DMT and the Soul of Prophecy: A New Science of Spiritual Revelation in the Hebrew Bible

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. (Oct.)