17

Message and Meaning I

Belief and Behavior

The previous chapters comparing the Hebrew biblical prophetic and the experimental DMT states provide powerful evidence in support of my contention that they share phenomenological similarities. Compelling correspondences were found in all mental categories we investigated: bodily sensations, emotions, perception, thought processes, volition, and relatedness. As always, however, we must continue asking ourselves, “If so, so what?” Why does it matter that the prophetic and DMT experiences share these features? How is the world a better place knowing that such similarities exist?

We may look for answers to these questions by examining the impact of the two sets of experiences. If the psychedelic state has exerted an influence on our civilization comparable to that of the prophetic one, then these resemblances are more than skin deep. In other words, the psychedelic state would be not simply a facsimile of prophecy, but truly accesses its same moral and ethical universes. This would indicate that we may experience prophecy through the psychedelic experience. However, I believe the evidence does not support this conclusion.

In the case of the psychedelic drug experience, its aesthetics—visual, emotional, and auditory—have had a much greater impact on our culture than has its message. We see this in the presence and popularity of psychedelic art, music, and other media. However, as yet there is no cogent psychedelic philosophy, law, theology, economics, or religion. These latter fields depend to a much greater extent on cognitive information than aesthetics.

When psychedelic drugs have demonstrated a non-aesthetic impact on our culture, it has been primarily in the area of “therapy.” We consider them to exert effects akin to psychiatric medication, and they can be used as tools to enhance various forms of psychological treatment. If spiritual issues do arise within a non-aesthetic context, such as occasioning spiritual states, we usually consider them to provide primarily psychological benefit. We see this in the field of “transpersonal psychology,” which developed in response to the infusion of psychedelic and Eastern religious sensibilities into mainstream psychology in the 1960s.1

In contrast, the Hebrew Bible has set the course for many if not all the bastions of Western civilization for thousands of years. Its message endures and influences to a much greater extent than do its aesthetics, even though its aesthetics are at least as impressive as those of the DMT experience. For example, the Ten Commandments are widely known, but it’s unlikely we could describe the visual, emotional, and auditory components accompanying their revelation at Mount Sinai despite the experience itself being thoroughly mind-boggling.

I found this aesthetics-rich and message-poor dichotomy to exist in my DMT data as well. Volunteers’ experiences did contain information, both personal and spiritual. However, they wrestled mightily with how to articulate what they had learned, how to integrate it into their personal and social lives, and by what means to communicate it. Dmitri alluded to this in chapter 14, “Volition and Will,” when he sensed that the beings and he had a mission, but he didn’t know what it was.

Jay, a student in his early twenties, even more cogently captured this conundrum when after his first high-dose DMT session he remarked: I was trying to capture the meaning, the knowledge, not knowing what to do; to put it in some kind of context, some kind of anchoring. How do you manifest it? Where’s the blueprint, the longevity? I don’t want it to just steal away.

The most striking insight that the DMT subjects attained through their sessions was that there existed a level of reality parallel to and interacting with this one just a few heartbeats away. They noted its solidity and temporal continuity, and catalogued its contents. When they received a message during their sessions, it usually contributed significantly less to their experiences’ overall impact than did their descriptions of the DMT state itself. And when the message was prominent, it nearly always involved personal psychological issues, rather than ones of a larger social or spiritual nature, such as we soon will read about in the prophetic literature.

THE CANONICAL VS. NONCANONICAL MESSAGE

We must not prematurely conclude that prophecy inherently possesses a richer message than the DMT state. It is important to note that much of the prophetic message that has come down to us resides in the books of the canonical prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the twelve minor prophets, and does not come from those who ostensibly lack a prophetic mission. Nevertheless, those latter individuals may have attained the highest possible levels of prophecy.

For example, Hagar, Sarah’s Egyptian maidservant, sees and speaks with angels, who accurately predict the future to her. The content of that prophetic state she experienced, that her son Ishmael would become the patriarch of a powerful and numerous people (Gen. 16:10; 21:18), is relatively brief and has little relevance to ethical, legal, or theological matters compared to the communications of the canonical prophets. However, the brevity and personal nature of a prophetic message does not detract from its truth value. In Hagar’s case, the prediction turns out to be true—her son indeed becomes the progenitor of the numerous and powerful Arab people.

PREPARING FOR WHAT FOLLOWS

This and the next chapter contain an enormous amount of information, and I feel some conflict between my desire to paint as full a picture as possible of the prophetic message and my concern for losing the reader’s interest. In this spirit, I often simply will refer to scriptural verses rather than quote them in full.

For those already familiar with the prophetic message, I beg these readers’ forbearance regarding this chapter’s length, especially if the message of the DMT state lacks enough sophistication to keep their interest. This especially may occur if one is seeking the same degree of correspondence between the two states as the preceding chapters have demonstrated in the phenomenological realms. Nevertheless, the information content of the DMT and prophetic states do share significant correspondences, albeit not to the same extent that exist in the phenomenological arena. In addition, my method of categorizing elements of the prophetic message may appeal to this group of readers.

The detail these chapters contain also may serve those interested in prophecy who do not possess much knowledge of the Hebrew Bible. Explicating the prophetic message to the extent that I do will demonstrate how much fuller is the informational content of biblical prophecy than simply predicting or foretelling. And for those who are reading this material through the lens of their interest in the psychedelic drug state, it may provide the intellectual and ethical “context, anchoring, and meaning” that Jay was seeking in his attempt to answer “If so, so what?”

Most important, however, is that the thorough explication of the prophetic message compared to the DMT one continues our examination of how the two syndromes do and do not resemble each other. As these next two chapters will demonstrate, the message of the prophetic state significantly differs from that of the DMT experience in its possessing greater depth, breadth, complexity, and profundity. When they do share features, we can hypothesize shared mechanisms. And when they do not, we need to search for how those mechanisms differ. It is only through rigorous hypothesis building that we can work toward modifying those mechanisms in order to bring the two states into closer alignment. The ultimate aims of this juxtaposition are to make the psychedelic experience more prophetic in its message and impact, and to make the prophetic experience more accessible to students of the Hebrew Bible.

As I discussed in the chapter introducing the comparison between the DMT and prophetic states, the organization of the following two message chapters differs from the phenomenology ones. It quickly became apparent that the informational content of the prophetic state is substantially greater and more sophisticated than that of the DMT experience. Therefore, instead of binning biblical excerpts into my pre-existing phenomenological categories—perception, emotion, and so on—I developed ad hoc message categories using the Hebrew Bible as my frame of reference. I then binned DMT excerpts into them. For example, one such biblical category might pertain to God being merciful. If a DMT report contained a reference to God’s mercy, I would place that excerpt into that biblical grouping. In addition, because much of the prophetic message does not have a counterpart in the DMT volunteers’ reports, there are many categories that contain only biblical references and no DMT ones.

ELEMENTS OF THE PROPHETIC MESSAGE

The message of the Hebrew Bible covers a vast scope, and its seeming inconsistencies tax our capacities. It tells us that humans are created in God’s image, but accepts the institution of slavery. It teaches us not to murder and that one day humanity will disarm and live in universal peace, but also permits the taking of life in certain circumstances such as capital punishment and war. The text teaches kindness to and empathy with animals while prescribing all manner of animal sacrifice. The message of the Hebrew Bible is as challenging as it is all-encompassing.

Belief and Behavior

We may divide the information one obtains in any spiritual experience into two related categories: those pertaining to belief and those pertaining to behavior. Beliefs concern the nature of the physical and spiritual worlds. In the Hebrew Bible, information regarding God’s attributes and actions are essential to any such set of beliefs. Behavior involves how we relate to our bodies and minds as well as to the outside world—natural, social, and spiritual. The Hebrew Bible conjoins these two categories of belief and behavior by teaching that accurate beliefs about God lead to specific ethical behavior based thereon.

Foretelling, Including the “World to Come”

Prediction figures prominently in the Hebrew Bible, as it explicates God’s involvement in history. Foretelling also occurs, though rarely, in the DMT state. The time span of prediction in both sets of experiences may be uncertain. Of great interest are descriptions, relatively common in prophecy and occurring occasionally in the DMT experience, of the “world to come.” When describing this “world to come,” we begin to encounter allusions in the Hebrew Bible to certain DMT-like elements characterizing this qualitatively different level of future existence.

False Prophets and False Prophecy

Accuracy of prediction is important in differentiating “true” from “false” prophecy, a topic of great concern to the Hebrew Bible and the medieval Jewish philosophers. However, several other factors play at least as important a role in recognizing the false prophet and false prophecy, including the nature of the message and the character of its bearer. False prophecy is relevant to the psychedelic state because we must exercise great care in deciding whether the information we obtain during a drug experience is accurate, true, and beneficial rather than simply another way in which we delude ourselves and others.

Wisdom and Poetry

The Hebrew Bible contains a wisdom literature: Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes being representative of the genre. Here we explicitly learn about proper attitudes and behavior by which to live one’s life. In addition, the 150 poetic prayers of Psalms and the tale of love that the Song of Songs recounts have provided inspiration and solace to hundreds of generations throughout the world.

WHAT GOD IS

The prophetic articulation of God’s nature and actions constitutes a significant portion of the Hebrew Bible. When information about God appears in the DMT reports, it generally comports with the prophetic text. In addition, there are regular examples in my DMT notes of volunteers describing “something” that for all intents and purposes could have been “God” if that something manifested within the prophetic context. Therefore, I include these examples, too, as concerning God.

Knowledge of God includes seeing His role in our personal lives, in nature, and on the stage of world history. That knowledge dovetails with guidelines for the conduct of individual and public life, the complex scaffolding of laws in the Hebrew Bible. Such laws oversee every aspect of our existence: commerce and exchange, diet, agriculture, medicine, war, family life, rites and rituals, and so on. Our degree of compliance with these guidelines determines the operation of God’s “justice.” This term represents overlaying cause and effect with an anthropomorphic cognitive filter that assumes a certain value system. Generally speaking, compliance with God’s precepts leads to the “rewards” of happiness, health, peace, and similar boons, and noncompliance leads to the “punishments” of war, illness, natural disasters, and similar banes. We also learn that it is possible to petition God by various means to temper with mercy His strict application of justice.

While reviewing this material, remember that God’s attributes are, strictly speaking, inconceivable. References to them partake of homonymy, as I discussed in chapter 7, God. They are the “next best thing” to an accurate description. By saying, for example, that God is “eternal,” this simply means that It is not limited by time, because It “existed” before existence and will continue to “exist” after existence. These are notions that we cannot possibly comprehend. However, “eternal” as an approximate description is better than a wrong one, such as “temporary,” or positing that God does not exist at all.

God Exists

The most essential attribute of God is that It exists, or more precisely, doesn’t not exist. We usually find the name YHVH in this context. Moses sings a song to the Hebrew nation just before his death, in which he speaks for YHVH: For I, I am It (Deut. 32:39).

God Lives

God lives, or rather, is not dead. In the context of God “taking an oath” to fulfill His word, He expressly states: as I live (Num. 14:28).

God Is One

The expression “one” may mean several things: qualitatively unique among its kind, indivisible, or the only one of its species. In this verse, which makes up part of the Shema, the most well-known Jewish prayer, “one” may refer to all three of these definitions. Hear, Israel: YHVH is our God, YHVH is one (Deut. 6:4).

God Is Eternal

As the rabbinical adage has it, “Time exists within God, but God does not exist in time.” God tells Isaiah: Even before there was a day I am It (Isa. 43:13), whereas the psalmist compares the temporal nature of heaven and earth with God’s eternality: They will perish, but You will endure (Ps. 102:27).

God Possesses Will and Unlimited Power, Knowledge, and Presence

These different attributes are difficult to isolate in a pure and distinct manner. For example, there exists an ineluctable relationship between God’s omnipresence and omniscience; in other words, because God is everywhere, It is aware of everything. And God’s omnipresence and omniscience make possible the execution of His will through His omnipotence.

God’s answer to Moses’s question regarding His name reflects the simple possession of will: I shall be what I shall be (Exod. 3:14).

God’s power is limitless: When I do, who can reverse it? (Isa. 43:13).

Will and power combine in the act of creation: God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light (Gen. 1:3).

God’s omniscience extends to the inanimate world: There is no rock that I do not know (Isa. 44:8); to the entire universe: He reveals the deep and the mysterious, knows what is in the dark (Dan. 2:22); to our own hearts and actions: For YHVH is a God of thoughts, and to Him are deeds counted (1 Sam. 2:3); no matter where we are: If I ascend to heaven You are there; if I make my bed in the lowest depths, behold, You are there (Ps. 139:8).

DMT

Elena witnessed the universe’s creation as an act of cosmic will: Then the words “ just because it is possible” emerged out of nothingness (DMT, 240). She also referred to God’s power: It was all-powerful, all-immense; it was Yahweh.

Cleo referred to God’s omnipresence: I was looking for God outside. [The beings] said, “God is in every cell of your body” (DMT, 238).

Incorporeal and Corporeal Descriptions of God

God’s omnipresence seems incompatible with Its possessing a body or occupying space. We read accounts of both God’s corporeality, such as the occasion when the prophet sees God “standing on a wall” (Amos 7:7), and incorporeality, as when Moses reminds the Hebrews that they “saw no form” at the Mount Sinai revelation (Deut. 4:15). King Solomon captures this conundrum when he rues that while the “heavens cannot contain” God, how is it possible for It to dwell in the Jerusalem Temple (1 Kings 8:27)? While kavod, a “limited version” of God, may answer this question, anything to do with the notion of God’s glory sooner or later stumbles over its paradoxical nature. To wit, Isaiah overhears angels declaring that “God’s glory fills the entire world” (Isa. 6:3).

Enigmatically, when God creates humans, He says: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness (Gen. 1:26). To forestall an anthropomorphic interpretation of this phrase, the medieval Jewish philosophers suggest that this refers to a real, although not physical, resemblance. For example, man shares God’s creativity, free will, and rationality.

God Is Holy

While the notion of holiness is enormously complex, the Hebrew word for it, kadosh, provides some insight into how the Hebrew Bible understands it. The three-letter root K-D-Sh implies such ideas as separation from the profane, mundane, and everyday. It is sacred, hallowed, and sanctified.

Isaiah hears the angels in his vision say: Holy, holy, holy is YHVH of Hosts (Isa. 6:3). And God’s name itself is holy (Ps. 33:21).

DMT

Siggie, in his early thirties and one of several Jewish volunteers, worked in a residential school for disturbed children. He described his overall impression of his DMT session: There’s a certain holiness to it.

Direct Perception of God Is Incompatible with Life

One possible and extreme conclusion regarding the fundamental dichotomy between holiness and the ordinary is that direct contact with God is incompatible with life. We previously read that direct perception of God’s glory may kill (Exod. 33:20). Despite this, we never find that someone viewing God or an angel actually dies. Rather, there is surprise at still being alive, as Jacob noted after wrestling all night with an angel (Gen. 32:31).

DMT

Gerald may have been referring to this threat: It seemed potentially dangerous to venture into it unless you were versed in how to handle it.

God Is Zealous

An attribute of God we read about in the Hebrew Bible is “jealous” or “zealous.”*99 Both terms refer to an intense commitment to a particular thing: a person, nation, belief, or practice. When something sunders or threatens to sunder that relationship, adverse consequences result. The term usually appears in connection with God’s “feelings” about idolatry in its various forms (Exod. 20:5).

WHAT GOD DOES

Providence is the term we use to express the relationship between God and the phenomenal world. God created and sustains the world by means of providence, including its moral and natural laws. The notion of homonymy also is critical in this discussion. Recall, for instance, the biblical concept of God rewarding and punishing that I discussed in chapter 7, God. The expression “God rewards” represents one way to label the end result of the operation of cause and effect that regulates existence. “God rewards” is shorthand terminology that militates against wrongheaded propositions such as “God is unaware of what we do,” “God has no power in this world,” or “God possesses no moral compass.” This is where the anthropomorphic notion of God’s providence proves useful. That is, if we received benefits (or suffering) for our actions from a person, we would interpret them as reward (or punishment). While this “reward” or “punishment” simply reflects the operation of cause and effect, that cause and effect is set up in such a manner as to encourage certain beliefs and behaviors and to discourage others.

God Created and Sustains the Natural and Moral Worlds

The first words of the Hebrew Bible describe how God imposed the order of natural law upon preexisting chaos: In the beginning of God’s forming*100the heavens and the earth . . . (Gen. 1:1).

With respect to both the natural and moral worlds, God: forms light and creates darkness, makes peace and creates evil (Isa. 45:7). God enlivens (Ps. 36:10) and kills (Deut. 32:39), created consciousness (Ps. 139:13) and the soul (Isa. 57:16), and placed these into His creations on earth (Isa. 42:5). God created the means of communicating, such as eyes, ears, and the mouth (Exod. 4:11).

DMT

DMT volunteers also noted the process of creation. Roland spoke “for” God in this excerpt: The first thing I created was chaos, the mother and father of all things. It gives birth to the patterns and everything else.

Volunteers described “slowing down” as a necessary stage in creation. Carlos experienced himself as “the Creator” and then: watched the universe’s creation down from fundamental mental energy to a vibratory rate to material things (DMT, 230–31).

God Exercises Justice and Righteousness

God is the ultimate judge because He is omniscient and has the power to judge: I YHVH search the heart, test the will in order to give to each person according to his ways, the fruit of his deeds (Jer. 17:10).

The rewards for living in accordance with God’s guidelines are manifold: spiritual benefits such as achieving closeness to God (Amos 5:14), attaining His love (Gen. 18:19), realizing the knowledge (Jer. 22:16) and awe (Deut. 6:2) of God, and acquiring prophecy (Ps. 17:15). The rewards also include a long life (Prov. 3:2), many descendants (Gen. 26:4), good health (Exod. 15:26), favorable weather (Deut. 11:14), and being a blessing to the world (Gen. 22:18).

DMT

Elena’s experience countered the suggestion that God “searches” or “judges”: It doesn’t seek or impose.

Ken alluded to the relationship between suffering and being punished in his horrifying encounter with the reptilian beings: It was as if I were being punished (DMT, 252).

God Loves, Comforts, and Heals

While we never read in the Hebrew Bible that God is love, the text notes that God does love: for YHVH is good, for His loving-kindness is forever (Jer. 33:11). God: loves the stranger to give him bread and garment (Deut. 10:18), and provides comfort to the distraught (Isa. 57:15) and healing to the ill (Deut. 32:39). His mercy extends to animals, as manifest in their having enough to eat (Ps. 147:9).

DMT

When Rex’s panic-stricken entry into the DMT state tested his faith, he came to the realization that: all is God, and that God was love (DMT, 206).

God Teaches and Instills Wisdom

While the highly abstract God of the medieval Jewish philosophers seems rather removed from the mundane human sphere, we encounter the opposite notion in the Hebrew Bible itself. For example: I am YHVH your God, who teaches you for your benefit (Isa. 48:17). In particular, He teaches those most capable of learning (Dan. 2:21).

DMT

In the prophetic milieu, Heather might have been referring to God: Maybe it was trying to teach me something (DMT, 179).

God Tests

God sets challenges before humanity, especially regarding one’s faith in It. Abraham passes such a test by simply agreeing to sacrifice Isaac, his son, after God requests that he do so. The willingness is sufficient (Gen. 22:16–17), and Isaac lives through the ordeal. Similarly, God feeds the Hebrews manna for forty years in the wilderness to teach them that It, and only It, provides sustenance (Deut. 8:3).

God Responds to Entreaties

God’s power and will allow Him to “relent” in a “merciful” manner. These expressions refer to how He may, as the creator and sustainer of the laws of cause and effect, modify their strict application in cases in which “punishment” would normally occur. A more modern “scientific” iteration of God’s relenting relates to a certain degree of “uncertainty” regarding the operation of cause and effect.2 That is, one need not evoke a non-natural explanation for the uncertainty that attaches to particular outcomes devolving from particular antecedents. This “scientific” explanation, however, simply explains how God may bend the rules of cause and effect, not why the possibility of such bending exists in the first place.

The text expresses the notion that repentance—admitting to a wrong, promising not to repeat it, making restitution when possible—may effect God’s relenting: Return to Me, and I will return to you, says YHVH (Mal. 3:7). In a related manner, God may relent in response to people changing their behavior by becoming more merciful and just (Jer. 7:5–7), through confession (Isa. 57:16), and suffering exile (Lev. 26:34).

GUIDELINES FOR LIVING: PROPER RELATIONSHIPS

This material begins introducing us to the practical applications of the knowledge one obtains in the prophetic state. To the extent that the prophetic and DMT states resemble each other, the guidelines that the Hebrew Bible lays down may have relevance to the drug experience. That is, they may provide valuable direction in developing a Western model for a way of life that resonates more closely with one’s psychedelic sensibilities.

In the introduction to this chapter, I present the idea that knowledge of God leads to particular ethical behavior based on that knowledge. For example, if God loves the stranger or hates idolatry, then by loving the stranger or hating idolatry, we are emulating God. Emulating God is one way to establish a closer relationship with It. By following certain guide lines we partake in God’s holiness: You are to sanctify yourselves*101 and you shall become holy, for I am holy (Lev. 11:44).

The basis of a Godly life is knowing the difference between right and wrong, or in biblical terms, between good and evil, that which ultimately avails and that which ultimately does not. Sometimes we can make that determination using common sense or rational deliberation. At other times the Hebrew Bible suggests we need revealed guidance. Isaiah chastises those who make up their morality as it suits them, equating this behavior with a denial of reality: Woe to those who speak of evil as good and of good as evil, who make darkness as light and light as darkness, who make bitter as sweet and sweet as bitter (Isa. 5:20).

The revelation at Mount Sinai is replete with somatic, emotional, perceptual, and other properties of the prophetic state. More important, there the Hebrew nation learned certain things about God’s nature, how to optimize their relationship with It, and how to optimize their relationships with their inner and outer worlds. The climax of the revelation is Moses receiving the Ten Commandments, what we might consider a distillation of the entire prophetic message. They first appear in chapter 20 of Exodus, and they appear again in chapter 5 of Deuteronomy with minor variations. The first subset of the Ten Commandments contains guidelines for relating to God. The second subset concerns social relations. I will begin with the former.

Relating to God

1. I am YHVH your God [Elohim] (Exod. 20:2). YHVH exists, and is Elohim, the creator of heaven and earth. This fixes in the mind a belief, not a specific behavior.

2. You shall have no other gods before Me (Exod. 20:3). There is only one God.

2a. You shall not make yourself a carved image nor any likeness of that which is in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the water beneath the earth (Exod. 20:4). Don’t make idols.

2b. You shall not prostrate yourself to them nor worship them (Exod. 20:5). Don’t bow before idols or the spiritual forces they represent or contain.

3. You shall not take the name of YHVH your God in vain (Exod. 20:7). Contemptuously and falsely swearing by God diminishes Its stature on earth.

4. Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it (Exod. 20:8). This is a reminder that God created the heavens and the earth and then ceased from creation, and that God took the Hebrews out of Egypt. God also enjoins us, our workers, and our beasts of burden to rest on the Sabbath.

IN ONE’S ATTITUDE

The primary feelings toward God that the Hebrew Bible attempts to inculcate are love (Deut. 6:5), knowledge (Exod. 6:7), closeness (Deut. 13:5), and awe (Deut. 10:12). Awe of God is one way to attain knowledge of It (Prov. 2:5). In addition, awe and love conduce to obedience. For example, Abraham obeys God’s command to uproot himself from his family at the age of seventy-five and travel to a destination that God will reveal to him only after he has arrived (Gen. 12:1).

DMT

Similarly, Cal received a call to journey. Note how in this excerpt a relational issue occurs regarding the quality of communication between the being and Cal: There was some guy there speaking in English so I could understand it. He said, “Go to Chaco Canyon.”*102He repeated it and told me to repeat it three or four times to make sure that I remembered it.

RITUAL AND PRAYER

The Hebrew Bible recommends certain practices, rites, and rituals that increase closeness to God. Some are effective when priests in their official capacity perform them on behalf of the community, and others require individual performance. Offerings are one example, and these include sacrifices, donations, and loans—of animals, agricultural products, valued possessions, money, or land.

The crucial variable affecting the efficacy of any ritual is sincerity, which the text defines as following God’s guidance in other areas of one’s life. In fact, the Hebrew Bible equates oppressing the disadvantaged with idol worship (Jer. 7:6). That is, worshipping God in one’s prayers while not being charitable is as if one were actually worshipping the idols of wealth and possessions and not the charitable and loving God. Rather, God desires: loving-kindness and not sacrifices, and knowledge of God more than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6). Insincerity negates the efficacy of prayer (Isa. 29:13), as does acute alcohol intoxication (Lev. 10:9). Rituals one directs at any entity other than God also are ineffective (Isa. 44:9).

Prayer is another form of ritual, in which one may petition for things, such as healing or salvation (Jer. 17:14), or express praise and thanksgiving (1 Chron. 16:8–10). Prayer may effectively substitute for ritual sacrifice (Ps. 141:2).

DMT

Research subjects rarely explicitly prayed. Heather addressed a God-like presence in her vision: Show me, oh powerful one.

STUDYING NATURE

One may know God, and thus approach Him, by studying His works. Job advises: Ask the beasts and they will instruct you, the birds of the sky and they will tell you. Or, speak with the earth and it will teach you, the fish of the sea will tell you (Job 12:7–8).

Relating to the World: The Golden Rule

A proper relationship with the world is tantamount to knowledge of God, as we learn from the prophet who bemoans the absence of both among the people and their rulers: There is neither truth nor loving-kindness nor knowledge of God in the land (Hosea 4:1).

The second subset of the Ten Commandments thus concerns our relationships with everything “other than” God: ourselves, other people, and the natural world.

5. Honor your father and your mother (Exod. 20:12). Your parents are partners with God in your creation.

6. You shall not murder (Exod. 20:13). Wanton murder is prohibited.

7. You shall not commit adultery (Exod. 20:13). People shouldn’t be unfaithful to each other.

8. You shall not steal (Exod. 20:13). Stealing deprives others of what is rightfully theirs and often leads to swearing falsely.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your fellow (Exod. 20:13). This is a prohibition against lying, as well as gossip.

10. You shall not covet your fellow’s house. You shall not covet your fellow’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your fellow (Exod. 20:14). This is the only prohibition against a feeling and not an overt behavior.

This set of statements finds its distillation in the “Golden Rule,” which in turn derives from love. Love is the antidote to hatred, the emotion with which the introduction to the seminal verse opens: You shall not hate your brother in your heart. . . . You shall not take revenge and you shall not bear a grudge against the members of your people; you shall love your fellow as yourself—I am YHVH (Lev. 19:17–18).

Several medieval Jewish commentators note that the wording of the Golden Rule points to its revealed nature. While it may be possible to rationally deduce much of the prophetic message, when the text adds the words “I am YHVH” to the end of a precept, it appears to be emphasizing that rational thought alone could not lead to it.*103

One may derive many corollaries from the Golden Rule: “Don’t do to your fellow what you don’t want done to you,” “Don’t do to yourself what you wouldn’t want your fellow to do to you,” “Love yourself as you wish your fellow to love you,” “Treat your fellow as you would like him or her to treat you,” and others.

Empathy plays an enormously important role in understanding and applying the Golden Rule, as we read when God states: Do not oppress a stranger. You know the feelings of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt (Exod. 23:9).

DMT

Allan referred to the Golden Rule and its basis in empathy when he saw angry Hispanic young men in his vision and told them: If you hate me, you hate yourself. . . . Their culture, our culture, they were co-real, existing simultaneously (DMT, 180).

APPLICATIONS OF THE GOLDEN RULE

General Applications

The Hebrew Bible establishes general categories of proper behavior: practicing righteousness, charity, and love, and shunning unrighteousness and hatred. God tells Isaiah: Cease to do evil, learn to do good, aid the wronged, uphold the rights of the orphan, take up the grievance of the widow (Isa. 1:16–17). Seeking peace is an especially high priority, as when the psalmist preaches to “seek peace and pursue it” (Ps. 34:15).

DMT

I previously noted how the beings charged Brenda with “embracing peace” (DMT, 214).

Specific Applications

The Hebrew Bible contains a vast number—Maimonides lists 613—of specific laws that address the multitudinous exigencies of daily life using its particular moral compass.4 In the pursuit of peace, it condemns gossip and slander (Ps. 34:14). In honoring our creator, it eschews self-mutilation (Lev. 19:28) and maladaptive intoxication (Isa. 5:11). The text spells out specific health-related regulations, including dietary ones (Lev. 11), that are conducive to having the closest possible relationship with God. These latter precepts include, among others, avoiding the consumption of blood, which the Hebrew Bible identifies with an animal’s soul or life (Lev. 17:14).

DMT

Gerald received a specific pointer regarding his health: There was a verbal message that I got, directing me to work with my nasal congestion.

PROPHECY

The text teaches compassion to animals; for example, mandating that we chase away the mother bird before collecting her eggs for food (Deut. 22:6–7) and that we not cook a kid in its mother’s milk (Exod. 34:26).

Several laws expand on the general prohibition against stealing: respecting property boundary lines (Deut. 19:14) and maintaining honest weights in the marketplace (Deut. 25:15). In fact, dishonest weights are “an abomination to God” (Deut. 25:16), the same expression the text uses to describe idol worship and its practices, up to and including child sacrifice (Deut. 12:31). Lending serves as a corrective against greed (Deut. 15:7–8). While the Hebrew Bible condones slavery, it sets time limits to enslavement: He shall work for six years and in the seventh he shall go free (Exod. 21:2).

With respect to the administration of a nation, we learn that a prophet should anoint the king (1 Kings 19:15), and the latter should not enrich himself through his office (Deut. 17:16). When waging war, the military must accept the peaceful surrender of its foes (Deut. 20:10– 11). God tells the Hebrews to appoint “judges and officers” throughout the land (Deut. 16:18) to ensure the greatest possible degree of righteousness and justice.

SUMMARY

This first chapter comparing the information content of the prophetic and DMT states demonstrates how much more complex, sophisticated, and voluminous is the prophetic message relative to the DMT one. When the two sets of data do address the same or similar issues, volunteers’ statements generally resemble those in the Hebrew Bible. For example, both point to similar qualities of God, or a God-like presence, such as Its power, creativity, and holiness. Volunteers also alluded, albeit rather indistinctly, to a Godly force’s involvement with the world, including such notions as loving, punishing, charging, and instructing. However, they spoke relatively little about moral principles, ethical teachings, or practical guidelines for living, such as the Hebrew Bible’s benchmark Golden Rule and the numerous precepts that devolve from it.