3 ms·

You're being downvoted, but it is true that drugs have been and are used to control populations, whether through prohibition or supply. There are strong links b

You're being downvoted, but it is true that drugs have been and are used to control populations, whether through prohibition or supply. There are strong links between the intelligence community and the drug "counterculture", including evidence that the government has actively promoted psychedelic drugs as a means of controlling the population. This should raise concerns. Some salient points: The CIA was testing LSD as a mind control drug under the MKULTRA program in the sixties and seventies. [1] Gordon Wasson, who was VP of Public Relations at JP Morgan and had close ties to Allen Dulles (head of CIA), introduced Americans to magic mushrooms in 1957 on the cover of Life magazine, a JP Morgan company. This effectively kicked off the psychedelic movement in the US. [2] Terrance McKenna, an evangelist for psychedelics and the "archaic revival", admitted to being a "bard" and working for the FBI as a background agent. [3] These points barely scratch the surface, but there does appear to be a concerted effort to promote psychedelics as a spiritual rite of passage or initiation, into a New Age religion of sorts. Similar to how the Eleusinian Mysteries in Greece ushered in the Greek Dark Age, it is likely that the Psychedelic Revolution will be used to usher in another dark age, as a way to get people to accept a new form of feudalism and totalitarian state control. Just something to think about the next time you drop some acid. Are you really having a "god manifesting" spiritual experience, or being taken on a carnival ride of socially engineered mythology? [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra [2] http://www.gnosticmedia.com/public-notice-appeal-to-the-cia-regarding-classification-of-r-gordon-wasson-documents-related-mkultra-subproject-58/ http://www.gnosticmedia.com/public-notice-appeal-to-the-cia-... [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj1yFZRmFsw#t=15753 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj1yFZRmFsw#t=15753

davidtanner 12y ago
I've seen some of these claims before and find them interesting. The TM quote is pretty hilarious/strange - "they" either means the government or whatever tryptamine fueled fantasies he encountered in South America. Could you cite something regarding the Eleusian Mysteries ushering in the Greek Dark Age? Cicero supposedly said: "Among the many excellent and divine institutions that your Athens has developed and contributed to human life, there is none, in my opinion, better than these mysteries, by which we have been brought forth from our rustic and savage mode of existence, cultivated and refined to a state of civilization; and as these rites are called "initiations" so, in truth, we have learned from them the first principles of life and have gained the understanding, not only to live happily, but also to die with better hope. " http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/e/eleusinian_mysteries.html http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/e/eleusinian_myst... Of course, since I can't read Latin or Greek, I can't really verify that this quote truly was written by Cicero. Regarding the strain of opinion that thinks modern entheogen advocates are being systematically manipulated by government agents - there might be some truth to it, but I feel like it must be an inadequate explanation. Entheogens have been used well before modern USA governments. Governments in general seem to expend much more energy trying to prohibit them than they do covertly advocating their use. I just find the whole thing to be very implausible.
- programmarchy 12y ago
  I would not doubt Cicero would have said that regarding Eleusian Mysteries. He was a politician during a time when the Caesar was worshipped as a god, and massive bureaucracies of priests evangelized his divinity as "Pontifex Maximus", highest priest of the Roman state religion. Like the Greeks, the Romans had similar initiation rituals and mysteries to inculcate the population into their mythologies espousing Caesar as god. To me, it sounds like Cicero is simply admiring the implementation of the Eleusian Mysteries, the result of which was a "cultivated", "refined", "happy" population -- all synonymous with an obedient population. Regarding a citation of the Eleusian Mysteries ushering in the dark age, I don't have anything specific other than the fact that they were correlated in time. Since they were mysteries, the curators of which went to great lengths to guard their secrets, facts are hard to come by. Substitute Eleusis for Egyptian magic rituals, the Roman imperial cult, or other state religions, and I think you'll see similar patterns. But I think it's useful to ask, why did these mystery religions use occulted knowledge? Why keep knowledge from groups of people, if not to keep them in the dark as a means of controlling them? Are these mysteries not akin to the noble lie which Plato discussed in The Republic? Myths, combined with psychedelic drugs, which provide emotional catharsis and grandiose visions, are an effective way to /mystify/ people. Mysticism, by way of confusing, offers a means to control an individual by providing an opportunity to substitute or suggest the reality the hierophants want their initiates to believe. This is the opposite of the scientific discovery, reason, and the challenging of traditional authority that marked The Enlightement.
  - Turing_Machine 12y ago
    Nitpick: Cicero was murdered on 7 December 43 BC. Julius Caesar wasn't deified until 1 January 42 BC, several weeks later.
    - programmarchy 12y ago
      That's an interesting point. It seems that Cicero would have been between a rock and a hard place, on the one hand advocating republican ideals, and on the other appearing loyal to Caesar in the midst of imperial ambitions.

davidtanner 12y ago

I've seen some of these claims before and find them interesting. The TM quote is pretty hilarious/strange - "they" either means the government or whatever tryptamine fueled fantasies he encountered in South America. Could you cite something regarding the Eleusian Mysteries ushering in the Greek Dark Age? Cicero supposedly said: "Among the many excellent and divine institutions that your Athens has developed and contributed to human life, there is none, in my opinion, better than these mysteries, by which we have been brought forth from our rustic and savage mode of existence, cultivated and refined to a state of civilization; and as these rites are called "initiations" so, in truth, we have learned from them the first principles of life and have gained the understanding, not only to live happily, but also to die with better hope. " http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/e/eleusinian_mysteries.html http://www.themystica.com/mystica/articles/e/eleusinian_myst... Of course, since I can't read Latin or Greek, I can't really verify that this quote truly was written by Cicero. Regarding the strain of opinion that thinks modern entheogen advocates are being systematically manipulated by government agents - there might be some truth to it, but I feel like it must be an inadequate explanation. Entheogens have been used well before modern USA governments. Governments in general seem to expend much more energy trying to prohibit them than they do covertly advocating their use. I just find the whole thing to be very implausible.

programmarchy 12y ago
I would not doubt Cicero would have said that regarding Eleusian Mysteries. He was a politician during a time when the Caesar was worshipped as a god, and massive bureaucracies of priests evangelized his divinity as "Pontifex Maximus", highest priest of the Roman state religion. Like the Greeks, the Romans had similar initiation rituals and mysteries to inculcate the population into their mythologies espousing Caesar as god. To me, it sounds like Cicero is simply admiring the implementation of the Eleusian Mysteries, the result of which was a "cultivated", "refined", "happy" population -- all synonymous with an obedient population. Regarding a citation of the Eleusian Mysteries ushering in the dark age, I don't have anything specific other than the fact that they were correlated in time. Since they were mysteries, the curators of which went to great lengths to guard their secrets, facts are hard to come by. Substitute Eleusis for Egyptian magic rituals, the Roman imperial cult, or other state religions, and I think you'll see similar patterns. But I think it's useful to ask, why did these mystery religions use occulted knowledge? Why keep knowledge from groups of people, if not to keep them in the dark as a means of controlling them? Are these mysteries not akin to the noble lie which Plato discussed in The Republic? Myths, combined with psychedelic drugs, which provide emotional catharsis and grandiose visions, are an effective way to /mystify/ people. Mysticism, by way of confusing, offers a means to control an individual by providing an opportunity to substitute or suggest the reality the hierophants want their initiates to believe. This is the opposite of the scientific discovery, reason, and the challenging of traditional authority that marked The Enlightement.
- Turing_Machine 12y ago
  Nitpick: Cicero was murdered on 7 December 43 BC. Julius Caesar wasn't deified until 1 January 42 BC, several weeks later.
  - programmarchy 12y ago
    That's an interesting point. It seems that Cicero would have been between a rock and a hard place, on the one hand advocating republican ideals, and on the other appearing loyal to Caesar in the midst of imperial ambitions.