>>2859707I’ve had some wild experiences on Mushrooms but I don’t think I’ve really had religious ecstasy from it.
TBH I think the “mystical” elements of religion are so completely ignored in modernity that people kind of dismiss what religious thinkers went through with “lol they must’ve been high”
Within the more mystical strains of Judaism, for example (I think you can learn more from studying “Merkevah Mysticism” or “Chariot mysticism”) there were religious/historical figures whose mystical experiences had such a profound effect on themselves that one became a “messiah” contender and disrupted Jewish society by preaching whatever their form of “heresy” is while another allegedly went incurably insane. For many of these people the experiences were so profound that many were willing to die (or, sadly, kill) for their beliefs.
So when these ancient Rabbis talk about seeing the chariot of God and going mad, I think it’s important to know that to many of these people their experiences were profoundly real.
>>2864015I’m not a Gnostic or a scholar, but I’ve been on a Gnostic text binge lately so if you’ve got questions about Gnosticism contra Catholicism, I can try to answer as best I can.