DMT and the Soul of Prophecy

Naturally occurring DMT may produce prophecy-like states of consciousness and thus represent a bridge between biology and religious experience <p/>- Reveals the striking similarities between the visions of the Hebrew prophets and the DMT state described by Strassman's research volunteers <p/>- Explains how prophetic and psychedelic states may share biological mechanisms <p/>- Presents a new top-down theoneurological model of spiritual experience <p/>After completing his groundbreaking research chronicled in <i>DMT: The Spirit Molecule</i> Rick Strassman was left with one fundamental question: What does it mean that DMT a simple chemical naturally found in all of our bodies instantaneously opens us to an interactive spirit world that feels more real than our own world? <p/>When his decades of clinical psychiatric research and Buddhist practice were unable to provide answers to this question Strassman began searching for a more resonant spiritual model. He found that the visions of the Hebrew prophets--such as Ezekiel Moses Adam and Daniel--were strikingly similar to those of the volunteers in his DMT studies. Carefully examining the concept of prophecy in the Hebrew Bible he characterizes a prophetic state of consciousness and explains how it may share biological and metaphysical mechanisms with the DMT effect. <p/>Examining medieval commentaries on the Hebrew Bible Strassman reveals how Jewish metaphysics provides a top-down model for both the prophetic and DMT states a model he calls theoneurology. Theoneurology bridges biology and spirituality by proposing that the Divine communicates with us using the brain and DMT--whether naturally produced or ingested--is a critical factor in such visionary experience. This model provides a counterpoint to neurotheology which proposes that altered brain function simply generates the impression of a Divine-human encounter. <p/>Theoneurology addresses issues critical to the full flowering of the psychedelic drug experience. Perhaps even more important it points the way to a renewal of classical prophetic consciousness the soul of Hebrew Bible prophecy as well as unexpected directions for the evolution of contemporary spiritual practice.