18

Message and Meaning II

History, the World to Come, the Messiah, Resurrection, False Prophecy, Wisdom, and Poetry

The Hebrew Bible teaches that God guides human affairs across the entire spectrum of history, on a scale that ranges from the individual to the global and even cosmic. Thus, the past is the fulfillment of God’s will. This is the source of the paradoxical notion of history as fulfilled prophecy; or to state it more precisely, that history reflects accurate prophetic foretelling. The past as well as the future reveal God’s “hand” in history: The Lord YHVH-God will not do anything unless He has revealed His secret to His servants the prophets (Amos 3:7).

The accuracy of prophetic foretelling, however, is not as cut and dry as it may seem, as many biblical predictions clearly have never taken place.1 As a result, there are many theories regarding the arena in which prophetic predictions reside, if that arena is not actual history qua history. Perhaps predictions are simply metaphors and teach theology; for example, that God is eternal and rewards and punishes according to one’s deeds. Or predictions that haven’t yet materialized may do so in the relatively distant future. Or the fulfillment of certain foretellings is happening now or will in the extremely near future.2

Taking into account this caveat regarding the ambiguity of prophetic predictions, I have adopted a particular approach to categorizing them. The primary criterion is how far in the future they apply. “Almost-immediate” predictions deal with hours to days, as when God tells Samuel to expect Saul the next day (1 Sam. 9:16), or as in Joseph’s accurate dream interpretation regarding the fate of his two fellow prisoners in an Egyptian jail (Gen. 41:13). An example of an almost-immediate prediction in a DMT volunteer occurred with Brenda: It (he) is trying to tell me I will see something. But what? I try to ask, “Will I know it when I see it?” The presence tells me I will see something (DMT, 212). This example also illustrates how impaired communication interferes with the apprehension of the information that the DMT state contains.

“Near-term” predictions fall within months to years, as when Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams as indicating years of plenty and years of famine (Gen. 41:25–31). “Long-term” predictions occupy a time span of decades to generations, in which case we begin losing specificity and sensitivity. An example is Moses’s prediction of the Israelites’ exile from their land (Deut. 28:64). While this event occurred several hundred years after the conquest of Canaan, Moses’s prediction lacked any temporal precision. “Very long-term” predictions are the most confusing regarding when they will occur, among whom, and where.

The World to Come

The notion of very long-term predictions, what the text often refers to as “at that time,” leads us into eschatology, which my dictionary defines as: “The branch of theology that treats of death, resurrection, immortality, the end of the world, final judgment, and the future state.”3 The vagueness of statements regarding when this end will occur provides the basis for the belief that that time may be in the remote future or may occur at any moment. The paradox of the inconceivably remote future being a heartbeat away is part and parcel of the confusion and hope that such a concept elicits. The Hebrew Bible conveys a sense of the enormity of this radical shift of circumstances, as for example when Daniel’s angel calls it “the end” (Dan. 8:17) and Jacob on his deathbed refers to “the end of days” (Gen. 49:1).

As my study of the Hebrew Bible progressed, the nature of this future world increasingly drew my attention. This is because of how similar many of its properties appear to those of the DMT state. I began to consider how endogenous DMT may play a role in this phenomenon, and it is for that reason I describe the “future world” in as much detail as I do below.

TRANSITION PHASE

Between this world and the next, a momentous and unpleasant transition is often predicted, which then evolves into a beatific state: For that day is great, with none like it, and it is a time of distress for Jacob, through which he shall be saved (Jer. 30:7). Its onset may be sudden (Mal. 3:1), and a loud noise may accompany it: I will whistle to them and gather them (Zech. 10:8). These characteristics are comparable to what we have already encountered in the movement between the normal waking state and either the DMT or prophetic one.

OVERWHELMING SENSE OF REALITY

God tells Isaiah how our current reality will pale in comparison to the new one, so much so that the old will fade from memory: For behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and the first ones shall not be remembered, neither shall they come into mind (Isa. 65:17). The psalmist predicts that the past will seem like a dream (Ps. 126:1).

DIFFERENT LAWS OF NATURE

Some descriptions of the new reality focus on changes in the natural world: The heavens shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall rot away like a garment (Isa. 51:6). The light of this new world is preternaturally intense: The light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times as strong—like the light of seven days (Isa. 30:26).

The human body becomes more highly perfected. All physical ailments and disabilities cease (Isa. 35:5–6) and childbirth becomes painless (Isa. 66:7). Human nature becomes more sublime: war ceases (Hosea 2:20) and “sorrow and sighing flee” (Isa. 51:11). God will change human nature in order to increase our love of and closeness to Him: YHVH your God will remove the barrier of your heart*104and the heart of your offspring, to love YHVH your God with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut. 30:6). It is a time of boundless joy: The righteous will be glad, exult before God, and rejoice with gladness (Ps. 68:4). Most striking, everyone from the highest to the least will prophesy. Joel, a Second Temple–era prophet, predicts: Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your elders shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. Even also upon the slaves and the maidservants in those days I shall pour out My spirit (Joel 3:1–2).

DMT

The notion of a future world also appeared in some of the DMT volunteers’ reports. William described learning of a better “world to come”: I felt evolution occurring. These intelligences are looking over us. There is hope beyond the mess we are making for ourselves (DMT, 193).

Rex saw a new type of “loving and sensual” hive-like human dwelling: [The being] said to me that this is where your future lay (DMT, 210).

Roland referred to a world in which conversing with God will be the norm: There’s a barrier between us and the divine; we made it; it’s not real; if it weren’t there God could talk to us like we talk to each other.

Willow intimated that such a rarified state must be incorporeal: There is no limit to love except the body. She also referred to its utterly sublime nature: If we all knew what was waiting for us, we’ d all kill ourselves (DMT, 225).

Resurrection and Eternal Life

The Hebrew Bible offers inconsistent hints regarding its views on eternal life, resurrection, the soul’s survival after death, and rebirth. Daniel’s angel tells him: Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awaken (Dan. 12:2). This notion of resurrection provides the medieval Jewish philosophers with a solution to theodicy—seemingly unjustifiable suffering or success—as the second half of this verse in Daniel indicates what will occur after resurrection: some to eternal life; others to reproaches, to everlasting abhorrence (Dan. 12:2). However, the author of Ecclesiastes remarks about the dead: nor will they ever again have a share in whatever is done under the sun*105 (Eccles. 9:6).

The medieval Jewish philosophers offer a compromise position by suggesting that death is permanent in this world of normal, natural law. However, when the new world comes into being with different laws of nature, death is more malleable. Job captures the essence of this solution: A man lies down and does not rise. They do not awaken until the heavens are no more; only then, aroused from their sleep (Job 14:12).

DMT

Willow referred to the seeming deathlessness of her disembodied existence: Eternity is an attribute of that place. It would have to be (DMT, 226).

Elena remarked on her own rebirth: I have practiced dying and returning (DMT, 222).

Brenda saw how rebirth might occur: The essence of who I am was alone in the void, back in the staging area for life where souls wait to incarnate (DMT, 212).

The Messiah

The prophetic message contains references to a herald, most likely human, of the transition from this world to the next. That person also may be that world’s sovereign. Specifics vary among the medieval Jewish philosophers regarding the nature of this “messiah.” The word itself derives from a three-letter Hebrew root, M-Sh-Ch, that means “to anoint” or “smear with oil.” Prophets anoint and thus sanctify their successors, as well as kings, priests, and the structures and implements of the sacrificial service. It is of note that while DMT volunteers described certain qualities of the “future world,” none referred to the notion of a messianic figure.

The Hebrew Bible predicts that the messiah will be a prophet (Isa. 11:2); wise, heroic, mighty, understanding, and reverent (Isa. 11:2–3); and a universal leader (Isa. 49:6). His success is certain, as God tells the prophet: Behold, My servant will succeed (Isa. 52:13). Maimonides suggests that the messiah will appear around the time of the resurrection and will oversee an era of great peace, the ingathering of all Jews to Israel, universal worship of YHVH, and extraordinary longevity. He also posits that the era of the messiah will be a prelude to the soul’s eternal life in a discarnate state.4

FALSE PROPHETS AND FALSE PROPHECY

The legitimacy of prophets and their messages is an issue that troubled people of biblical times, and has continued as a concern to the religious for millennia, and is also relevant to the contemporary psychedelic drug experience. That is, how do we determine the truth value of our own or someone else’s spiritual encounter?

The Hebrew Bible clearly states that there are true and false prophets; for example, when God compares the true prophet to “wheat” and the false prophet to “chaff” (Jer. 23:28). While it may be clear to God, Moses recognizes our own struggle to make such a distinction when he predicts that prophets will arise after he dies, and the people will ask: How can we know the word that YHVH has not spoken? (Deut. 18:21).

Contributing to this ambiguity, we find that when the Hebrew Bible discusses “false” prophets, it nearly always employs the word “prophet” without qualification. There are times, however, when it does specify false prophets as “prophets of the lie” (Jer. 23:26). The Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint, uses the word pseudoprophetes in several places, thus providing us with some additional guidelines in specific contexts.5

The Hebrew Bible proposes several criteria for differentiating true prophecy from false. These include (1) the presence or absence of confirmatory “signs,” such as miracles or the accuracy of a prediction; (2) the character of the prophet; (3) the source of the message; and (4) the message itself. However, as I will demonstrate, for every example of a criterion’s utility, we find other examples that militate against it.

Signs

Failure to bring about a promised sign may indicate a false prophet: If the prophet will speak in the name of YHVH, and that thing will not occur and not come about, that is the word that YHVH has not spoken (Deut. 18:22). However, the text also points out that even if the prediction comes true, the content of the message—for example, encouraging people to serve idols—indicates that the prophet is false (Deut. 13:2–6).

Character

Conviction may vouch for a prophet’s authenticity. The true prophet Michaiah announces: As YHVH lives, that which YHVH will say to me, that will I speak (1 Kings 22:14). Hananiah the false prophet also believes he speaks in the name of “YHVH of Hosts, the God of Israel” (Jer. 28:2), but his predictions do not materialize, and his advice is faulty.

False prophets are greedy (Mic. 3:5), whereas true prophets refuse payment (2 Kings 5:16). Nevertheless, Solomon, who experiences prophecy, amasses unimaginable wealth and burdens his country with staggering taxes and forced labor to construct both the Temple and his private palace (1 Kings 5:6, 27–30).

False prophets are adulterers (Jer. 29:23). However, David commits adultery with the wife of a man whom he then sends to the front lines to ensure his death (2 Sam. 11). False prophets are alcohol abusers (Isa. 28:7), but we read in Genesis how Noah the prophet drank himself into an indecent stupor (Gen. 9:21).

False prophets lie, as in the case of a particular false prophet who entices a true one (1 Kings 13:18), which results in the latter’s death. However, true prophets also lie, as when Isaac tells his neighbors that his wife is only his sister (Gen. 26:7). In a related vein, a true prophet’s advice may not be prophetic. Nathan, David’s court prophet, tells him that God is “with him” in his desire to build a Temple. Later that night, in a true prophetic dream, God informs Nathan otherwise (2 Sam. 7:3, 13).

True prophets are humble. The text describes Moses as the “humblest man in the world” (Num. 12:3). However, he regularly berates the Hebrew nation in anger (Num. 20:10), and his impetuousness precludes his entering Canaan with them (Num. 20:12), even after forty years of faithful stewardship in the wilderness.

DMT

With respect to the personal characteristic of humility, Brenda noted: I guess I don’t feel comfortable in my role as an earthly spiritual emissary (DMT, 215).

Message

A “false” message bespeaks the falsity of the prophet who delivers it, while the falsity of the message is proportionate to how much it deviates from the Hebrew Bible’s guidelines. For example, false prophets encourage drunkenness (Mic. 2:11) and promise salvation to the unrepentant (Jer. 23:14). However, while the true prophet’s message is often disturbing (Jer. 1:10), he or she may also preach unconditional salvation and consolation (Isa. 60:1), just as do false prophets.

Varieties of False Prophecy

One species of false prophet speaks for idols, what the text refers to as “the gods of others,” rather than for God (Deut. 18:20). Another relies on divination or magical practices rather than inspiration, as in the case of the king of Babylonia who: shot arrows, inquired of the teraphim,*106and looked into the liver†107 (Ezek. 21:26). However, divination may be accurate, as Jacob’s avaricious father-in-law Laban tells him: I have learned by divination that YHVH has blessed me on account of you (Gen. 30:27). Astrology is another form of divination that the Hebrew Bible considers false: the stargazers who foretell by new moons about what will happen to you (Isa. 47:13).

The Hebrew Bible suggests that one can recognize false prophecy when it is plagiary, the product of: those who steal My words from one another (Jer. 23:30). However, true prophets may plagiarize. Compare Isaiah’s description of the person and reign of the messiah with Micah’s:

He shall judge between the nations and reprove many peoples. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift sword against nation, and they will no longer study warfare. (Isa. 2:4)

He will judge between many peoples and will reprove mighty nations far away. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation will not lift the sword against nation, and they will no longer study warfare. (Mic. 4:3)

Societal Response

Many of the missionary prophets, those whose prophetic experience compels them to preach, neither pursue nor relish their role because of the reactions to their message in their target audiences. True prophecy often causes nearly pathognomonic*108 responses in those who receive it. This is due to the message’s admonishing and chastising content as well as its dire predictions. The text refers to prophecy as a “weight” or “burden” (Zech. 9:1; Mal. 1:1). The emotional, interpersonal, and physical strains are crushing, and many called to a prophetic mission attempt to avoid it.6 The true prophet may receive physical abuse (Isa. 50:6) or death threats (Jer. 11:21), or people may simply shun and ignore the prophet (Jer. 25:3). In fact, people usually prefer false prophecy, as Isaiah laments their request: Speak to us with smooth talk (Isa. 30:10).

WISDOM

The books that make up the Hebrew Bible’s formal wisdom literature are Proverbs, Job, and Ecclesiastes, although wisdom courses through the entire text. These books contain very little, if any, legal, historical, or narrative content. Instead, they emphasize theological and ethical issues, and lead to a clearer knowledge of God as well as help us attain well-being, dignity, and decency in this life. There are no visions in Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, only succinct observations and advice, and the Book of Job is nearly entirely a dialogue about theodicy. The wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible possess a degree of sophistication that matches anything one might encounter in the Eastern wisdom traditions; for example, Proverbs lists eleven types of wisdom or wise individual and six types of folly or foolish person.7

In the spirit of a wisdom text, the Hebrew Bible opens by directly addressing whether creation is good or bad. This heads off any potential sense of disheartenment, nihilism, or weariness regarding this world. And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good (Gen. 1:31).

DMT

Gabe confirmed this positive viewpoint: [The beings] were saying that life was good (DMT, 190).

We Determine the Quality of Our Lives

The Hebrew Bible establishes early on its teaching about self-determination when describing the delicate balance between doing good and doing evil, a decision over which we generally exert free will. Cain is angry that God accepted his brother Abel’s sacrifice and not his own. In response, God tells Cain: Surely if you improve yourself, you will be forgiven. But if you do not improve yourself, sin rests at the door. Its desire is toward you, yet you can conquer it (Gen. 4:7).

DMT

Andrea encapsulated the results of not “improving oneself ”: Humans and I are just plodding along, not going anywhere.

Wisdom’s Nature and Value

Wisdom predates creation. It says of itself: I was created when there were yet no deeps (Prov. 8:24). Wisdom is theocentric: Let not the wise man glorify himself with his wisdom. . . . For only with this may one glorify himself: contemplating and knowing Me (Jer. 9:22–23); ethical: Behold, the awe of my Lord is wisdom, refraining from evil is understanding (Job 28:28); and consists in knowing the value of seeking it: The beginning of wisdom [is to] acquire wisdom, and with all your possessions acquire understanding (Prov. 4:7).

DMT

Using the Greek term for the intelligent order that regulates existence, Allan reported perceiving: the Logos, . . . the core of meaning and semantics (DMT, 179).

Limits to Human Knowledge

The Hebrew Bible’s position is that our ability to understand God’s wisdom is not sufficient for the task. Solomon suggests that our very nature precludes attaining ultimate knowledge: [God] has also put an enigma into their minds so that man cannot comprehend God’s work that He did from beginning to end (Eccles. 3:11). God tells Isaiah that our use of the term “wisdom” is only homonymous in relation to His: For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts [higher] than your thoughts (Isa. 55:9). In addition, our inability to fathom God’s wisdom is at the root of the problem of theodicy, as we read in the concluding chapters of the book of Job.

DMT

Elena commented on the limited ability of her conceptual knowledge to grasp the essence of existence: There was no benevolent god, only this primordial power. All of my ideas and beliefs seemed absurdly ridiculous (DMT, 240).

POETRY

We usually equate the Book of Psalms and the Song of Songs with biblical poetry. However, several other songs appear in the Hebrew Bible. They all provide a lyrical mode of prayer—petitioning, praising, giving thanks, or expressing love. Psalm 23 probably is the most popular:

YHVH is my shepherd, I shall not lack. In lush meadows He lays me down, beside tranquil waters He leads me. He restores my soul. He leads me on paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Though I walk in the valley overshadowed by death, I fear no evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in view of my tormentors. You anointed my head with oil, my cup overflows.

COMPARING MESSAGES OF THE HEBREW BIBLE AND BUDDHISM

Traditional Buddhism teaches that there is no God external to us, one with whom our self attains a deeper and more highly developed relationship in the spiritual state. Instead, one reaches the goal of enlightenment by deconstructing that self and thereby experiencing absolute identification with an imageless, formless, and concept-free state of “emptiness.” The emptiness of enlightenment lacks any attributes, teaches no precepts, and possesses no personality, expectations, nor feelings.

Ethical–moral precepts do play a role in Buddhist practice, but they result from, rather than make up the essence of, the spiritual experience. In my Zen community, the three basic precepts were: (1) cease from evil, (2) do only good, and (3) do good for others. While these comport with the prophetic message, they represent an enlightened response to reality rather than constitute the message of enlightenment itself, because enlightenment by definition contains no message.

Buddhist ethics developed after the core enlightenment experience of the Buddha. He returned, as it were, with certain knowledge; for example, that there is no abiding self in the mind-body complex, that everyday existence is impermanent and therefore an improper relationship with it begets suffering. Therefore, deconstructing our relationship with the phenomenal world leads to inner peace. Buddhist interactive-relational guidelines, such as acting charitably, are secondary, not intrinsic, to a higher-order a-relational mystical-unitive experience.

In prophecy, there exists the maintenance and even intensification of one’s self in a highly dynamic and interactive relationship with a speaking, feeling, acting, and teaching God. Through prophecy, God communicates specific guidelines for beliefs and behavior that are consistent with the natural and moral laws He created and sustains. The prophetic experience is full of intelligible information, not devoid of it. The message, not its absence, is the soul of prophecy—its essential feature.

SUMMARY

This chapter has compared the informational content of the prophetic and DMT states with respect to God’s role in history, as well as the world to come, the messiah, resurrection, false prophecy, poetry, and wisdom. As in the previous chapter, the degree of overlap is not especially impressive. Prediction, especially near- to long-term, is virtually absent in the DMT experience compared with the prophetic one. And while eschatological elements appear in both states, those of prophecy are much more highly articulated. However, it is of great interest that biblical descriptions of the world to come share phenomenological properties with the DMT state. These common characteristics have led me to consider the role of endogenous DMT in the “eschaton,” and I will discuss this issue in chapter 20, The Metaphysics of DMT.

I have addressed at some length the notion of false prophecy. I believe it is necessary to keep this phenomenon in mind if and when we use the information and ideas in this book to attempt a renaissance of contemporary prophetic experience. We must approach any such effort with utmost care, within both the religious and the psychiatric/ psychedelic communities, to minimize false prophecy’s potential for adding more, rather than less, confusion and misunderstanding to our world.

While the DMT experience and prophecy appear to open the door to a very similar phenomenological universe—sights, sounds, feelings, and so on—it is less clear whether they open the door to the same theological and moral ones. In prophecy, especially that type we associate with the canonical prophets, there is information that consists of beautiful language, ideas, and guidelines for living that have shaped Western civilization for thousands of years. While the information contained in moments of inspiration and insight in the drug state usually are consistent with those of prophecy, the message of the DMT experience does not begin to approach the prophetic one’s breadth, depth, complexity, and profundity. And even in the case of non-canonical prophets, the truth value and relevance of the message they receive is far greater than that which the DMT volunteers return with.

At the same time, it may be that we are only now beginning to see a greater influence of the psychedelic “message” in the non-aesthetic worlds. In chapter 17, I referred to the development of transpersonal psychology as an intellectual response to the influx of psychedelic and Eastern religious sensibilities into Western culture in the 1960s. More recently, there is evidence for a similar effect on the disciplines of modern physics8 and personal computing.9 I remain uncertain, however, whether such developments are truly non-aesthetic. More precisely, do these developments provide us with greater ethical and moral values or superior wisdom? Do they truly represent the workings of a higher order or are they simply hypertrophied manifestations of the ordinary?

How might we understand the discrepancy between the degree of resemblance between the two states’ phenomenology and their information content? One possible solution to this problem is that the DMT volunteers did indeed enter into the same theological and moral worlds as do the prophets, but simply lacked the relevant concepts and vocabulary to recognize, understand, and communicate the information they contain. The alternative explanation is that the two states only superficially resemble each. One is true prophecy and the other is false or, more accurately, a simulacrum or facsimile.

This is a critical issue. If it simply is a matter of education and training, it is theoretically possible to make the prophetic experience more likely in those who seek it using psychedelic drugs. However, if the two sets of experiences differ fundamentally, then no amount of training or education will lead to the contemporary psychedelic drug state developing into true prophecy. These issues lead us to the investigation of the mechanisms underlying the prophetic and DMT experiences, the topic that now follows. Can we, by understanding those mechanisms, affect them in such a manner as to occasion true prophecy in our time?