Spiritual Aspects of Marijuana - Coursework Example

Dr. Andrew Weil, in the chapter “What No One Wants to Know About Marijuana” from his book ‘The Natural Mind’, has described how people in field of research have misrepresented the facts about marijuana and have misled people regarding its effect on human being. According to Dr. Weil, people doing a research on marijuana have taken a very narrow minded approach towards its study and hence, have missed the whole truth about the use of marijuana. After reading the chapter, one realizes that use of marijuana is not as bad as it is stated to be. Most importantly, the information makes us realize that people who use marijuana are not ‘mad’ but in fact, are in that state of mind or being , which is the ultimate goal of spiritual seekers. In short, what marijuana does is take the user into a zone of spirituality. The Truth About Marijuana The information provided by Dr.Weil makes the reader realize that the researchers in the field of science can manipulate the information and ‘facts’ about certain thing in such a way that people end up believing what they (researchers) want them to believe. For example, researchers proposed a hypothesis that marijuana is a harmful drug and affects the psychological and physiological functioning of a person who uses it. To prove their hypothesis right, they conducted a research in such conditions that it proved that the use of marijuana affects a person negatively. For example, it has been believed that marijuana affects the memory and causes a memory loss. However, Dr.Weil’s explanation clearly shows that it affects only the immediate memory and not the long term memory and hence, is not harmful. As human behavior is not a result of immediate memory, it does not affect the behavior pattern of the person who is under the influence of marijuana. Hence, the hypothesis that marijuana affects the behavior of a person is wrong. Hence, interviews with users of marijuana have revealed that people around the users of marijuana do not find any difference in their behavior. It is the anxiety of people who are under the influence of marijuana that makes them think that they are behaving g differently. Dr.Weil has also attracted the attention of the reader to the fact that the aspect of immediate memory loss in the use of marijuana has been misunderstood as a sign of mind and body going wrong. In fact, according to the author, it is sign of mind reaching the heightened spiritual state. Dr.Weil has connected the experience of loss of immediate memory under the influence of marijuana to the experience of ‘timeless’ state of mind in spirituality. ‘Timeless’ state of mind is considered as a spiritual phenomenon as in this state a person gets in such a deep meditative state of mind that his thoughts completely vanishes from his mind and his mind becomes calm and quiet. This state of mind is also called as ‘present moment awareness’ in the world of spirituality. It means that the person becomes so completely aware of the ‘present’ that he forgets about his past and future. This kind of awareness is called as the highest stage of spirituality. The author has rightly stated that bringing a person in the ‘present moment awareness’ is the ultimate aim of all the religions in the world because according to them, the past and future are nothing but figment of the imaginations and hence, not real. Hence, if a particular drug is giving a human being an experience of present moment awareness, then it should be called as an ‘active placebo’ rather than a harmful drug. After reading the chapter, one cannot help but think about the positive role that marijuana plays in bringing a person in altered state of consciousness. The chapter has thrown a light on some of the interesting aspects of the effects of the marijuana on its users like heightened sensory perceptions, present moment awareness, perceiving the ‘reality as it is’ and being aware of the things that around them that were never perceived before. By the end of the reading my belief about marijuana and its users changed completely. I have heard that some of the greatest musicians in the world are users of marijuana and I wondered if their genius artistic expression was a result of effects of marijuana. After all, when the marijuana users say that they can ‘perceive the reality as it is’ and ‘could sense those things which they never sensed before’, then it means that they are free from the anxieties, worries, tensions and frustrations of daily life. Hence, the question is, does use of marijuana lead to attainment of spiritual being? Marijuana And Spirituality After reading the chapter ‘What No One Wants to know about Marijuana’, for some time I thought that there is nothing wrong in using marijuana. If marijuana can lead to spiritual experience and does not really affect the other normal functioning of human beings, the why not use it? But after giving it a deep thought, I realized that using marijuana does not make a person spiritual but only gives him a ‘taste’ of spiritual state of mind by altering his consciousness. Different external devices like idol worship, rosaries, archetypical symbols and music have been in use for a long time in religious and spiritual practices to help people heighten their spirituality. Marijuana is one of the external devices which have been considered as sacred device in spiritual practices. Clarke (1998) has found that use of marijuana is considered as sacred by certain sects of Buddhism in Nepal (Earleywine 2002). Study by Tart (1971) has revealed that people who use marijuana lose their sense of ego and feel more in tune with universe and nature (Earleywine 2002). They become open to new experiences, experience innocence and are “filled with wonder” (Earleywine 2002). Many people who use marijuana state that when they are under the influence of marijuana, they feel unusual peace, joy and happiness (Earleywine 2002). They feel as if they are in touch with the divine and are one with the universe (Earleywine 2002). These experiences are equal to religious ecstasy and hence, make them feel spiritual. However, the question is ‘does this experience lead to authentic spirituality’? It has been observed that the ability of marijuana to produce the experience of spirituality in the user is making it popular among young people (Cermak 2003). Marijuana’s potential to make people forget their daily problems, worries about their responsibilities and anxieties of life is making young people and adolescents to get attracted to it (Cermak 2003). The spiritual experiences under the influence of marijuana lead young people to believe that simply by having theses experiences for some moment they can fully understand the mystical philosophies of Alan Watts, Carlos Castenada, Zen and Vendanta Hinduism (Fuller 2008). They very comfortably forget the true message of these mystical philosophies which is that authentic spirituality is not a result of any external thing but stems from the “inner, personal experience” (Fuller 2008). Conclusion Instead of understanding what spirituality really is, people using marijuana think that they will become spiritual and attain spiritual heights just by using marijuana (Cermak 2003). This makes them lose touch with the reality and make them a victim of an illusion that they have become spiritual. Instead of using marijuana as an external device and controlling its use, they become addicted to it (Cermak 2003). Hence, even though use of marijuana helps people to experience a spiritual state of mind, it does not make a person achieve an authentic spirituality. An authentic spirituality springs from heart and from guts, not from marijuana. References Cermak, T.L.(2003). Marijuana: What’s a parent to believe? Center City, MN: Hazelden. Earleywine, M. (2002). Understanding marijuana: A new look at the scientific evidence. New York, NY: Oxford UP. Fuller, R.C. (2008). Spirituality in the flesh: Bodily sources of religious experience. New York, NY: Oxford UP. Weil, A. (n.d.). “What No One Wants to know about Marijuana” The natural mind: A revolutionary approach to the drug problem. Retrieved from http://deoxy.org/pdfa/marijuana.htm Read More