Bush and Cheney should be Arrested and Moses was High

There are two unrelated but interesting stories in the news today.

Reuters reports that two towns in Vermont voted to instruct police to arrest George Bush and Dick Cheney for “crimes against our Constitution.” Hey, that works for me. I say we arrest them, give them a fair trial and then hang the bastards.

The second story comes from AFP. Apparently a researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has concluded that Moses was high on psychedelic drugs when he got the Ten Commandments and talked to the burning bush.

Benny Shanon, a professor of cognitive psychology who admits having experimented with mind altering drugs at religious ceremonies during a trip to the Amazon, is the guy pushing this theory. The drug he used was from a powerful psychotropic plant called ayahuasca. Shanon claims that he experienced visions that had spiritual-religious connotations and that the properties of ayahuasca are similar to those in potions made from the bark of the acacia tree which is often mentioned in the bible.

Well, I don’t know about often. The acacia tree is prominent in Exodus 25 and 26 because God instructs that the Ark, the frames of the Tabernacle, the Table and the Altar within the Tabernacle and the poles for carrying the Ark, the Altar and the Table all be made of acacia wood. The construction of the Tabernacle, using acacia wood, is repeated in Exodus 37. Deuteronomy mentions in passing that Moses made the Ark out of acacia wood and Isaiah and Joel simply mention the acacia tree itself in one place each.

Clearly acacia wood had a special place but there’s no mention of any concoction made from the bark. Shanon simply finds this a more rational scenario than either supernatural intervention or a legend made up out of thin air.

I checked and the acacia tree does contain psychoactive alkaloids and apparently figures in Egyptian mythology both in relationship to the tree of life and the legend of Osiris. That sort of implies that Shanon may well be right. That wouldn’t surprise me in the least.