Daily Reveille

Issue date: 2/23/07 Section: Opinion

Revelers' beer bingeing episodes on Fat Tuesday and somber Catholic masses on Ash Wednesday are traditionally viewed as far removed from each other. One day is filled with an excess of food, drink and hedonistic pleasure seeking. The other is a day when the devout begin to cleanse themselves with an ashen mark of the cross on the forehead and forego those bad habits - well at least for 40 days. The mood may be different, but religion, drugs, drug users and the devout share a kinship in their experiences, attitudes and behavior.

Religion and drugs are inextricably linked, from spacey cults to Christianity. Each owes their history and perhaps their ultimate origin to these ethnogens. In Exodus 16:14, Moses introduces his followers to what appears to be Psyclibon Mushrooms, small circular objects sprouting from the moist ground. They ground up the substance using mortar and pestel, finding otherwise it would stink and breed worms if left unattended. Moses implored his followers to preserve this "manna" for future generations. In the New Testament, Jesus sings the praises of using wine in moderation for religious ceremonies and celebrations. Native American religions involve the use of peyote as a means for self-exploration and tobacco as a means to send prayers to ancestors.

Some squirm at the notion that drug experiences are on the same level of "true" religious experiences. If manifestations of religious or spiritual experiences are simply the result of firing synapses in the brain, it would severely undercut the idea of an objective existence of "God." Dr. Andrew Newberg, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, has pioneered neuroimaging techniques of both believers and non-believers alike. He found certain areas in the temporal lobe were excited during prayer or meditation, this is where the brain rates the significance of events which are then strongly internalized.

Moving from the temporal lobe into the pineal gland of the brain, Dr. Rick Strassman published his findings on Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) in his book "DMT: The Spirit Molecule." Produced naturally in the brain, DMT may be responsible for hallucinations involved in "near death experiences," dreaming and other mystical states, Strassman speculated. The "trip reports" in the book according to the research subjects, uniformly reported some kind of "otherworldly" living entity as a dominant element in their experiences.

Being "high" on Christ and life seems take on a whole new meaning. What about the devout and other deeply religious people, are they addicted? It's certainly possible. John Bradshaw, a former cocaine addict and now self-help guru and evangelical, equated the two experiences' effect on dopamine levels. Dopamine, a chemical produced naturally in the body, plays a key role in pleasure, mood and addiction to other foreign drugs. Cocaine and nicotine employ it to encourage the user to continue use, and now prayer and meditation have been found to raise dopamine levels. Calling out the devout as "addicts" may seem extreme, but when taking into account their commitment to their faith, reliance on scripture and a compelling urge to continue to partake in religious ceremonies, it certainly is not a far leap.

Continued...

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