For those confused,
This was a reply to SG after we took the "religious states" thread off-list. I asked if it would be allright to bring it back to the list because I think it is an element too often overlooked when armchair philosophers expound on religion from a distance.
I hold to my claim that simply dismissing as "hoi polloi balderdash" the bio-chemical effects of various religious states and their role in human culture is comprable to claiming a complete understanding of human reproduction without addressing the role of the orgasm in human pair-bonding.
-Prof. Tim
-----Original Message-----
From: KingsXfan <guenette4@bc.sympatico.ca>
To: virus@lucifer.com <virus@lucifer.com>
Date: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 12:04 PM
Subject: virus: Noetic experience
>You wrote:
>
>>Those states can be induced by ingestion of chemicals.
>
>Yes, I'm well aware of that. I'd recommend N,N-dimethyl-tryptamine (DMT)
>for someone seeking firsthand experience. Consult the Multidisciplinary
>Association for Psychedelic Studies (www.maps.org) for the latest research
>being conducted in this field by a very few scientists who have managed to
>finagle FDA and DEA approval of their clinical research.
>
>>Then it follows that when, for some unknown (or known)reason, chemicals
>>that reside in the brain are released and combine, we get the said states.
>
>Yes. And for chemicals introduced from outside, this is often because they
>have a similar chemical structure to a given set of neuro-transmitters. (As
>with DMT, which is present in small quantities in everyones brain at any
>given time.) The question becomes, What receptor sites do these chemicals
>trigger? And what role does their triggering play in the survival of the
>human organism?
>
>My original comments were directed to the second question, primarily.
>
>>Imagination is then used to interpret the states...put them into a visual
>>context. One can believe these interpretations to represent or
>>misrepresent reality.
>
>True enough. But the interesting thing to me about these subjective states
>is that whether one chooses to "believe" the intuitional revelations that
>come with them or not, the actual physical states exist and can be
>reproduced clinically. I think it begs the question, What value do/did
these
>states have in the evolution of the species?
>
>The error one makes in dismissing such states as simply chemical reactions
>or acts of imagination is on par with neglecting the role of the orgasm in
>the human reproductive cycle.
>
>>Make sense?
>
>Much more. If I may ask, are you still on the Church of Virus mailing list?
>If so, would you be adverse to taking this conversation back onto the list?
>
>-Tim
>
>.
>
>
>SG
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>"My mother was a spore"
>--quote taken from "The Lives of Rich & Famous Gametophytes"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>