There are few subjects which stimulate as much controversy as illegal recreational drugs, however, with the illicit drug industry turning over hundreds of billions per year in the US alone, this is certainly not an issue to be dismissed or avoided – it’s a significant part of modern life that we must understand as comprehensively as possible, to avoid acting or speaking in ignorance.
The recreational drug user is a person who you might never suspect takes drugs. They are shopkeepers, bankers, civil servants, policemen, lawyers, doctors, electricians, hairdressers – in fact, they’re everywhere, in all walks of life. They can often hold down their jobs, function in their communities, and pay their taxes as well as the next person but when the weekend comes, they step into a different energy level via their drug of choice.
Why do drugs appeal to so many people?
Whilst I observe that society is generally well informed on the dangers of taking drugs, I find the background reasons surrounding why people choose to take drugs are rarely discussed openly – and the Why, I believe, is the most important factor we can focus on. Telling a person not to take drugs because “They’re bad for your body” will often do nothing to change the mindset of the recreational user, for you’re telling them nothing new. To address the issue of drugs, we must venture into the human psyche and consider the situation from a spiritual perspective – as all recreational drugs are taken for the mind, not for the body.
Getting Out Of Your Mind
Whilst the term of being “out of your mind” on drugs (or alcohol) is commonly used to describe being high (or drunk), I think this phrase gives us a crucial insight into the experience that users are searching for and is a good place for us to begin our contemplation – humans often get fed up with being caught up in their mind, which never stops whirring and they seek a release. The recreational user may say they take drugs simply to have fun or to relax – perhaps they’ve worked hard during the week and when Saturday night comes it’s time to let their hair down – but I believe the underlying cause for this behavior is the restlessness that’s described in the Celestine Prophecy’s First Insight. Drugs are taken as a substitute for peace. During their week, users may live in the world of the mind, unable to switch off, but through their experience of taking drugs they know there is another level of life possible where they can feel more love and harmony in their surroundings if they “just take a pill”.
Feeling the Love Addressing MDMA (aka Molly) and Ecstasy, in particular, users frequently report feeling “Loved up” and will often spend hours talking with their friends and even strangers at very deep levels when they’re high. The introduction of MDMA into their bloodstream, often allows users open up to others on heightened levels, and the side effect of wanting to hug your friends and tell them you love them is incredibly common. Feeling an increased sense of love and happiness (just for maybe one night out the week) is no doubt a reason MDMA/ Ecstasy users will ignore health warnings and the dangers surrounding the unknown ingredients of what they ingest.
There are drugs out there to suit a multitude of mindsets and whether users are looking to dance the night away or wind down and chill out, there is one thing all recreational users have in common – they want to change their vibrational energy level and they don’t know how else to do it.
Spiritual Breakthroughs
The hallucinogenic effects of drugs are well known and users can either delight or drown in their own mind’s creations, but drug users also frequently report spiritual breakthroughs whilst high, where they feel they have temporarily cracked the meaning of life and gained a higher perspective on human existence. Often the concept of having a body will suddenly seem strange and users may find themselves staring in the mirror when they’re high, feeling strangely detached from their body and puzzling over what they really are. In turn, they become more aware that they are a spirit living a human experience, realizing that their body is simply a suitcase that they use for travel during this life.
Whilst not recreational, the drug DMT is also known as the God Drug or Spirit Molecule and the scientific community report volunteers have taken this to embark on spiritual journeys where they are able to transcend to alternative dimensions and encounter other spiritual beings. As deep as this drug is, the reason for taking it is still the same as any other drug – the user believes they can change their vibrational existence, and experience more by introducing a substance into their body.
What goes up must come down…
A negative side effect of some recreational drugs is that they impact your ability to be positive in the days that follow your high. While we might feel that we can always choose our moods and how we behave, the come-downs that are associated with many drugs are likely to leave users feeling down, negative, or snappy for a day or so at some stage during the next week. People who use drugs on a Saturday night may know the “Tuesday Blues” all too well, but this is the price they are willing to pay for their high. Their unstable flow continues to go up and down while they persist in their scene – never finding a stable vibration of sustainable inner peace.
The Challenge That Exists
I believe we can assess that underneath the desire to have fun/ wind-down/ feel love/ change their perspective, there is restlessness.
There is a desire to experience more than daily life in the consumer-driven, material world provides. Whilst abstinence is encouraged and drug-use is predominantly a criminal activity across the world, if we only address the dangers of drugs, without addressing the restlessness that so often niggles at the soul we will never be a drug-free planet. A huge portion of the population feel the restlessness described in the First Insight, and many will often self-medicate their symptoms with recreational drugs to ease this sensation.
As we so frequently operate in the world of the active mind, it is a natural human reaction to seek a way out. However, I believe the challenge that recreational users have is in finding a way of getting high naturally, without needing drugs to free their mind. If drugs trigger the release of chemicals naturally found in the body, (such as serotonin, which lifts your mood and emotions) then surely, there must be ways to trigger the same effect without needing to ingest dangerous substances and it’s just a matter of finding how.
In the western world, there’s no doubt we have a lot to learn about meditation, and I believe that, with practice, meditation can elevate your vibrational level (producing a high) without any risk of damaging your body or having to suffer a groggy comedown. As the objective of meditation is to “get out of your mind”, where inner voices of the ego are silenced to focus on inner peace, self-love, and connection to the divine energy, meditation could be a healthy alternative for many drug users if practiced regularly.
Many meditators claim to be able to perform astral travel, which could be likened to tripping, and it’s also reported that DMT can be released naturally from the pineal gland during meditation. No doubt recreational drugs can offer a short-cut to elevating your vibrational level for a brief spell, but to find sustainable peace we must go within ourselves and find our connection to the universal energy force – there is no other way to naturally dissolve the illusions fabricated by the ego.