• FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    21
    ·
    4 months ago

    Communal worship can put people into suggestible states, for example. Throw in some attention whores with dubious affinity for truthfulness, and suddenly you get some pretty wild stories. Throw in some hottie swaying and going ‘ooooOOOooOoo, AahhaAAAAhhhh’ or whatever to whatever was their contemporary version of a hipster playing a musical instrument…

    Alternatively, we’ve all seen the videos of experiments with conformity.

    no need to blame psychedelics.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        4 months ago

        Assuming it was John of Patmos. The author only identified himself as “John”; but it was also super common to use pseudonyms as a way to get more authoritative.

        The fact is we don’t really know for sure. The only evidence in the book itself is that that is where the revelation happened. One leading theory is that “John” was exiled there. For being Christian.

        Keep in mind a lot of the rhetoric is a direct criticism of Domitian and Roman’s.

        Maybe they did use psychedelics and maybe they didn’t. We don’t know.