#346 — The Best Kept Secret In History?

Making Sense with Sam Harris

Waking Up with Sam Harris

Samharris, Currentevents, Politics, Ethics, Religion, Neuroscience, Science, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.6 • 29.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2023

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sam Harris speaks with Brian Muraresku about ancient mystery religions and the possible psychedelic roots of Christianity. They discuss the Mysteries of Eleusis, the “pagan continuity hypothesis,” the cult of Dionysius, the Dead Sea scrolls and the Gnostic Gospels, Christianity as a cult of human sacrifice, the evidence for the use of psychedelics in ancient rites, the chemical analysis of ancient wine and beer, why Brian hasn’t tried psychedelics, the need for a modern Mysteries of Eleusis, and other topics.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Making Sense Podcast, this is Sam Harris. Just a note to say that if you're hearing this, you are not currently on our subscriber feed,
0:15.0	and will only be hearing the first part of this conversation.
0:18.0	In order to access full episodes of the Making Sense Podcast, you'll need to subscribe at Sam Harris.org.
0:24.0	There you'll find our private RSS feed to add to your favorite podcatcher,
0:28.0	along with other subscriber-only content.
0:30.0	We don't run ads on the podcast, and therefore it's made possible entirely through the support of our
0:34.8	subscribers. So if you enjoy what we're doing here, please consider becoming one. Today I'm speaking with Brian Mur Rescu.
0:47.0	Brian holds a degree in Latin, Greek, and Sanskrit from Brown University, as well as a degree in law from Georgetown.
0:58.0	He is a practicing lawyer and the author of a fascinating book titled The Immortality Key,
1:04.0	The Secret History of the Religion with No Name.
1:07.0	And that's the topic of our conversation today.
1:10.0	We talk about the mystery religions of the ancient world and the possible psychedelic roots of Christianity.
1:17.3	We discuss the mysteries of Eleusis, the pagan continuity hypothesis, the cult of Dionysus, the Dead Sea Squirrels. in continuity the evidence for the use of psychedelics and ancient rights, the chemical analysis of ancient wine and beer,
1:36.0	why Brian hasn't tried psychedelics himself, the need for something like a modern mysteries of Alusis,
1:42.0	and other topics. Anyway, fascinating piece of history here
1:46.3	that is rarely thought about. And now I bring you Brian Murrescu. I am here with Brian Murrescu.
1:57.0	Brian, thanks for joining me.
2:01.0	Thanks for having me, Sam. It's great to be here.
2:03.2	Yes, you've written this fascinating book, which I hear rumors is going to be a fascinating documentary
2:09.6	at some point. This is the immortality key, the secret history of the religion with no name.
2:16.0	Am I right about that? Is there a film being made of this book?
2:19.0	Yes, I'm not sure how much I can say about it, but there is an exceptional team that came together to put this on the
	...

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