Marijuana and the the influence of nature on conciousness, sacrament or sacrelidge ?

[Marc]

Many have found epiphany in what the plant kingdom has offered us, but for others it can become a limiting cloud. What roles can the offerings from our natural surroundings play in our awakening ? What are your life experiences that inform this line of contemplation ?

[Jay Anthony]

Oh, if only it were so, but alas I don't believe so. If you have read Ram Dass' "Be Here Now", then you come to realize the altering of one's consciousness through chemical means may be a means to an end. but not the end itself. Many individuals through out history have attempted to "awaken" with the use of various substances, but in my experience (and I unfortunately have used many substances) they are an impairment to God consciousness instead of an aid. Altered states of consciousness can be fun through substances, but I don't believe they lead to enlightment. Some reading I have done claims that it is very unthoughtful on our part to subject the fragment of God that indwells us with mind altering substances. I think a quicker and more effective route to awakening, God consciousness, or enlightment (choose your adjective) is meditation, and service to one's brothers and sisters. Good luck on your quest.

[Marc]

Jay,
I appreciate your perspective and thoughts about this. Given your response, would it be correct to say that you believe the use of marijuana specifically is a sacrelidge to our awakening ?

Your comment "if only it were so" would tend to imply some joy form the use of Marijuana is that a fair understanding of your words?

I myself take joy in it, but this line of discussion has evolved for me out of a sense of balance, and place. My mind gives me lots of ideas about this question, but I am seeking other people's views in order to reflect on something other than my own point of view.

Jay Anthony said:

Oh, if only it were so, but alas I don't believe so. If you have read Ram Dass' "Be Here Now", then you come to realize the altering of one's consciousness through chemical means may be a means to an end. but not the end itself. Many individuals through out history have attempted to "awaken" with the use of various substances, but in my experience (and I unfortunately have used many substances) they are an impairment to God consciousness instead of an aid. Altered states of consciousness can be fun through substances, but I don't believe they lead to enlightment. Some reading I have done claims that it is very unthoughtful on our part to subject the fragment of God that indwells us with mind altering substances. I think a quicker and more effective route to awakening, God consciousness, or enlightment (choose your adjective) is meditation, and service to one's brothers and sisters. Good luck on your quest.

[Dave Fisk]

I can not admit any personal experience but in theory an enhanced imagination may open the door to understanding, if understanding is what you seek. If it is fun you seek, that is all you should expect. From what I have herd this substance does indeed enhance ones imagination, and it is more natural than many substances, like refined sugar, partially hydrogenated oils, etc ... that we consume every day. Everything we put in our bodies, like H2O, for example is a "chemical", that doesn't make it bad. A great mind once said "Imagination is more important than knowledge". I just might try it some day... at any rate, one thing is for sure: all sweeping generalizations are wrong :-)

[Marc]

Thanks Deborah,
This is exactly the kind of expansion on this topic I am looking for. If we are to become architects, we need to look at what we are building with.

Dave's comment mentions receiving understanding or having fun, both of which seem to be positive in a general sense. Yet, in your response we find something important, that this can also be a trap, or an escape. Young people can lose their path or become passive observers instead of focused learners. This sounds like the voice of experience. Are you in a position to elaborate on actual events you have witnessed ?

Deborah said:

I do understand where you all are coming from but, when this tree becomes a part of our youth, they're busy wondering off in la la land and get nothing done for their futures. It's ruining their clear perspective of why schools important and it's impairing their respect because of addiction to wanting to alter their consciousness. They will not be set for a career because they won't get hired if drug tested. I am constantly counseling young people with being lost because of focus.

[Jay Anthony]

Thanks for your response, Marc. I have used my fair share, and maybe a few others' as well, of marijuana. Although I enjoyed it immensely for many years I found that it was no longer productive for me. It was recreational for me. Mentally as well as physicallly. I don't think it brought me closer to God. What I meant by "if only it were so", is that if it were that easy to attain God consciousness then we would all be much closer to enlightment than we are. Again meditation and service are better avenues for enlightment for me. For me it takes hard work to squelch the ego, love one's fellows as God loves us, and to practice patience, and good judgement. I don't believe in a mystical experience of the Divine. Sometimes I think we make it more complicated than it really is, (God consciousness) I don't consider marijuana sacrilegious. I do believe we have a fragment of God that indwells us, and I don't think it is courteous to subject it to mind altering substances. I also don't believe it is courteous to subject it to anger, resentment, fear, etc. I also believe God is very patient with his little children. However, there comes a time to fish or cut bait. I believe once you realize that for your life accountability changes.
Marc said:

Jay,
I appreciate your perspective and thoughts about this. Given your response, would it be correct to say that you believe the use of marijuana specifically is a sacrelidge to our awakening ?

Your comment "if only it were so" would tend to imply some joy form the use of Marijuana is that a fair understanding of your words?

I myself take joy in it, but this line of discussion has evolved for me out of a sense of balance, and place. My mind gives me lots of ideas about this question, but I am seeking other people's views in order to reflect on something other than my own point of view.

Jay Anthony said:

Oh, if only it were so, but alas I don't believe so. If you have read Ram Dass' "Be Here Now", then you come to realize the altering of one's consciousness through chemical means may be a means to an end. but not the end itself. Many individuals through out history have attempted to "awaken" with the use of various substances, but in my experience (and I unfortunately have used many substances) they are an impairment to God consciousness instead of an aid. Altered states of consciousness can be fun through substances, but I don't believe they lead to enlightment. Some reading I have done claims that it is very unthoughtful on our part to subject the fragment of God that indwells us with mind altering substances. I think a quicker and more effective route to awakening, God consciousness, or enlightment (choose your adjective) is meditation, and service to one's brothers and sisters. Good luck on your quest.

[Victor Forsythe]

I feel in my soul that this magical plant was seeded here by a high consciousness to help us in our journey. There will come a day when the earth will be a way station along the infinite pathways of space...

[Glenna]

I suppose it would have to do with the intention the person brings with them and how they connect with the deva of the plant. There is no denying though that there is much teaching to be had there if one is open to the communion. I think all plants are very holy and each has their own unique place here. We need to learn the correct usages of so many that we cast aside in every walk of life. This is a loss to us, as many plants are here to help us heal ourselves and bring us back to re-membering our nature.

[Glenna]

Victor said:

I feel in my soul that this magical plant was seeded here by a high consciousness to help us in our journey. There will come a day when the earth will be a way station along the infinite pathways of space...

[Glenna]

I love the way you put that: "seeded here by a high consciousness to help us in our journey". It is what I was thinking but could not quite put into words.

Victor said:

I feel in my soul that this magical plant was seeded here by a high consciousness to help us in our journey. There will come a day when the earth will be a way station along the infinite pathways of space...

[Marc]

I think I have something to offer the discussion. Part of it is a quote from Bob Marley who clearly is on the side of this plant being a sacrament.

Bob Marley," Herb? herb is the healing of the nation, seen? Once you smoke herb, you all must think alike. Now if you thinking alike, dat mean we 'pon the same track. If we 'pon the same track, that mean we gonna unite. Some say 'don't smoke herb.' Dey don't want us to unite, right, so they say, 'don't smoke herb.' (laughter)...It's true! So you know, herb is the healing of the nation and people must get herb for dem use. Dem wanna smoke it, let 'em smoke it. Dem wanna boil it in tea, let 'em boil it in tea. If dem waan steam it, steam it, if dem gwanna eat a little, eat a little, but dem must det it! True true."

This quote among others, describes an aspect of this plant, which is the plant kingdom stretching up from the mother and offering us something. Offering us a chance to join our minds together, to tune ourselves to a specific resonance which is being manifested from the plant kingdom. If we enter into this by taking part of this plant into our bodies, we create a conduit for the period of time it is in our bodies. This conduit can become a path to very strong connection between people, especially in the context of ceremony or invocation. This is why musicians and audiences have opened up their relationship to this plant, it provides a common frequency for everyone to tune into.

In the youth culture of my time (76-81) there were still messages from elders in my community about the sacredness of embarking on this journey with the plant. Similarly to a shaman or a priest we were encouraged to respect the psychic effects of this plant. We imagined that taking it in was part of an invocation, the Rasta Man told me it was for "Reasoning together".

This is the missing context of current times and in a much broader way than just the application of marijuana. When I discuss this aspect with musicians or music fans who smoke it, I can see the light of realization go off. When I speak with them about the difference between using it in a reverent way, in a way that has a purpose and a focus, and in a disrespectful way, such as making money, or being high all the time. I see them become thoughtful and usually they offer me a story about how they initially experienced a kind of epiphany related to nature and joy in our world. For many, this is part of their initial experience with Marijuana.

Western culture needs rituals around which we can share our experiences of nature's power, nature's magic. As Bob's quote implies, the ritual of smoking "herb" can connect us in a unified field. This field as it relates to marijuana has very specific kind of resonance, much like a tuning fork. We become tuned to the song of the plant kingdom, which brings us closer to the earth. This can be a very helpful alignment if we can contextualize it properly and with the proper respect.

The many songs of life may benefit from tuning up now and then, but it would be tragic if the only symphonies we created together, were stuck in the key of the plant kingdom. Thus we have the potential for damage if marijuana becomes the only resonant vibration in our lives.

The youth culture of today hears the message of forbidden activity and does not benefit from a broader communication of how to put in context the gift the plant has to offer us. It is simply treated like another part of "consumer culture" Much like cell phones, or sneakers it becomes just something to have, and compare against of the back drop of who has the best or smokes the most.

The restriction of the knowledge about it's proper place in the "Healing of the Nations" places us in the authority trap. We feed our kids the fear message out of a reasonable desire to protect them from pitfalls of living in a one note symphony, but lost in this fear message is the revelation that in the proper context and mental focus there is a message being offered to us from the plant kingdom. This message is powerful medicine of our connection to the earth sphere; to the lower frequencies.

My contemplation of this here, in the context of the new dawn is to develop clarity of message. I am asking this new community to define the reverent use of this tuning fork, and others like it. The fear bearers ask us to see it as a gateway to other types of harm and there is much to be headed in this message, but the larger cosmos whispers to us a message about diverse salves and healing tinctures. We have an opportunity to recognize a wisdom that transcends fear and reveals something deeper. To place this plant into a context of a universe of magic possibilities.

The Priestess, Shaman or as in Marley's and Tosh's case, the Bush Doctor, can help guide those who may be healed, while also offering us the wisdom of temperance. Marijuana in this context can be beneficial in communing with these frequencies and drawing us together in oneness, but we may also recognize that the earth resonances are not the only songs. The sky song, fire song, water song ask us to refine our bodies in preparation for receiving them. Thus we are called to other disciplines and diets.

This topic then asked me to share itself, so that we could be honest with our youth and with ourselves, about the broad potential of the abundance in the universe. We have the opportunity to place this aspect of life into the context it deserves. Reasoned respect of powerful earth medicine, simple and clear.

[Victor Forsythe]

Those of us who protested the insanity of the Vietnam War used this sacred plant and it unified us in opposition to the alquis who are still promoting wars of insanity. There is rampant homicidal insanity on the planet and this is the cure. It was seeded here by inteligent beings. What other plant do you know of that you can tell the sexes apart? The chemical composition of THC is similar to the chemicals found in brain.

[James Murff]

I smoked marijuana for nearly half of my life. It made me more prone to openminded ideas, but it stunted my growth as far as brain wave activity. I quit 3 1/2 years ago, and I haven't looked backed since. My wife has told me time and again, that my musicianship has improved. My memory is slowly returning, but it is getting there. I'm not saying that people who do drugs are bad people, because I've done everyone's share of candy flippin extacy/acid, I did harder drugs for a time, even Opium, all before I was 20 years old. I would have done them over again if I had it to live over, but only because that was the only time I felt truly free from religion, parental guiidance, basic teenage angst. Not saying that every one should go and drop seven hits of acid, and then when you start to come down pop a couple of Ex pills. But life happens, and I'm not ashamed of who I am or where I have been, what I've done, sometimes because of drugs. Would I do them now? NO. I smoke cigarrettes, and that's it. It's bad enough, but it beats the hell out what I used to do. Just a little ted bit of myself for you guys to read.