THE BIBLICAL MERKAVA VISION and AYAHUASCA VISIONS a Comparative Commentary1

BENNY SHANON

THE BIBLICAL MERKAVA VISION AND AYAHUASCA VISIONS

A Comparative Commentary1

INTRODUCTION

One of the most famous chapters in the Old Testament is the opening chapter of the book of Ezekiel. In this chapter (see also, Ezek 10) the prophet recounts a vision of God (a term used in the original) that he had; indeed, what Ezekiel experienced was an encounter with the Divine. Quite uncharacteristically to the Jewish norms, the encounter is described in the most vivid figurative terms. While not mentioned by name as such, central in Ezekiel’s vision is a chariot (merkava in Hebrew); hence, the vision is commonly referred to as ‘the vision of the chariot’ (hazon ha-merkava). Subsequently, in the first two centuries of the common era, this vision triggered an entire mystical literature devoted to visions of the higher, celestial realms and interpretations thereof. I am neither a biblical scholar nor a student of the Jewish mystical tradition. Rather, I am a cognitive psychologist who is studying the phenomenology of non-ordinary states of consciousness. In particular, I have investigated the special state of mind induced by the Amazonian psychotropic brew ayahuasca. I shall not review this work here, not even in summary. All I shall do in this paper is highlight some similarities between ayahuasca visions and Ezekiel. Before turning to the focal subject matter of this paper, let me briefly present some background information regarding ayahuasca. The brew is made out of two plants, Banisteriopsis caapi, a liana, and Psychotria viridis, a bush (or rather, the leaves thereof). In order to obtain psychological effects, both plants are required. The main active ingredient in the brew is DMT.2 In the vast region

1 I thank Yehiel Assulin, Zvi Carmeli and Elisheva Septimus for their comments and Eran Laish and Yossi Schellas for their help with the preparation of the manuscript. 2 For further botanical and pharmacological information, the reader is referred to R.E. Schultes, ‘An Overview of Hallucinogens in the Western Hemisphere’, in: P.T. Furst (Ed.), Flesh of the Gods:The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens, Prospect Heights (IL) 1972, 3-54; R.E. Schultes, ‘The beta-carboline hallucinogens of South America’, in: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 14 (1982), 205-220; R.E. Schultes & M. Winkelman, ‘The Principal American Hallucinogenic Plants and their Bioactive and Therapeutic Properties’, in: Yearbook of Cross-Cultural Medicine and Psycho- therapy 6 (1995), 205-239; J. Ott, Pharmacotheon: Entheogenic Drugs, their Plant Sources and History, Kennewick (WA) 1993; J. Ott, Ayahuasca Analogues – Pangean Entheogens, Kennewick (WA) 1994; as well as to R.J. Strassman, DMT the Spirit Molecule, Rochester (VT) 2001. 32 BENNY SHANON encompassing western Brazil and the eastern areas of Ecuador, Peru and Colom- bia as well as parts of the basin of the Orinoco, where Brazil and Venezuela meet, ayahuasca has long been the central pillar of culture. Indeed, it appears that the indigenous peoples of this region have used the brew for millennia. In the past, ayahuasca was used in various rituals and involved in the making of major com- munal decisions, notably locating game for hunting and declaring war. It was also believed that the brew made it possible to see distant places and foretell the future. Nowadays, many of the old Amerindian traditions have been lost, but the brew is still the basic instrument of traditional healers (ayahuasqueros, shamans) in the entire region. On the one hand, the brew is said to enable the healer to see the inner constitution of his patients, and thus establish a diagno- sis; on the other hand, it is said to bring the healers in contact with wise beings and guiding entities that pass information to him so that he knows how to per- form the appropriate treatment. In addition, ayahuasca is purported to allow the healer to be in touch with the spirits – the beings of other worlds and the dead. For many, ayahuasca is not merely a potion or a plant but also a being with special, unique qualities or even a deity. In this century, as a result of interracial con- tacts, several syncretic religious groups have been established in Brazil in which the indigenous ayahuasca traditions are coupled with Christian and other non- indigenous (in particular, African) cultural elements. The most important of these are the Church of Santo Daime and the União do Vegetal (the Plant Union). In both, ayahuasca is consumed as a holy sacrament and constitutes the key element in both the doctrines and the rituals of the groups in question. Typically, ayahuasca induces powerful visions as well as hallucinations in all other perceptual modalities. Pronounced non-perceptual cognitive effects are also manifest. These include personal insights, intellectual ideations, affective reactions and profound spiritual and mystical experiences. Moreover, ayahuasca introduces those who partake of it to what are experienced as other realities. Those who consume the brew may feel that they are gaining access to new sources of knowledge and that the mysteries and ultimate truths of the universe are being revealed to them; this is often coupled with what ayahuasca drinkers describe as an encounter with the Divine.3

3 For general information regarding ayahuasca and the traditional contexts of its use, the reader is referred to the works of G. Reichel-Dolmatoff (Amazonian Cosmos: The Sexual and Religi- ous Symbolism of the Tukano Indians, Chicago (IL) 1971; The Shaman and the Jaguar: A Study of Narcotic Drugs among the Indians in Colombia, Philadelphia (PA) 1975; Beyond the Milky Way: Hallucinatory Imagery of the Tukano Indians, Los Angeles (CA) 1978; The Forest Within: The World-View of the Tukano Amazonian Indians, Foxhole 1996). See also M. Dobkin de Rios, Visionary Vine: Hallucinogenic Healing in the Peruvian Amazon, San Francisco (CA) 1972; E.J. Langdon, ‘Yagé among the Siona: Cultural patterns in visions’, in: D. Browman & R. Schwarz (Eds.), Spirits, Shamans and Stars, The Hague 1979, 63-82; and L.E. Luna, Vege- talismo Shamanism among the Mestizo Population of the Peruvian Amazon, Stockholm 1986. THE BIBLICAL MERKAVA VISION AND AYAYHUASCA VISIONS 33

Practically all the scientific literature on ayahuasca pertains either to the natural sciences (botany, pharmacology, clinical medicine) or to anthropology. For the past decade I have been involved in a pioneering project attempting to investigate the ayahuasca experience from a cognitive-psychological point of view.4 A comprehensive phenomenological analysis of the various aspects of the special state of mind induced by ayahuasca is the subject of a book I have recently completed.5 Empirically, my analysis is based on two large corpora of data – the records of my own firsthand experiences with ayahuasca (I have actively participated in almost 140 ayahuasca sessions), and interviews I have conducted with about 200 individuals. These individuals came from different socio-cultural backgrounds, from different locales, and had different levels of experience with ayahuasca. They included indigenous and non-indigenous persons from various places in Brazil and Peru as well as foreigners (that is, persons residing outside of South America). One major facet of my research is concerned with cross-personal commonalities in the visions different people see with ayahuasca. As detailed in some of the items cited in footnotes 2 and 3, as well as throughout my book (see foot- note 5), some content items are especially prevalent in ayahuasca visions and they are reported by different individuals, ones coming from different personal and socio-cultural backgrounds. These items include serpents, felines (notably, jaguars and pumas), birds, royalty and religious figures, palaces and temples, objects of art and magic, celestial scenes, mythological creatures, and beings of light (the latter often described as ‘angels’). Also to be noted are details that are not necessarily the most frequent items encountered with ayahuasca, but which nevertheless have a disproportionate presence in the visions. Amongst these, I shall mention winged and multi-faced creatures, and disembodied eyes.

See also the anthologies by M.J. Harner (Ed.), Hallucinogens and Shamanism, Oxford 1973; E.J. Langdon & G. Baer (Eds.), Portals of Power: Shamanism in South America, Albuquerque (NM) 1992; and L.E. Luna & S. White (Eds.), Ayahuasca Reader: Encounters with the Ama- zon’s Sacred Vine, Santa Fe (NM) 2000. Ayahuasca Visions (Berkeley (CA) 1993) by L.E. Luna and P. Amaringo is a joint publication of an anthropologist (the first author) and a shaman-turned-painter (the second) in which reproductions of paintings depicting ayahuasca visions are displayed. For information regarding the syncretic religious groups employing ayahuasca, see A. Polari, O livro das mirações, Rio de Janeiro 1984; A. Polari, O guia da floresta, Rio de Janeiro 1992; and E. MacRae, Guiado pela lua: Xamanismo e uso ritual da Ayahuasca no culto do Santo Daime, São Paulo 1992. 4 See B. Shanon, ‘Cognitive Psychology and the Study of Ayahuasca’, in: Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness 6 (1997), 77-94; B. Shanon, ‘Ayahuasca Visions: A Comparative Cog- nitive Investigation’, in: Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness 7 (1998), 227-250. 5 B. Shanon, The Antipodes of the Mind: Charting the Phenomenology of the Ayahuasca Expe- rience, Oxford 2002. 34 BENNY SHANON

Curiously, practically all the details described in Ezekiel belong to the set of common details in ayahuasca visions. Following is a survey of the items that appear in Ezekiel’s vision and which are also very common in ayahuasca.

A SURVEY OF CONTENT ITEMS

Heavens open Ezekiel opens his text with noting that the heavens opened. Many powerful ayahuasca visions present the same pattern. Like Ezekiel who recounts that ‘the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God’ (Ezek 1:1), drinkers of the brew report that the heavens opened and celestial and heavenly scenes were revealed to them.6

Light and fire The Ezekiel vision is replete with numerous manifestations of light. These include different forms of brilliance and splendor, flames of fire, lightning, torches (in the King James version the word employed is ‘lamps’) and sparkling like that of pol- ished metals and precious stones. All these are very common in ayahuasca visions. In these visions, light may appear in various forms. Firstly, under the intoxication, both objects perceived in the real world and ones seen in visions, usually shine and glitter. Secondly, the simplest and most elementary of ayahuasca visualizations consist of non-figural (that is, merely geometrical) patterns of light and colour.7 Thirdly, common in ayahuasca visions are objects that generate light. The heavenly bodies, fire, torches, and chandeliers are especially common. Fourthly, prevalent with ayahuasca are creatures that, independently, many people describe as ‘beings of light’. Fifthly, very frequent and typical is a pattern of lines of light; these are often interpreted as connecting everything that exists and investing it all with vital energy. Lastly, some of the most powerful ayahuasca visions consist entirely of light. In these, drinkers may feel that they are entering into a totally different reality, one which is often described as exhibiting high dimensionality (in the mathematical sense) that defies ordinary Euclidian geometry. The powerful light seen with the brew is often interpreted as manifestation of the Divine. Several of my informants explained that it was impossible to look at that light, and that doing so would involve risking their lives.

6 For graphic examples, the interested reader is referred to plates 10 and 19 of Luna & Amag- ingo, Ayahuasca Visions. 7 These are similar to phosphenes – that is, the endoscopic patterns of light that may be induced by physically pressing the eyes bulbs; see G. Oster, ‘Phosphenes’, in: Scientific American 222 (1970), 83-88. THE BIBLICAL MERKAVA VISION AND AYAYHUASCA VISIONS 35

I shall add that in the religious contexts of ayahuasca use, light is pivotal. This is especially highlighted in the syncretic religions – the Church of Santo Daime and the União do Vegetal. Time and again, leaders of these organizations whom I interviewed characterized the ayahuasca experience as a symphony of light.8 In both groups there are hymns and blessing associated with light.

Chimeras and multi-faced creatures The creatures described in Ezekiel have four faces – those of a human being, a lion, a bull and an eagle. Furthermore, while having ‘the likeness of a man’, these creatures were winged and their soles of feet were those of a calf. Chimeras (in the extended sense of the term) or hybrid creatures – that is, creatures which are half-human, half-animal – are very common in ayahuasca visions. Such creatures encountered in the corpus I have collected include hybrids of, on the one hand, humans and, on the other hand, fish, felines, reptiles, birds and canines. Also frequent are creatures who ordinarily do not have wings but in the visions do – e.g., winged horses and winged elephants. In my corpus there are also several instances of creatures with multiple faces. Usually, these creatures are encountered in heavenly scenes in which the ayahuasca drinker feels that some ultimate secrets are being revealed to him or her. Especially remarkable is a grand vision in which one of my informants saw a creature with a very great (de facto, innumerable) number of faces, each belonging to a different animal; standing, this creatures embraced the entire planet. The informant conceived this creature to be the embodiment of all life. Another informant reported having seen a creature with four faces – those of a child, a man, a lion and an angel. I shall add that in the Amazon- ian Museum in Quito, I saw a sculpture of the (Ecuadorian) Shuar tribe rep- resenting the Supreme Law of Life and Existence – it depicted a woman with many faces. It shall be noted that in the indigenous Amazonian culture ayahuasca and artistic creation are intimately linked.9

Disembodied eyes Disembodied eyes (eyes seen without the bodies of a human being or an animal) are reported to be seen by many ayahuasca drinkers. This phenomenon is also associated with other psychotropic agents.10

8 See Polari, O livro das mirações. 9 See Reichel-Dolmatoff, The Shaman and the Jaguar; and Beyond the Milky Way. 10 For a discussion of the motif of disembodied eyes in the context of pre-Colombian Mexican culture, the reader is referred to J. Ott, ‘Carved “Disembodied Eyes” of Teotihuacan’, in: R.G. Wasson, S. Kramrisch, J. Ott & C. Ruck, Persephone’s Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion, New Haven (CT) 1986, 141-148. 36 BENNY SHANON

Materials The materials out of which objects seen in ayahuasca visions are made do not define a random, or a representative, sampling of the materials out of which ordinary objects are made. The materials prevalent in ayahuasca visions are gold, brass, gilded wood, crystal (especially, palaces of crystal), precious stones, and fine textiles. In the Ezekiel vision gold and textiles are not mentioned. Apart from these, all the materials common in ayahuasca visions are encountered in Ezekiel. Furthermore, all the materials mentioned in the Ezekiel vision pertain to the set of materials commonly seen in ayahuasca visions. In addition, let me note the following peculiarity. It has to do with amber, a dominant element in Ezekiel. Admittedly, it is not clear that the Hebrew hash- mal (electrum in Greek) is what in modern English is called ‘amber’. Bearing this in mind, I shall note that overall, the most common colourings dominat- ing the general ambiance of ayahuasca visions are gold and celestial bright yel- low-white; next in line, it seems, is a darker ambiance of amber.

Vehicles and wheels As noted, the vision in Ezekiel is known as ‘the vision of the chariot’. A chariot as such is not mentioned in Ezekiel, but wheels are central in it. Both chariots and wheels are common with ayahuasca too. Of the vehicles of transportation seen with the brew, the most common ones are carriages, usually very ornate. On several occasions I have seen visions in which wheels or other revolving parts were central. Such scenes have been reported to me by other persons as well.

Upward and fast movement Globally, the description in Ezekiel marks an upward movement. This applies both to the movement of the things seen in the vision and to the overall directionality of the prophet’s gaze and the course of his narration. Such directionality is also common in ayahuasca visions, especially in those with powerful spiritual impact. In such visions, people often feel that their gaze is lifted up and that they reach higher and higher realms; this movement is often coupled with a sensation that they body and/or the mind of the individual is being lifted up as well. A per- son most experienced with ayahuasca once recommended to me to always look up in the visions. He explained that above the main scenes of visions, there is always more to see. Remembering this advice, I often lifted my gaze upwards in my visions. Frequently, this reveals new realms, often spiritual ones, to me. Another aspect of movement has to do with speed. The animals in the Ezekiel vision run swiftly to and fro. Ayahuasca visualizations are especially known for the great speed in which they move and change. THE BIBLICAL MERKAVA VISION AND AYAYHUASCA VISIONS 37

Noise of great water All the items that have so far been indicated were visual. Indeed, ayahuasca visions are primarily visual experiences. Non-ordinary perceptions pertaining to the other sensory modalities are encountered, but they are much less frequent than the visual ones. Ezekiel’s experience too is primarily visual. In Ezekiel only one item pertains to audition: The prophet speaks of ‘the noise of great water’. Remarkably, describing the auditory aspect of visions, several of my informants, as well as the anthropologist Harner, have employed this very same expression ‘the sound of running water’.11

Encountering the Divine The climax of the Ezekiel vision, its thematic center and its very raison d’être, is the encounter with the Divine. This theme is also prominent with powerful ayahuasca visions. Furthermore, for many, the primary reason to partake of the brew is to reach spiritual and religious experiences. I know of many individuals who have partaken of ayahuasca without having any such considerations in mind and who, to their own surprise, ended up having such experiences. Not infrequently, such experiences result in religious conversions and other major, long-lasting changes in people’s conduct of their lives. Both in Ezekiel and with ayahuasca the experience of encountering the Divine is marked by marvel and admiration, on the one hand, and by fear and dreadfulness, on the other hand.12

The Divine Message Ezekiel ends, and culminates, with a revealed message: The prophet hears the Lord speak. Powerful ayahuasca visions, too, are associated with messages, instruction and the feeling of gaining significant information and true knowledge. Without exception, these are considered to be meaningful and most valuable, and the morals they convey often affect the persons concerned long after the termination of the intoxication proper. I shall add that for traditional ayahuasqueros, the main import of the brew is the reception of information regarding their patients’ illnesses and instructions as to how to treat them.

11 M.J. Harner, ‘The Sound of Rushing Water’, in: M.J. Harner (Ed.). Hallucinogens and Sha- manism, Oxford 1973, 15-27. 12 See also R. Otto, The Idea of the Holy: An Inquiry into the Non-Rational Factor in the Idea of the Divine and its Relation to the Rational, Oxford 1957 (orig. publ. 1917). 38 BENNY SHANON

Palaces In closing this survey of common content items, let me mention one category of items which is very common in ayahuasca visions and which does not appear in the Ezekiel vision – palaces and temples (a vision of the Temple appears, however, elsewhere in the Book of Ezekiel, in Chapters 40-44). My surveys indicate that palaces and temples constitute one of the most salient content cat- egories in ayahuasca visions. While these are absent in the biblical text considered here, palaces are central in the Jewish mystical tradition that was inspired by Ezekiel. Indeed, the texts of this tradition are usually referred to as the heikhalot (palaces) literature. The name refers to the heavenly and celestial palaces the mystic sees in his visions. Inspection of these texts reveals great sim- ilarity between these palaces and those seen with ayahuasca.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUDING REMARKS

The list of content items mentioned in the foregoing survey covers all the items mentioned in the Ezekiel vision. All are prominent in ayahuasca visions. That similar patterns are encountered in two contexts between which there is no direct link is remarkable. I am not attempting any causal or procedural expla- nation for the similarities noted; my aim here is simply to mark the very existence of these similarities. Yet, having said that, let me make several further comments. Surely, there is one thing in common between the two cases we have discussed – both involve powerful spiritual experiences. Such experiences, especially when accompanied by visions, as is the case in Ezekiel and as with ayahuasca, are definitely instances of non-ordinary states of consciousness. Obviously, Ezekiel did not partake ayahuasca. Nor am I suggesting that he par- took any other psychoactive substance either. Surely, non-ordinary states of consciousness can be evoked in many ways, the consumption of psychoactive substances being just one way. Other methods include deep meditation, fasting and isolation, and sensory deprivation. What the comparative analysis under- taken here does show is that the visions human beings experience in extreme cases of non-ordinary states of consciousness manifest some very specific char- acteristics. In particular, some very particular content items seem to be especially prevalent. In my studies of ayahuasca I have found that such items are common in the visions experienced by different individuals coming from different geographical, and socio-cultural backgrounds. I have further pointed out that whereas the commonalities I have found pertain to content, practically all cognitive universals discussed in the psychological literature pertain either to THE BIBLICAL MERKAVA VISION AND AYAYHUASCA VISIONS 39 form or to structure. Paradigmatic examples of the latter are the grammars of natural languages, the rules of logic and reasoning, and the principles of cate- gorization. The finding of an overlap between the content items recounted by Ezekiel and those commonly encountered in ayahuasca visions is, I think, significant. One type of cognitive universal that appears in the psychological literature and does pertain to content is that of the Jungian archetypes.13 These too were postulated in conjunction with the detection of common patterns. Specifically, having discovered that various manifestations of psychic life – dreams, visions, fantasies, patterns of insanity and works of culture – exhibit commonalities that cannot be accounted for in terms of the particular life histories of the individuals at hand, Jung proposed that there is a level which is psychological and at the same time collective. Prima facie, the Jungian approach seems to be especially fitting for the analysis of the ayahuasca experience.14 However, when details are examined, the commonalities discussed here appear to be very different from those associated with the Jungian archetypes. The Jungian archetypes corre- spond to several roles which are central in human life: The Great Mother, The Old Sage, The Hero, The Eternal Youth, The Trickster. These roles are both played by individuals in the course of their lives and are portrayed by famous figures in all human societies and as such are personally known to all their members. As such, the archetypes can be associated with the common heritage that is shared by all human beings and which may very well have evolved throughout the history of the species. Not so some of the commonalities encountered with ayahuasca and discussed here, which consist of specific semantic content. These cannot be reduced to commonalities in human experience and to the predicament of life; therefore, they cannot be accounted for by the Jungian conceptual framework of archetypes. Accounting for them must be based on a different level of analysis. Perhaps they reflect a deeper layer of the unconscious – like the ‘sacred unconscious’ proposed by Smith,15 or what Aldous Huxley referred to as the ‘antipodes of the mind’.16 More metaphysical accounts might be entertained as well.

13 See C.G. Jung, ‘Psychological Aspects of the Mother Archetype’, in: H. Read, M. Fordham, & G. Adler (Eds), The Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious, Princeton (NJ) 1969, 75-112 (orig. publ. 1954). 14 See P.T. Furst (Ed.), Flesh of the Gods: The Ritual Use of Hallucinogens, Prospect Heights (IL) 1990. 15 H. Smith, Cleansing the Doors of Perception: The Religious Significance of Entheogenic Plants and Chemicals, New York 2000. 16 This term was coined by A. Huxley, in Heaven and Hell, London 1956; and The Doors of Per- ception and Heaven and Hell, Harmondsworth 1971. 40 BENNY SHANON

The foregoing comments notwithstanding, the reader might be interested to know that in the Near East there are plants which can elicit effects very similar to ayahuasca. Specifically, the combination of acacia (mimosa tortilis and mimosa raddina) and peganum harmala – two plants that grow in the arid areas of the region, including the Land of Israel, the Sinai peninsula and Mesopotamia – pro- duce a biochemical configuration identical to that produced by the Amazonian plants of which ayahuasca is made.17 In an unpublished paper, I put forth the speculative hypothesis that origins of the Hebrew religion are rooted in the use of such plants.18 In this, I follow the steps of other scholars who have proposed that other world religions originated in the use of psychoactive plants.19 Lastly, let me comment on the association of the items mentioned in Ezekiel with ones encountered in the Jerusalemite Temple. As pointed out by Elior, the former (which chronologically are the later ones) can be directly associated with

17 See D.S. Flattery & M. Schwartz, Haoma and Harmaline: The Botanical Identity of the Indo- Iranian Sacred Hallucinogen ‘Soma’ and its Legacy in Religion, Language, and Middle Eastern Folklore, Berkeley (CA) 1989. 18 B. Shanon, ‘DMT Entheogens – A Biblical Connection?’ (unpublished). 19 See R.G. Wasson (Soma: Divine Mushroom of Immortality, New York 1968) with respect to the vedic religion of India; Wasson and his collaborators (The Road to Eleusis: Unveiling the Secret of the Mysteries, New York 1978; and Persephone’s Quest: Entheogens and the Origins of Religion, New Haven (CT) 1986) with respect to the ancient Greek religion; Flattery & Schwartz (Haoma and Harmaline) with respect to Zoroastrianism; J.M. Allegro (The Sacred Mushroom and the Cross: A Study of the Nature and Origins of Christianity within the Fertility Cults of the Ancient Near East, Garden City (NY) 1970) with respect to Christianity; and, last but not least, D. Merkur (The Mystery of the Manna: The Psychedelic Sacrament of the Bible, Rochester (VT) 2000) with respect to Judaism. For a general discussion on the relationship between psychoactive substances and religions, see W. LaBarre, The Ghost Dance: Origins of Religion, New York 1972; P. de Félice, Poisons sacrés, ivresses divines: Essai sur quelques formes inférieures de la mystique, Paris 1970 (orig. publ. 1936); as well as the more popular and speculative work by T. McKenna, Food of the Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge, New York 1992. It is for this reason, that Ruck et al. (‘Entheogens’, in: Journal of Psychedelic Drugs 11 (1979), 145-146) proposed that psychoactive or psychedelic substances be referred to as entheogens, that is – those that generate the Divine within. For a most illuminating discussion of the terminological issue, the reader is referred to J. Ott, ‘Entheogens II: On Entheology and Ethnobotany’, in: Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 28 (1996), 205-209; as well as to R. Jesse, ‘On Nomenclature’, in: T.B. Roberts (Ed.), Psychoac- tive Sacramentals: Essays on Entheogens and Religion, San Francisco (CA) 2001, 225-232. Fur- ther discussion is found in H. Smith (‘Do drugs have religious import?’, in: The Journal of Philosophy 61 (1964), 517-530; and Cleansing the Doors of Perception), in the anthologies edi- ted by R. Forte (Entheogens and the Future of Religion, San Francisco (CA) 1997) and T.B. Roberts (Psychoactive Sacramentals: Essays on Entheogens and Religion, San Francisco (CA) 2001) and in the reviews by B. Shanon (‘The Divine Within’, in: Journal of Consciousness Stu- dies 8 (2001), 91-96; Entheogens’, in: Journal of Consciousness Studies 9 (2002), 85-94). THE BIBLICAL MERKAVA VISION AND AYAYHUASCA VISIONS 41 the latter (the chronologically earlier ones).20 This being the case does not detract from the entheogenic perspective suggested here. Ezekiel’s vision may very well have been affected by his knowledge of the Scriptures and his acquain- tance with the Temple. However, the Temple itself was designed according to Divine order. The Temple’s original plan was dictated in a non-ordinary man- ner, one which could be associated with some sort of altered, even entheogenic, state of consciousness.

REFERENCES

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20 R. Elior, ‘The Merkavah Tradition and the Emergence of Jewish Mysticism’, in: A. Oppen- heimer (Ed.), Sino-Judaica: Jews and Chinese in Historical Dialogue, Tel Aviv 1999. 42 BENNY SHANON

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SUMMARY

In this commentary Shanon compares the content items mentioned in the Merkava vision in the book of Ezekiel with items seen in visions induced by the Amazonian psychotropic brew ayahuasca. Empirical research the author has conducted reveals that there are significant cross-personal similarities between the visions different persons, with different personal and socio-cultural backgrounds, have with ayahuasca. Further- more, some items tend to be especially prevalent in these visions. Interestingly, the items in Ezekiel’s vision are that appear in the set of the items most frequently seen with ayahuasca. Included in these items are light and fire, chimeras and multi-faced creatures, disembodied eyes, vehicles and wheels; the materials described by Ezekiel are also similar to those encountered with ayahuasca visions. Some tentative reflections on these findings are presented.

Benny Shanon (1948, Tel Aviv, Israel) is Professor at the Department of Psychology of the Hebrew University Address: Department of Psychology, The Hebrew University, Mopunt Scopus, Jerusalem (Israel). E-mail: [email protected].