Ego Death and Self-Control Cybernetics

You are on the leading edge of altered-state theory.

Announcement: New Website 2023: EgodeathTheory.WordPress.com

https://egodeaththeory.wordpress.com - The Theory of Psychedelic Eternalism: religious myth, visionary plants, frozen block universe, & transformation of personal control.

I started this new WordPress website October 2020 and almost immediately made a huge breakthrough following up John Lash's "discovery of a lifetime": The Great Mushroom Psalter, by Eadwine around 1200.

Tons of leading-edge content, including the Radical Maximal Entheogen Theory of Religion. Check out the flagship articles, such as:

· Proof that the Canterbury Psalter’s Leg-Hanging Mushroom Tree Is Psilocybe - Decoded Eadwine's main image, of Cubensis initiation, in terms of transforming the mental world model from Possibilism to Eternalism, to transform the mind's model of control-in-world over a series of loose cognitive binding sessions, as the ultimate "effect" of Psilocybin.

· Compelling Evidence & Proof of Explicit Psilocybin Mushrooms in Christian Art to Communicate Non-Branching Stable Control

· The 75 Mushroom Trees of the Canterbury Psalter

· Gallery of Mushrooms in Christian Art

· Possibilism vs. Eternalism: Two Models of Time and Control

· References for Psychedelic Psychometrics Questionnaires - Dec. 2022-Jan. 2023 major research, posted many webpages about the main questionnaires.

I've been posting the Theory of Ego Transcendence online since 1991 on the WELL, such as this 1997 CybTrans.com precursor to Egodeath.com, at Archive.org.

The main article, below, lacked recognition of {handedness} and {nonbranching} during 2006-2021, but turns out that the first image (the St. Eustace window) is awesome far beyond "there's a Psilocybin mushroom". And the last image has Ariadne holding {branching} in {left arm} - these are absolutely key mythemes, now decoded at EgodeathTheory.wordpress.com.

Egodeath.com 2007

The Entheogen Theory of Religion and Ego Death – Main article; read this first. mobile audio

Introduction and Overview

Rational Model of Mystic Insight: Meta-Theory

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Theory Construction

Developing a Major New Theory Online

About My Book Lists

Theory of Mental Construct Processing

Mental Construct Processing

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Mental Construct Processing

Nature of Ego, Self-Controllership, Ego Death

The Virtual Ego

Self-Control Cybernetics

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Ego

Determinism and Transcendence

Block-Universe Determinism

Determinism in Religion

Determinism – book lists

Entheogens and Religion

Entheogens

Commentary on Books and Researchers

Drug Policy Reform

Entheogen Diminishment Fallacies

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Entheogens

Entheogen Theory of Religion - book lists

Periodicals about Entheogens

Myth-Religion and Mystic Experiencing

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Esotericism

Periodicals about Esotericism

Mystery-Religions

Religious Myth and Metaphor - book lists

Christianity as Experiential Metaphor

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Mystic-State Christianity

The Non-Historicity of Jesus

Radical Critics

Mythic-Only Jesus - book lists

Literalism in Christianity

Metaphor in Christianity

Picture Story Bibles - book lists

Mystical Religious Experiencing - book lists

Periodicals about the Christian Myth-Religion

Mystic-State Allusions in Rock Music

Theory of Mystic-State Allusions in Rock Lyrics

Rock and Philosophy - book lists

What’s New

Introduction and Overview

This research defines and outlines the ego death theory, as a new systematic research framework and paradigm. The ego death theory holds that the essence and origin of religion is the use of visionary plants to routinely trigger the intense mystic altered state, producing loose cognitive-association binding, which then produces an experience of being controlled by frozen block-universe determinism with a single, pre-existing, ever-existing future.

Experiencing this model of control and time initially destabilizes self-control power, and amounts to the death of the self that was conceived of as an autonomous control-agent. Self-control stability is restored upon transforming one's mental model to take into account the dependence of personal control on a hidden, separate thought-source, such as Necessity or a divine level that transcends Necessity.

Myth describes this mystic-state experiential insight and transformation. Religious initiation teaches and causes this transformation of the self considered as a control-agent, through a series of visionary-plant sessions, interspersed with study of perennial philosophy. Most modern-era religion has been a distortion of this standard initiation system, reducing these concepts to a weak interpretation that is based in the ordinary state of consciousness. The ego death theory is, specifically, the Cybernetic Theory of Ego Transcendence, and it incorporates the entheogen theory of religion.

The Entheogen Theory of Religion and Ego Death – Main article; read this first. Sep. 24, 2006; updated wording Sep. 12, 2007.

To ensure that this research is not lost, mirror the article and site and download backup copies, attributing "Michael Hoffman, Egodeath.com".

Translations of the main article: Dutch

Machine translations of the main article: Arabic (local copy), Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French (local copy), German (local copy), Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian (local copy), Japanese, Korean, Latin, Norwegian, Polish, Portugese (local copy), Romanian, Russian (local copy), Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish (local copy), Swedish, Turkish, Welsh. For machine translation, the article is available as a shorter webpage: http://www.egodeath.com/EntheogenTheoryOfReligionPart1.htm

Machine translations of the Egodeath website: Arabic, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Filipino, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Norwegian, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Welsh.

Egodeath Weblog to Dec. 2007 -- to see my latest research and idea-development breakthroughs, be sure to read my weblog postings from Feb. 14, 2004 to present, because these haven't been uploaded to this website yet.

Introduction to the Cybernetic Theory of Ego Transcendence -- core theory published at Principia Cybernetica Jan. 1997 (my Phase 1 work, before studying myth and history of religion)

The New Testament as It Was Originally Understood: The King on the Cross in the Context of the Roman Empire – outline of next article, Sep. 2006

Why This Egodeath Theory Is the Only Possible Religious System Modernity Can Take Seriously -– Oct. 5, 2006. The Egodeath theory is immediately testable.

Goal and Scope of the Theory

Long draft of main article, with outtakes

Wasson and Allegro on the Tree of Knowledge as Amanita -- March 2006 article for the Journal of Higher Criticism

Christian Mushroom Trees -- May 2006 gallery for the Wasson/Allegro article

What's New

Competing Views about Entheogens in Religious History – April 11, 2007. Defines and compares the main contending views, including Letcher's rebuttal to the Wasson/Allegro/McKenna maximal mushroom theory of religious origins in his recent book Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom.

Scholars Need to Put Entheogens in Their Proper Place in the History of Religious Experiencing -- An open letter to entheogen scholars and mainstream academic religion scholars. August 23, 2007

Voice recordings (Podcasts)

Main Egodeath theory article, read aloud -- .zip, all parts, 60 minutes. v3, July 23, 2007. As separate mp3 files:
    Overview
    The Entheogen Theory of Religion
    The Dissociative Cognitive State
    The Block Universe and Frozen Worldlines
    Self-Control and the Hidden Source of Thoughts

Emergent missional post-church practice, entheogen house-church movement -- 6 minutes, Dec. 10, 2007

Why the Emergent movement in Christianity must add entheogens and subtract the historical Jesus -- December 8, 2007
    Part 1: preliminary definitions of Emergent vs. Evangelical
    Part 2
    Part 3
    Part 4

Why the Egodeath theory was first systematized in 2006 -- July 2, 2007.
    Part 1 -- 2 hours
    Part 2 -- 22 minutes
    Part 3 -- 1 hour 24 minutes

Points often left out from discussions of the Egodeath theory -- 26 minutes. July 16, 2007.

Interview with Max Freakout at Psychonautica -- Aug. 10, 2007. List of Psychonautica podcasts -- listen to episodes such as 11-17, covering the Egodeath theory.

Discussion of questions in preparation for my interview on the Psychonautica podcast. August 1, 2007.
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
Max's questions:

How did I first begin to formulate the Egodeath theory?
How important are the various domains for the Egodeath theory? Is the Theory a form of Eastern, Western, or Shamanistic religion?
Is the issue of freewill of central importance to ego death?
How did I get the idea that the issue of freewill is of such central importance to ego death?
Explain the ordinary understanding of autonomous control which the ego-death experience proves to be illusory.
What does the 'transcendence of no freewill' mean and involve?
Explain the concept of block-universe determinism and time as a spacelike dimension.
How does Egodeath theory relate to the shamanic ability to heal?
Does saying that drug-free meditation is 'bunk' mean that there is no value to the practice of meditating?
Explain the idea that 'drug-policy reform' is conceptually brainwashed.
What should pro-justice activists focus their efforts on doing, to be most effective?
What are the vulnerabilities of the Wasson-Allegro-McKenna theories of the origin of religion?
What is my take on McKenna's idea of the 'stoned ape'?
What is the relevance of the ahistoricity of Jesus to the Egodeath theory?
How do I envision the future for the development of the Egodeath theory?
What is the relationship between the disappearance of the separate-self sense, the experience of nonduality, the intense mystic altered state, meditation, and the problematization of personal control-power in light of the part/whole (self/Ground) relationship in the dissociative cognitive state?

Discussion of various questions -- Oct. 6, 2007.
Questions covered:

Why bother spreading the truth about the nature of religion and religious origins?
How does the Establishment treatment of topics shut-out coverage of entheogens in religious history?
What is the way forward so that the mainstream culture integrates the maximal entheogen theory of religion?
What evidence and arguments are there that the original Christians used drugs?
Discuss the assertion "There's no need to assume drugs in primitive Christianity."
To what extent were drugs used in the history of Christian practice?
Is New Testament Christianity more important than purely mystical Christianity, because of including a political vector on the mystical insights?
Are John Pilch, Jonanda Groenewald, Marcus Borg, John Ashton, and Stevan Davies on the right track? Can they be converted from their standard academic "alien social-psychology" theory of "alternate states of consciousness" to the simpler drug-use theory?
How was Wasson (or Allegro) great? How did he limit or cripple the field?
What will be retained of Wasson (or Allegro)? What will be rejected?
Why bother setting the record straight on the errors of Wasson and the merit of some of Allegro's ideas?

White-light electricity hum/buzz/beats feedback -- Instrumental only. Free-form electric guitar. The main part starts around 1:30. 8 minutes. From an idea-development spoken-word recording named Escape Velocity, by Illumination Valve, March 19, 1993, a few minutes prior to the onset of transcendent religious control seizure (which was also captured on tape, against the backwards playback of this passage). Uploaded July 24, 2007. Compare to the visual art of Alex Grey.

Entheos Journal

Entheos is a good journal focused on the use of entheogens throughout religious history. The editor replied to me:

Sep. 17, 2006 -- "We're still printing issue #4 (Soma 2 of 2 [vol.2:no.2]). We've got all of the remaining 6 planned out. The plan is to do 10 issues total. Issues #5 & #6 are co-edited by Strassman, and are ready for initial production."

Oct. 4, 2006 -- "The idea is to keep the back issues in print and sell them both wholesale and retail. After issue #4 is out, we'll focus on the site and web commerce/.pdf sales. As it is, I've got 100 copies each of issues #1 & #2 at the bindery (retail $25, wholesale ~$15 [depending on quantity]). I'm printing issue #4 before doing another run of issue #3."

I recommend these issues and the announcement email list. http://entheomedia.org

Rational Model of Mystic Insight: Meta-Theory

Rationality of Mystic Insight

Transcendence of Rationality

Ergonomic Advantage of Rational Model

Good Theory Must Be Explicit and Direct

Packaging the Theory

Enlightenment Requires Systematic Theory Integrated with Experience

Techniques for Developing Theory

Need for Simplicity, for a Good Theory

The Nature of Theory

Balance and Emphasis More Key than Mere Comprehensiveness

Evidence vs. Paradigms

Models, Interpretive Frameworks

Books and Resources Relevant for Ego Death Theory

Comments

Need More Vision, Less Granular Proving

Summary of this Theory Published at Principia Cybernetica Jan. 2, 1997 - part 2

Comments on Egodeath Theory

Key phrases

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Theory Construction

Ken Wilber's book Integral Spirituality -- Detailed Table of Contents – Oct. 1, 2006

The Universe Next Door: A Basic World View Catalog -- James W. Sire -- detailed table of contents -- HTML -- Word -- Amazon

Reality Isn't What It Used To Be -- Walter Truett Anderson -- detailed table of contents -- Word -- Amazon

Evolutionary Epistemology and Its Implications for Humankind -- Franz Wuketits -- detailed table of contents -- Word -- Amazon

Epistemology and Cognition -- Alvin Goldman -- detailed table of contents -- Word -- Amazon

Developing a Major New Theory Online

Scholarly Priority of Discovery

Archives of this Website at Internet Archive Wayback Machine (archive.org) going back to 1999, and earlier cybtrans.com archives back to 1997; my original site about the Cybernetic Theory of Ego Transcendence was http://www.well.com/~hoff/, around 1994 or so – near the beginning of the Web.

Newsgroup postings: "cybernetic theory of ego transcendence" -- these publically archived Usenet newsgroup postings establish that I am the first to publically publish the loose-cognition no-free-will crash-and-gratuitous-reset theory of religious experiencing, at least as early as March 16, 1995.

Signatures I've Used in Online Postings

Online Writing Strategy and Style

Improving the quality of online discussion - psychology and strategy of posting productively

Discussion Group Aspects

On Moderating

Yahoo discussion groups about mystery-religions - not highly recommended.
Egodeath discussion group

About My Book Lists

General info - My main About You area -- My full description area -- (Admin:) book lists starting at list 41

The book lists below enable following links to additional related books. (lists 1-35)

Ego death as deterministic self-control cancellation - key books in all main topics: determinism, entheogens, mythic-only Jesus

50-book guide -- So you'd like to ... Experience ego death and understand it rationally - the section headings are designed to themselves convey the entire theory.

Theory of Mental Construct Processing

Loose Cognition, Cog Sci, Mental Construct Processing

Neuromysticism

Mental Construct Processing - Key Phrase List

Mental Construct Processing

The Bubble of Simulation: Subjective Experience as a Virtual Environment -- Published in Crash Collusion, 1996

Loose Mental-Construct Binding

Dissociative-State Perception and Epistemology

Dissociative Loss of Self-Control Cognition

Religion and the Dissociative State

The Egoic and Transcendent Mental Worldmodels

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Mental Construct Processing

Godel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid -- Douglas Hofstadter -- detailed table of contents -- HTML -- Word -- Amazon. This detailed outline reveals emphasis on mathematics as a pattern system and the driving interest in ego or self as a strange loop.

Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models and the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought -- Douglas Hofstadter -- detailed table of contents -- HTML -- Word -- Amazon

Madness and Modernism -- Louis Sass -- detailed table of contents -- HTML -- Word -- Amazon

Moral Imagination: Implications of Cognitive Science for Ethics -- Mark Johnson -- detailed table of contents -- Word -- Amazon

Metaphors in the History of Psychology -- David Leary (Ed.) -- detailed table of contents -- Word -- Amazon B&N

Nature of Ego, Self-Controllership, Ego Death

Nature of Ego

Levels of Control, Self-Control Cybernetics

Cybernetics resource page

Self-Control Cybernetics - Key Phrase List

Ego Death 2

Technique of Ego Death

Self-Control Seizure, Panic, Desperation

Restoration of Stable Controllership, Rebooting

Mystic Climax

Ego Death and Myth-Religion

Resources about Ego Controllership Death

The Virtual Ego

Virtual Ego

Ego Death

The Virtual Ego - Key Phrase List

The Moral Control System

Levels of Control

Reconciling Levels of Control

Self-Control Cybernetics

The Strange Loop of Personal Control

Dissociative Destabilization of Self-Control Cybernetics

Inability to Restrain: Transcendence of Guidance Systems

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Ego

The Saturated Self: Dilemmas of Identity in Contemporary Life -- Kenneth J. Gergen -- detailed table of contents -- HTML -- Word -- Amazon

Entheogen Picture Finds - Virgin Mary wearing an Amanita-cap cap. Last Supper around an Amanita-cap table. Mary Magdalene giving Judas the sacrament at the Last Supper.

Christian Mushroom Trees - July 18, 2004

Mushroom Hats in Religious Art - June 22, 2004

Dried Amanita Photos

Entheogen books

Amanita Muscaria Mushrooms and Religion - Research page including a review of Strange Fruit: Alchemy and Religion -- The Hidden Truth

LSD and Ego Death resource page

Review of Merkur's book Psychedelic Sacrament

Commentary on Books and Researchers

Books by Dan Merkur

Books by Clark Heinrich

Books by Chris Bennett

Books by James Arthur

Books by Other Authors

Magazines/Journals Relevant to Ego Death

Conferences Relevant to Ego Death

Drug Policy Reform

Fakeness and Pretence of Drug War

Drug Policy Reform & Entheogens

Drug Policy Reform & Religion

News Articles on Drug Policy Reform and Religion

What to Do: Donate Money, Follow Events, Join Groups

Drug Policy Reform Site Navigation Table - the fastest and most powerful navigation page for reform sites
Why support drug policy reform

Entheogen Diminishment Fallacies

Meditation & Pop Spirituality Diminishing of Entheogens

Vagueness & Inefficacy of Pop Spirituality

'Ineffective' Fallacy - Diminishment by Claiming Meditation Works & Entheogens Don't

'Shortcut' Fallacy - Diminishment by Claiming Enlightenment Must Be Difficult

'Artificial' Fallacy - Diminishment by Labelling as a "Forced Method"

'Outmoded' Fallacy - Diminishment by Portraying only Ancients & Primitives as Using

'Deviance' Fallacy - Diminishment by Claim of Rareness and Deviance of Use

'Transience' Fallacy - Diminishment by Claim of Nonretainability

'Negative Experiences' Fallacy - Diminishment by Equating Unpleasant with Unmystical

'Drug Users Lame' Fallacy - Diminishment by Focus on Recreational Users under Prohibition

'Simulation of Traditional' Fallacy - Diminishment by Demoting Entheogens to Simulation

'Goal' Fallacy - Diminishment by Redefining Goal of Spiritual Practice

'Mystic State Irrelevant' Fallacy - Diminishment by Denying the Value of the Mystic State Itself

Daily Life and Enlightenment

Entheogen-Diminishing Attitudes: Christianity

Entheogen-Diminishing Attitudes: New Age

Entheogen-Diminishing Attitudes: Buddhism

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Entheogens

The Psychedelic Sacrament: Manna, Meditation, and Mystical Experience -- Dan Merkur -- detailed table of contents -- HTML -- -- Amazon

Entheogen Theory of Religion - book lists

Entheogen theory of the origin of religions -- Book list

The active eucharist that reveals the kingdom of God -- Book list

Eucharist (Catholic authors) -- Book list

Eucharist (Catholic authors II) -- Book list

Lord's Supper (Prot., E. Orth, Ecum.) -- Book list

Ancient wine as visionary plant beverage -- Book list

Ancient wine as visionary plant beverage (2) -- Book list

Periodicals about Entheogens

Entheos - journal on entheogens in religious history

TRIP - was TRP, was Psychedelic Illuminations - has brief tables of contents for both magazines

Eleusis journal - tables of contents online, some articles online.

Salvia Divinorum magazine. table of contents online, articles are online for subscribers.

Erowid Extracts - newsletter online

Entheogen Review - tables of contents online

Cannabis Culture -- back issues, many articles online. Occasional entheogen articles, activist emphasis on drug policy reform.

MAPS issues - many articles online

Psychedelic Island Views - tables of contents online

Erowid's list of periodicals on entheogens

Mind Books - Cached copy of main pages of the defunct site which was the main place to find entheogen books and journal issues.

Books sorted by topic

Books sorted by title

New books up to July 18, 2002

To find these books at a live site, check Drugwar.com or Amazon.

Myth-Religion and Mystic Experiencing

Entheogen Theory of Myth

The Classic Initiation Series

Mystic-State Theory of Metaphor, Myth, and Allegory

Literalist Mid-level Myth, The 'Ordinary-State' Fallacy

Hellenistic Mystery Religion

Gnostic Metaphor

Resources on Gnosticism

Mithraism

Metaphor in Western Esotericism

Buddhism Metaphor

Contemporary Mystic Metaphor

Matrix Movie

Celestial Ascent Metaphors: Merkabah, Hermetic, Gnostic, Christian

Ptolemaic Religious-Ascent Cosmology - Nov. 23, 2004

Metaphor: King Injured/Impotent

New Chronology 2

The New Chronology: The Dark Ages Didn't Exist -- time falsification, Anatoly Fomenko, Edwin Johnson, Heribert Illig, Uwe Topper, Hans-Ulrich Niemitz, Christoph Marx, Jean Hardouin, Wilhelm Kammeier

Edwin Johnson, A Radical Advocate of Chronology Criticism -- Uwe Topper on Edwin Johnson

Study Version of Edwin Johnson's "The Pauline Epistles - Re-Studied and Explained", 1894 -- Reformatted copy for increased comprehensibility by Michael Hoffman Oct. 8, 2003. Proposes that the years 700-1400 didn't exist, and that Christianity, the "early" Christian texts, Paul, the Gospels, the Church Fathers, the Dark Ages, and the Middle Ages were literary inventions fabricated in competing monasteries around 1500.

Secret message for witches

Resources for Esoteric Metaphor

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Esotericism

Mysticism in the World's Religions -- Geoffrey Parrinder -- detailed table of contents -- Word -- Amazon

Periodicals about Esotericism

Gnosis - full tables of contents. These 51 issues are available for a limited time. Excellent coverage of Western esotericism, aside from the usual "ordinary state of consciousness" fallacy and the "nonentheogenic meditation" fallacy. Special issue on psychedelics shows that Western spirituality can be as trendy and clueless as Eastern (Tricycle special issue/Zig Zag Zen book).

The Quest - Theosophical society. Western esotericism -- combination of newagey spirituality and turn-of-the-century theosophy, some solid articles on Western esotericism. All articles are online back to 1999, but the decades of previous issues aren't listed, and the page doesn't say if back issues are available.

Parabola - Myth, tradition, meaning. Full tables of contents.

Eric Davis' http://www.techgnosis.com. Online articles about gnosis and technology

Mystery-Religions

Ruler Cult and Emperor Worship as Major Inputs to the Jesus Figure - Oct. 1, 2003

Taxonomy of Christ Views

The Origins of Christianity and the Bible -- book by Andrew Benson

Esoteric Christianity: The Greek Mystery Religions and Their Impact on Christianity (chapter of Benson's book)

Religious Myth and Metaphor - book lists

Religious myth: allegorical metaphor of mystic experiencing -- Book list

The kingdom of God is at hand -- Book list

Christianity as political rebellion against "divine" Caesar -- Book list

Jesus figure as rebuttal to Caesar cult -- book list, April 17, 2005

How did Christianity catch on? Martyrdom as dissidence -- Book list

Earliest Christianity -- Book list

Ancient Near Eastern religion -- Book list

Philosophy of Mother of God -- Book list

Mary "John" Magdalene, The Beloved Disciple -- Book list

Sophia, religious comprehension -- Book list

Theology of Religious Pluralism -- Book list

Christianity as Experiential Metaphor

Enlightenment through Canonical Christianity

The Eucharist Was Visionary Plants - new - April 27, 2004

Theory of Interpreting Christian Myth

Esoteric/Mystic/Experiential Christianity

Mystic Initiation Origin of Christianity

Christianity as Mystery Religion

Ruler Cult, Sacred Kingship

Rewriting Caesar Cult as Rebuttal

Socio-Political Resistance as a Thematic Layer

Detailed Tables of Contents for Books about Mystic-State Christianity

The Origins of Christianity and the Bible -- Andrew Benson -- detailed table of contents -- HTML -- -- Amazon

The Non-Historicity of Jesus

Wasson and Allegro on the Tree of Knowledge as Amanita -- new article for forthcoming print publication, Mar. 8, 2006

Christian Mushroom Trees -- updated March 8, 2006

Gnosticism Interview/Debate with Freke, Goodacre, Green -- March 12, 2005

The Jesus Mysteries by Freke & Gandy -- detailed table of contents and section summaries

Jesus and the Goddess by Freke & Gandy -- detailed table of contents/outline - May 1, 2004

The Jesus Figure and Its Esoteric Origin

Entheogenists and the Jesus Figure

Extreme Multiplicity of Thematic Sources of Jesus

Interpretive Paradigms about Jesus

Defining What 'No-Historical-Jesus' Entails

No Historical Paul

The Mythic-Only Jesus Theory

Mystery-initiation secrecy

Christ Conspiracy, by Acharya S -- detailed table of contents/outline

Review of Acharya S' book The Christ Conspiracy

Acharya S' book The Christ Conspiracy: Jesus as Ordinary-State Symbol

Radical Critics

Radical Critics -- a navigation page, Nov. 30, 2004

Hermann Detering: The Fabricated Paul: Early Christianity in the Twilight -- Oct. 24, 2005

Matrix of Scholars' Views on Historical Jesus and Pauline Authenticity -- July 13, 2005

Detering's Summary of G.J.P.J. Bolland - Oct. 29, 2004

G.J.P.J. Bolland: The Gospel Jesus - Oct. 29, 2004

G.J.P.J. Bolland: Philosophy of Religion - Oct. 29, 2004

Bolland: Gnosis and Gospel -- May 7, 2005

Examining the Authenticity of the First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians -- Eysinga. Jan. 30, 2005

Eysinga: The Christ Mystery -- May 15, 2005

Epilogue of Eysinga's Exegesis on the Gospel according to Matthew - Oct. 20, 2004

On the Mythological Background of the New Testament Miracles - van den Bergh van Eysinga - Jan. 24, 2004

The Old Testament as Christian Scripture - van den Bergh van Eysinga - Jan. 21, 2004

Does Jesus Live, or Has He Only Lived? - van den Bergh van Eysinga - Sep. 27, 2003

van Eysinga: The Formation of the Catholic Church - Nov. 16, 2004

Scholars' Views on Historical Jesus and Pauline Authenticity -- July, 2005

La Sagesse: Jesus Christ Never Existed -- May 15, 2005

Hermann Detering: The Fabricated Paul -- Oct. 24, 2005

Arthur Drews: The Legend of Saint Peter: A Contribution to the Mythology of Christianity -- Oct. 10, 2005

Arthur Drews: The History of the Denial of the Historicity of Jesus - Sep. 1, 2003

Bernhard Hoffers' April 2003 Lecture about Arthur Drews - Sep. 1, 2003

Jean Magne: Logic of the Sacraments -- September 30, 2005

Jean Magne: Logique des Dogmes -- August 17, 2005

Two Myths and Two Rites for the Origin of Christianity - Summary and Translation of Jean Magne's Essay - Sep. 4, 2003

Mythic-Only Jesus - book lists

Mythic-only Christ theory -- Book list

Historical Jesus, or Christ Myth? -- Book list

The Swoon/Shroud/India theory of Jesus' death -- Book list

How did Christianity catch on? -- Book list

Lives of the Apostles -- Book list

Literalism in Christianity

Literalist vs. Mystic-state Christianity

Resulting Religion Shaped by both Literalist & Metaphorical Thinking

True Origins of Christianity, Gradual Literalization

Motives for Literalization

Metaphor in Christianity

Various Jewish/Old Testament Metaphors

2 Races, Nations, or Groups: Dualist Metaphor

Cross Metaphor

Military Ransom Metaphors

Demon Exorcism, Possession, Goat/Sheep Metaphors

Afterlife, Mortality, Imperishability Metaphors

Water Metaphors

Family Relationship Metaphors, Rebirth Metaphors

Metaphors: Apocalypse/Revelation at the End of Time

Various Christian Metaphors

Mary and Metaphor

Resources: Esoteric/Experiential Christianity

Mexican Catholic Retablos (oil paint on tin)

Picture Story Bibles - book lists

Picture story Bibles -- Book list

Picture story Bibles 2 -- Book list

Picture story Bibles 3: Baby Bibles -- Book list

Mystical Religious Experiencing - book lists

Original, experiential, mystical Christianity -- Book list

Mystery Religion, Myth, and the Mystical State -- Book list

Religious Experiencing -- Book list

Holy Spirit and Christian Spirituality -- Book list

Holy Spirit and Christian Spirituality 2 -- Book list

Word and Power (doctrine and spiritual experience) -- Book list

Gnosticism -- Book list

Western Esotericism -- Book list

Ecstatic Alchemy -- Book list

Hermeticism and Ancient Mystic Astrology -- Book list

Jewish Mysticism -- Book list

Jewish Mysticism: Scholem and Idel -- Book list

Magic as Metaphor for Mystic Altered-State Experiencing -- Book list -- History of Esoteric Philosophical Magic / History of Magic in Western Esoteric Religion

History of Magic -- Book list

Periodicals about the Christian Myth-Religion

Bible Review - provides critical, accessible coverage of Bible stories and history. Main articles are listed for back issues. Selections from current issue are online.

Christian History - a more literalist "believer's" magazine, but not bad. Selected articles and tables of contents online.