DMT and the Soul of Prophecy

September 8, 2014
Debatable in the best sense of the word, Strassman’s (DMT: The Spirit Molecule) latest explores the meaning of the human psychedelic experience. He brings both religious scholarship and scientific inquiry to bear on an intriguing question: are humans uniquely designed to have mind-expanding experiences, and is that how God communicates with human
beings? Strassman strongly suggests that the answer is “yes,” and while correlation doesn’t prove causation, he has amassed a formidable body of evidence. Hebrew
Bible passages relating prophetic experiences—visions, sounds, emotions, thoughts, etc.—appear alongside remarkably similar reports from Strassman’s
experimental subjects under the influence of DMT (dimethyltryptamine). The parallels underscore Strassman’s fascinating, though not foolproof, theory of theoneurology: the idea that the Divine intentionally communicates with us using the brain, rather than the oft-posed model of neurotheology, which holds that altered brain function simply causes hallucinations with content that can be interpreted as spiritually significant. Which is it? Strassman lobbies hard for theoneurology, and along the way offers a wealth of examples and experiments that lend credence to the theory.

October 15, 2014
Strassman is an MD who has written previously on DMT, a naturally occurring chemical that is found in the body and produces psychedelic effects. His studies and tests on volunteers led to a working hypothesis that DMT might be the cause of religious experiences and prophecies like those experienced by biblical figures. Strassman, accustomed to following a Buddhist spiritual path, returned to his Jewish roots to learn if the experiences of prophets like Moses and Daniel were akin to what his own volunteers were reporting. Although the writing sometimes goes into the weeds when it comes to discussing both science and spirit, he does a good job of explaining altered states of consciousness and comparing messages that might in fact come from outside the body rather than from within. In other words, does DMT make manifest a pathway that allows subjects to connect with some aspect of the divine? The snippets of case studies tend to become repetitive, but commentary on the differences between biblical prophecy and the volunteers' reports prove quite interesting. An intriguing mix of fact and possibility.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)