the population, where your senses get mixed up and you start smelling colours and tasting sounds," says Dr Stanford._


Ive seen studies that show people have increased serotonin levels during prayer.  Who knew!?!  Prayer works!!!!


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## TripleXBullies (Sep 22, 2012)

I guess I had this backwards at first... Rvick, you're asking how anyone who HAS taken these things can't believe in god? So you're saying that seeing hallucinations from drugs should make people realize there is definitely a god?


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## vowell462 (Sep 26, 2012)

TripleXBullies said:


> I guess I had this backwards at first... Rvick, you're asking how anyone who HAS taken these things can't believe in god? So you're saying that seeing hallucinations from drugs should make people realize there is definitely a god?



Thats what I got out of it. Wierd question. Im dying to hear more logic behind this strange question.


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## vowell462 (Sep 26, 2012)

rvick said:


> not into a deep discussion, but has anyone who is or was an athiest ever taken psylocibin, peyote, LSD or any hallucinogenic?



Never done any of these things. However, I do recall an instance in a bar a long time ago when I got tuned up on vodka shots, a gorgeous young lady who after more vodka and fast talk, I ended up taking home. Was dang proud of it until the liquor faded away. The next day, she wasnt so dang gorgeous. At all. Had to change my phone number. Is that considered a hallucinogenic? I mean, I didnt see what was really there......


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## Six million dollar ham (Sep 28, 2012)

This thread:


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