zinnic wrote:

Sure; to start with, both Pinker, "The Blank Slate" and LeBlanc,
"Constant Battles" show 'noble savage' to be a myth.

Nevertheless, the savages that relied on sacred potions for spiritual
revelations were not the ones to organize genocides or repression to
impose their values on anyone else.

What Joshua did to the land of Canaan, we now regard as genocide. The
god of the book was created to justify the aggressive instincts of the
alpha males and provide them with forgiveness for anything done in the
name of that god. If they could all agree on what that name was, we
wouldnt have the problem David Hume noted of trying to stay out of the
crossfire. And in the era of WMD and nukes, that's a real problem.

Buddhists have long relied on the altered states of consciousness for
revelation rather than scripture, and we dont see them motivating
suicide bombers. Contrast the monks in Vietnam who immolated themselves
after making sure the area was clear, and nobody else was harmed, with
what we see going on in the name of Allah. Not that what Christians did,
as with the Inquisition, or the innumerable genocides in the name of
Jesus during the colonial era was any better.

Problem is, most people's brains are just too noisy for them to be
successful with meditation. Neurological exam, as with FMRI brain scans
show, however, that traditional entheogenic potions have the same kind
of spiritual effect, and work far more often for most people.

Harvard's Marsh Chapel study showed how those who used pscilocybin with
a spiritual intent had a spiritual revelation. Used at a Rave, people
just party. the Shamen have always known these powerful compounds need
to be used at the sacred time, in the sacred space, and in the sacred
way for them to be effective.