Glad tidings of great joy: there could be a straightforward medical explanation for at least three of the world's major religions.
Moses, Mohammed, and Jesus all experienced revelations on mountains, but they were probably just suffering a form of altitude sickness, say a group of Swiss and Israeli neurologists, casting doubt in the process on the very existence of God.

All three felt, heard or saw a presence, experienced lights and felt afraid, say the brain scientists from Lausanne, Geneva and Jerusalem. But so have contemporary mountaineers who are more interested in ice picks and thermal undies than anything mystical - suggesting the dizzy heights may have the effect of turning ordinary mortals into prophets.

"Different functions relying on brain areas such as the temporo-parietal junction and the prefrontal cortex have been suggested to be altered in altitude," they write in the marvellous journal Medical Hypotheses, which is positively boastful about giving a run to bright new ideas that haven't been through the usual discouraging process of scientific peer review.

"Moreover, acute and chronic hypoxia significantly affect the temporo-parietal junction and the prefrontal cortex and both areas have also been linked to altered own body perceptions and mystical experiences."

Especially if the prophets went yomping through the hills alone, they might be vulnerable to such mind-bending experiences and be uninhibited about expressing them.
As if to illustrate his own point, one of the doctors - Shahar Arzy - features a picture of himself astride a mountain on his university web page.

Neurologists could assist in the interpretation of sacred texts, they said - but equally a spot of bible study might help doctors understand "the machanisms of corporeal awareness and self consciousness."

Source

Hmmmm......interesting.

So there I was, high as a kite when suddenly Mohammad had a word to say...

Actually altitude sickness may seem like a fairly new hypothesis for that which inspired prophets to prophecy, however there are allusions of psychadelics or at least alien vehicles to acquire the mind set for receiving those inspirations.

For instance the reference to consuming substances or even a "Scroll" , as in Revelations, before receiving the "divine communication", all allude to the intervention from normal consciousness by something that alters the consciousness beforehand. Which makes sense given the bible says there is a barrier between god and man. Perhaps that is the conscious connection or the mental plane differential, that is the matter.

Not a bad find DR. YO!

Hypoxia is defined as a condition of the body in which the tissues are starved of oxygen. (Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica 1996)

The interesting thing about hypoxia is that the primary trigger for humans to breath is not a lack of oxygen in the blood or lungs, but rather the build-up of carbon dioxide in the same. 1 When a person breaths out, they expel the carbon dioxide that has built up in the blood and lungs, which satisfies the primary automatic breathing mechanism of the body. However, so long as the gas they breath in is not directly toxic, humans are unable to detect any lack of oxygen in the gas they breath in. The insidious thing about this state of affairs is that oxygen starvation in the brain actually produces an increased sense of well-being. In other words, hypoxia is an undetectable and pleasant path to death, as many pilots who have climbed to high altitude without supplemental oxygen have discovered at the cost of their lives. 2

Hypoxia serves as an excellent metaphor for human existence on planet Earth. Humans incarnate a limited aspect of themselves into this realm for the purpose of experiencing the perception of being separate from Source. (i.e. God) In order to play the Game of Separation, the aspect of humans that incarnates into this realm (the Ego self) is by necessity of limited consciousness and in most cases, completely unaware of its true nature, namely that it is an individualised but inseparable aspect of Source and as such potentially unlimited. Like a human being suffering from hypoxia, most humans are completely unaware of this state of affairs and 'think' they are fully conscious, when in actual fact they are spiritually unconscious.

Source.

Hypoxia.....That explains it.

Excellent linkage Z.

Edit to add: I just re-read the title of this thread. Is it me or does it at first read like the opening to a joke; "Jesus, Moses and Mohammad had altitude sickness..."

Wait a minute. Isn't claiming hypoxia as the causative factor for the revelations of these 3 religious Patriarchs the same as claiming they were partially brain dead, when they had these revelations!?
Given hypoxia is a symptom of brain death!? (hypoxia = cerebral asphyxiation)

Would explain a lot.

This does not apply to Jesus. He was not on a mountain (by water) and was not afraid. More generalized crap from experts who do not even bother to check on the accounts but just assume from word of mouth from other skeptics.
In other words, more reaching from pathological skeptics.

This makes far more sense then these so called experts' study. It can be seen in use by other primitive peoples and is still used by some. It is only in modern times because of drug addiction that use of drugs for any purpose other than medicinal has taken on an ominous aspect.

How about Jesus being in the desert without food or water for forty days and forty nights? If I can recall he encountered the devil, and was tempted several times. Could that be attributed to hallucinations? Being deprived of the basic human needs.

That was not the point of enlightenment. That was at the time of baptism with John the Baptist.

Dr Yo

Interesting post and thought about going without food. But perhaps Jesus was not talking to the devil or a devil literally. perhaps the reference to the devil was him fighting his own ego. That is what I tend to believe....

A common belief is that psychotropic plant chemicals evolved recurrently throughout evolutionary history [12]. Archaeological records indicate the presence of psychotropic plants and drug use in ancient civilizations as far back as early hominid species about 200 million years ago. Roughly 13,000 years ago, the inhabitants of Timor commonly used betel nut (Areca catechu), as did those in Thailand around 10,700 years ago. At the beginning of European colonialism, and perhaps for 40,000 years before that, Australian aborigines used nicotine from two different indigenous sources: pituri plant (Duboisia hopwoodii) and Nicotiana gossel. North and South Americans also used nicotine from their indigenous plants N. tabacum and N. rustica. Ethiopians and northern Africans were documented as having used an ephedrine-analog, khat (Catha edulis), before European colonization. Cocaine (Erythroxylum coca) was taken by Ecuadorians about 5,000 years ago and by the indigenous people of the western Andes almost 7,000 years ago. The substances were popularly administered through the buccal cavity within the cheek. Nicotine, cocaine, and ephedrine sources were first mixed with an alkali substance, most often wood or lime ash, creating a free base to facilitate diffusion of the drug into the blood stream. Alkali paraphernalia have been found throughout these regions and documented within the archaeological record. Although the buccal method is believed to be most standard method of drug administration, inhabitants of the Americas may have also administered substances nasally, rectally, and by smoking.

Source.



That was some heavy reading!

With respect to the term, "point of enlightenment", I beg to differ with the absolute in that statement. There were many points of enlightenment during the course of Jesus experience.





The garden, the 40 days, the suffering on the cross, etc... That's why at the end of it all, even after he was beseeching his father; why hast thou forsaken me, moments before, he said finally; "It is accomplished." Every stage of Jesus life was a point of enlightenment to his purpose in the name of his father.

And certainly, if one has had any experience in depraving the body of food and water, in a dry fast, or even utilizing juices and water but no solids , for a prolonged length of days, they may say of the experience that there is a change of one's perception and sense acuity.Now imagine a dry fast, no fluids much less food, and add in hours long periods spent in a sauna, every day and night.
Believe me when I tell you from experience, (nowhere near 40 days), go those 40 and you stand a chance to see Jesus yourself!
Unless you've been there, no words can describe what a dry fast/sauna cleanse over a course of days, will show ones self about the state of them selves. Body, mind and spirit!


Jesus was baptized before he was led by the spirit into the desert for what was 40 days and 40 nights, without food or water. Wherein he met the devil and was tempted by that spirit. And in that encounter, that challenge of servants and wills , Jesus came into his own as messiah, for all that means, and banished the devil in the spirit of one god.

However, he was able to do that because he had been anointed to the task previously, via Baptism, so as to be in accord the prophecy of his coming.


(*after the Baptism)

I never looked at it that way. Hmmmmm, interesting.