Ep 59 – CC Smith Entheogen Theory

On this episode, we suspend the historical timeline to analyze the Smith-Entheogen theory along with host of Psilly Rabbits Podcast, Cody Noconi. Before that, we talk to Dan Wees of the Book of Mormon Comparative to get an update on his project. Then we move into reading part 1 of the Sunstone paper titled Revelation Through Hallucination, a discourse on the Smith-entheogen theory. We end with the final installment of the Patreon Pledge drive, issuing a call to arms for those listeners located in Utah. Don’t miss Sunstone and the live My Book of Mormon show in SLC at Squatter’s pub on July 29th, 2017!

Links:

Smith-Entheogen theory
http://realbookofmormon.org/smithentheogentheory

Good Friday Experiment “Miracle at Marsh Chapel”
http://www.maps.org/news/multimedia-library/138-1962-good-friday-experiment

MAPS Follow-up to Good Friday Experiment
http://www.maps.org/other-psychedelic-research/213-psilocybin-research/psilocybin-studies-completed/5508-the-good-friday-experiment-follow-up

Erowid Plant and Root Database
https://www.erowid.org/

Plants of the Gods
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZmjpK6KYqI
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/378208.Plants_of_the_Gods

GET YOUR TICKETS FOR SUNSTONE SYMPOSIUM!!!
https://www.sunstonemagazine.com/

Come to church with Marie Kent and I at the JS Memorial Building!
https://www.lds.org/maps/meetinghouses/@40.769715,-111.892079,17&lang=eng&id=meetinghouse:5336082-01-08

Show links:

Website http://nakedmormonismpodcast.com
Twitter @NakedMormonism
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Naked-Mormonism/370003839816311
Patreon http://patreon.com/nakedmormonism
Music by Jason Comeau http://aloststateofmind.com/
Show Artwork http://weirdmormonshit.com/
Legal Counsel http://patorrez.com/
Voicemail Line (864)Nake-dMo (625-3366)

Intro 7/20/17

We have so much to get to today. As per our MO with CC episodes, this is going to be a bit longer than the regular episodes. To give you an overview before we jump in, this episode is part 1 of a two-week primer leading up to the Sunstone Sympsium in Salt lake city from July 26th-29th. Cody Noconi and I are doing a presentation about the Joseph Smith-entheogen theory title Revelation Through Hallucination at 10:15 am in the Panorama East room, tickets are available at sunstonemagazine.com, and then on Saturday evening, the 29th, Marie and I will be doing a live show of My Book of Mormon, entry is free with a suggested $5 donation. These next couple of weeks are very busy, which is why we’re suspending the historical timeline and all other show segments to just focus on Sunstone for this and next week. At the beginning of this episode you’ll hear a brief conversation I had with Dan Wees about his completed Book of Mormon comparative project. Of course, Patrons get access to the entire conversation as it went a bit longer than expected. The second portion of today’s episode will be part one of Cody and I reading our research paper we’ll be passing out at Sunstone. We’ll end the episode with discussing the Patreon pledge drive and an exciting announcement about something Marie and I plan on doing after the live show in SLC.

With that, let’s get into the show beginning with my conversation with Dan Wees.

Alright, that’s it for the conversation with Dan. Check out realbookofmormon.org to see his work there as well as the defector of the faith portal with 1001 facts about Mormonism that are challenging to belief. As said in the interview, Dan will be at Sunstone, so look around for the friendly guy with a white beard and ask him about the project.

Now on to the main segment for today, this is my discussion with Cody Noconi, my research partner on the Smith-entheogen theory, and host of the Psilly Rabbits podcast.

And that does it for the conversations on today’s episode. Stay tuned for next week to hear the actual Mormon portion of the Sunstone paper, which will be airing just in time for the presentation and live show. Before finishing up, I know we’ve gone really long this episode, but I want to talk for a few minutes about something that came up in conversation with Dan after we had stopped recording.

Dan and I spoke on the idea of Secular Mormonism and what it means to be Mormon, ex-Mormon, or anti-Mormon. These are obviously simplistic labels, but they function for the purposes of what we’re about to discuss. Last week I ranted about how this crusade isn’t against Mormons, it’s against Mormonism. I made the point that I have nothing but good to say about Mormons, as they’re my friends and family; this crusade which manifests itself as a research heavy podcast, Sunstone presentations, and all the other projects I’m affiliated with, is against a systematic cult which perpetuates lies through the mouths of its unwitting parishioners. I’ve always been frustrated with the line which perfectly describes me but is used to disparage or insinuate something about somebody who does what I do, that line is: “You can leave the church, but you can’t leave it alone.” I’ve taken issue with this before, but I’m beginning to come to grips with it, and let me share my reasoning.

Growing up in the church, it was pounded into my brain that I had to view everything in my life through my Mormon lens. Every activity in which I engaged, the question always hung over me, how will the affect my standing in the church, or my testimony? If I do this thing, will I have to talk to my bishop about it? Many people leave the church and that’s it, they’re done with anything Mormonism, but for some of us, that need to view everything through the church’s eyes doesn’t go away once we leave the church. That’s the greatest achievement of brainwashing and mind control, but unfortunately for the organization which fosters this totalitarian mindset, it cuts both ways. When some people leave, they can’t leave the cult alone because it’s so deeply ingrained in every part of their life.

This is the reason I’m slowly shying away from the label ex-Mormon in lieu of Secular Mormon. I’m not an ex-Mormon, because I didn’t actually leave the church behind me the way ex-cons or ex-married people leave that chapter behind them in life. Mormonism is my culture and I’m a secular humanist. I’m a secular Mormon. When I was talking to Dan about this concept, he said that Secular Mormon doesn’t really fit him because he’s had his name removed from the roles, whereas I haven’t so the box fits me a little better than him. But the thought occurred to me, isn’t embracing the term ex-Mormon because you had your name removed from the roles just giving undue power to the organization which claims to define Mormonism? The Mormon church defines everything members do and even further defines their social status by giving callings. If we leave the church and have our names removed, doesn’t calling ourselves ex-Mormon just further allow the church to define who we are, thus furthering its influence on those who’ve left the cult?

Look, the Mormon religion in general isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. It will continue to ebb and flow, slowly adapting to social pressures which incite necessary and long overdue change. The only way we can push them to change in ways that are social goods is by being up in their face about how outdated they are on current social issues. For the Mormon church to change, it requires humanist Mormons to drag it kicking and screaming out of the 1950s and into the 21st century.

This brings me to the final goal of the Patreon pledge drive month before Sunstone. This upcoming Saturday’s episode of My Book of Mormon features something Marie and I thought up on the fly and talked about. We told everybody that if we can get MyBoM the $33 to the next Patreon goal and NM the $49 to the next goal, we would attend church together on Sunday morning after the live show. I’ve had a bit of time since Marie and I recorded to process this and think about the best way to do it, and the thought occurred that none of what we do is for the money, money is merely a byproduct of us doing what we love to do. So, this approach is all wrong. We shouldn’t hold this activity hostage for a few dollars, that’s what the church does with temple attendance and heaven. So, don’t tell Andrew Torrez this, but instead of making church the Sunday morning the live show a patreon goal, Marie and I are making a terrible business decision and we’re going to church regardless of whether or not we reach our next patreon goals. Just a brief sidenote, lemme throw some maths your way. To get us up to our next goal, it requires about 4/5ths of one percent of the listeners to sign up at a dollar an episode, or 1/4th of one percent of the listeners to sign up at the 3-dollar Book of Exaltation level to reach that goal. That’s my way of saying, we’re REALLY close to our next goal, and those percentages are even smaller and more easily surmountable to get My BoM up to the next patreon goal. It’s not easy to ask for money, so instead, for this episode, we’re telling you what we’re doing, and if you think it’s a good idea aimed at perpetuating a good overall cause, please consider supporting our efforts. Marie and I are going to church on July 30th regardless of patreon goals, but if you want to help us get to those goals, it would be really awesome of you and it won’t take much to get us there.

We’re sharing the details of our activities on Sunday July 30th after the live show because we’re officially rallying the troops. Marie and I will be attending the 11 a.m. church session of the 18th ward at the Joseph Smith memorial building, located at 15 E South Temple in SLC, and you’re all invited. They say visitors welcome, so let’s test the boundaries of that claim by showing up as a group. We’re going to be very respectful, but I have a feeling like we may stand out from the crowd as the average age of people in that ward is like 89. I’ll just say, we can be respectful while still standing out. So, I encourage any of you who plan on answering this rally cry by attending with us to wear your rainbow or red Savannah ties, rainbow pins or wristbands, and most importantly, let your porn shoulders out!

You may wonder why we chose that ward specifically. For starters, it meets in the Joseph Smith memorial building, so booyah; and secondly, the 18th and Canyon wards, which meet there, are the home wards to a bunch of general authorities and the prophet himself. It’s rare any of them actually attend, but there’s the smallest inkling chance that an apostle will be up on the stand and look out over our smiling faces, rainbow garb, and porn shoulders. Maybe they’ll be able to smell the hangover on some of us from the live show the night before…. Just to reiterate the ground rule, we aren’t there to crash the congregation or disrupt the regular proceedings, we’re only there to show them that secular humanist Mormons, and even interested never-mos like Marie, exist and we are the younger generation to whom they need to appeal in order to survive the 21st century.

We need to stop letting the church define us as Mormon, ex-Mormon, anti-Mormon, apostate or any other seemingly useful label. We are secular Mormons. We are a movement that will roll over this multi-billion-dollar worldwide corporation and force it into obscurity until it conforms to humanism and disbands its authoritarian rule over the lives of millions of people. Secular Mormons won’t leave the church alone after leaving it until Mormon’ism’ stops being a mind controlling cult. Needless to say, Marie and I have job security for the foreseeable future.

Outro

But most of all, thank you to our imperatively important and wonderfully devoted listeners, for lending me your ear.

Copyright Ground Gnomes LLC subject to fair use. Citation example: "Naked Mormonism Podcast (or NMP), Ep #, original air date 07/20/2017"