Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

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ptex
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10663Post ptex »

Powerful testimonies!

I also share your opinion Teda, this is how it should be but we still need to keep an eye and close track on what's happening with our kids, guiding when possible but always loving them and respecting their freedom. Teenagers don't really look much for parents opinions so there's really no point in preaching, but eventually they come to us for advice now and then :-)

This thread brings me to think of Shaman practices where certain hallucinogens are used, specially derived from herbs and mushrooms. Also in India certain minute quantities of very poisonous elements are also used, like mercury, for certain purposes but in minute quantities and in a very controlled manner. Nevertheless in my opinion we should never ever try to induce a state through any artificial means. Brain wave entrainment through sound effects is another example. In the end one can get addicted to whatever artificial method was used and damage one's intellect in a way that can develop serious inability to live properly and I'm not even mentioning the impossibility to experiencing the bliss of a diligent and disciplined spiritual practice like meditation. There are 2 things which actually have a reversing effect in our spiritual progress: drugs and excessive noise. Wine, since it changes your awareness level and can cause all the problems we know so well acts very much like a hallucinogen... it provokes hallucinations, loss of memory, addiction, inability to cope with reality, etc when in excess, exactly like any drug does.
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Teda
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10728Post Teda »

For more info on hemp.
http://www.rexresearch.com/hhusb/hmphlth.htm

Check out
7a. Perception and
7b. Adverse Effects. Penis loss, lol...
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

- Maori proverb
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Rezo
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10729Post Rezo »

omg penis 'loss' [abdom. retraction] --- I could NOT believe that lol....

interesting chinese mungbean as an antidote to the anxiety reaction. I've read pot is actually vaso-constrictive, meaning less oxygen getting to the brain?? maybe stressing the cranial nerves [thus altering their feedback as well?]. In addition to aura diagnosis for 'holes' , check out this site that measures the brain in drug abusers [just found this]:

http://www.amenclinic.com/bp/atlas/ch15.php

Theres also a youtube video about him, however the debate in the comments section mixes lots of political/social issues up about his conclusions, as an attempt to justify plant drugs, to 'un-demonize' if you will. If you find it, you'll see what I mean. Type in 'marijuana brain scans' ... if you dare to read the comments ... its actually not that bad to read... I wish studies of similar nature could be done for aspirin, OTC, and perscription drugs [besides the obvious bad ones]. People need to know.

We must also be careful to keep in mind that free choice must be respected whenever we try to 'warn' any of our friends who may be using still, I know this from experience.
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Kitty
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10791Post Kitty »

Is Marijuana harmful for someones spirituality?
Yes, and other drugs are harmful, not only spiritually but pysically.
What about alcohol?
Yes, if ingested frequently in large quantities.
if you use marijuana for the right reasons, it could be good... even if this book says it isn't, one could argue that the book doesn't cover individual cases
Be careful. You cannot use drugs to become more spiritually advance. It's impossible. Drugs do not provide a "shortcut". The book makes this clear. Drugs may fool you into believing you have become more "spiritually aware" and so on.
LSD can open minds like nothing else can, but it also rips it appart.
I would stay away from mind-altering drugs like LSD and hallucinogenic mushrooms. No good can come of them. Quite a few people have gone insane and committed suicide through using them.
Ancient Indians have used pot, opium, datura for centuries to open their spiritual soul, but they're very disciplined in their approach.
Ancient civilizations with documented history of drug use have been known to decline and/or collapse, "rot from the inside" so to speak. Ancient Egypt is a good example mentioned in the book.

My advice: if you want to live a long, healthy, spiritual life, then stay away from drugs. All it takes is self control. There's absolutely no reason for anybody to use drugs, they do more harm than good.
blacksands
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10855Post blacksands »

Dope can open people up to other states of consciousness which can lead to exploration and clues to developing deeper practice. All good stuff. On the other hand all the heavy users I know have reduced their focus and brains to the the level of near sludge.
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ptex
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10858Post ptex »

Let's open up the controversy a little then.

Blacksands, I beg to completely disagree! It's not "all good stuff" as you mention, right on the contrary!!

Drugs certainly exist for a purpose, but saying that one or some can open up people for other states of consciousness is very dangerous because you're not taking into consideration the whole picture. This is a recurrent theme and much has been said about it. Everyone has got a different opinion but this is very clearly mentioned in Thiaoouba Prophecy on page 114:
Drugs, similarly, affect the psyche of the individual - not only do they ruin
physical health, they also reverse the individual’s process of universal evolution.
At the same time as they induce states of euphoria or artificial paradise, they are also directly attacking the Astral body.
I wonder if you still think the same? It's well known that drugs even used for medicinal purposes have undesirable effects on people, although it's medicinal use is justified given our present level of spiritual development.

I believe the myths about drugs benefiting whatever you want to mention can only come from 2 reasons:
  • Ignorance
  • Irresponsibility
    :!:
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TomJansen
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10861Post TomJansen »

Hello wonderful people of the ever peaceful GoldenPlanetForum!

A couple of years ago I spend some time on the forum here,
and I really didn't dare to tell you that I was addicted to weed, smoking multiple joints each day. I've been a stupid pot-smoking junk...

I think it is a big shame because TP is indeed very clear about it:
it simply saturates the astral body with false data.

To be honest, I've been addicted for eight years now, and it is only recently that I have found the strength to quit it. Now instead of smoking weed I'm trying to establish my meditation habit. Still I will have a hard time fighting the temptation to get pot.

But I am very happy now; thinking about how my life will be better.
When smoking weed regularly, you don't dream when you sleep!
Only after a week refraining from smoking, you begin to dream again.
So from now I will dream again each night. And at day I will have more energy.

Of course most important is the spirit...
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ptex
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10864Post ptex »

It's wonderful that you shared this TomJansen! Congratulations for having the courage to fight this and for winning the battle, I know it's not easy but you're doing it consciously and there's nothing like "knowing" (and this is really knowing because it comes with hard won experience) that you're feeling and being so much better now!

Remembering your dreams is awesome because dreams tell so much about ourselves and they're so important in our lives! Many of our teachings are received from our HS via dreams and mastering Lucid Dreaming will definitely make a difference for a person's spiritual development and for anyone who wants to explore his or her HS connection to receive guidance in everyday affairs. If you're interested, you'll find a free course on Dreams and Out-of-Body Experiences here: http://www.gnosticweb.com/dreams-and-obes-course The challenge anyone trying to do it will be the discipline required to make it to the end because Astral Travel and Lucid Dreaming require a very high degree of awareness and commitment.

I believe you'll greatly benefit if you add Yoga to your practice. Yoga stimulates the endocrine system and balances your chakra energy centers and works very subtly, I'm completely sure you'll feel the benefits from the very first session!

I used to practice Tibetan 5 rituals for several years and then I moved to Tantra Yoga which I still practice today.
Ever since I started practicing some sort of Yoga exercises, my mornings started to be magical! I highly recommend a Yoga practice. I may try another type of Yoga soon (with a high spiritual emphasis, because there are too many different types of Yoga which I'm not sure what they achieve) but always without surrendering my freedom of choice (some of them are kind of a cult... if you know what I mean). :)
The best portion of a good man's life is his little nameless unremembered acts of kindness and love.
~William Wordsworth
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Robanan
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10870Post Robanan »

interesting thing about not being able to dream when consuming hallucinogens frequently, exquisite observation, does that mean that under the effect of the drug, one's connection with the higher-self is skipped and the interface is completely blocked till the effect goes away? it makes sense you know, sounds like damage prevention procedure by localization and isolation of the "dangerous" component. It also seem to hint why one's astral body may end up anywhere and everywhere it's not supposed to be except it's own higher self (where it's supposed to be)

and Tom, nice to see you back again, let me congratulate you for being able to see dreams again too, if what I speculated in the above is true then it means your HS is really sweating over you to get you properly connected and back online.

Welcome back to the M A T R I X! :computer:
The essence of Consciousness, is the ability to Create, Process, Transmit and Receive Information Autonomously.
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TomJansen
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10878Post TomJansen »

Thank you so much for the warm welcome!

I'm dreaming every night now and that's really great indeed!

I do practice yoga :)
Since four years ago I felt a bit stuck; wanted to do at least some form of healthy exercise but found things hard to learn myself... So then I started to follow Yoga lessons each week.

I found a very good teacher, not at all like "cult" :) We are encouraged to do the exercises in a way that fits us personally, to our own individual limits, and feel by ourselves what it does.
Officially it's the "Kashmir" variant of Yoga, but you can say we practice all kind of things: asana's, pranayama, tai-chi, mindfulness, different forms of meditation, visualisation; we work with chakra's etcetera...

Indeed I feel happy after each session. But under constant influence of drugs I was not making that much progress! I just enjoyed it because it is fun and relaxing and gives physical energy...
When at home I had "no time", eh, I mean no discipline for exercise. :drugged:

Also, meditation only once in a week is not that benificial, only every day it is.
Now I'm practicing meditation increasingly often, and I feel it's going better each time.

By the way when reminding feeling stoned of marihuana, I really don't want that anymore!

Out-of-body travel? Well that's not a thing I expect to achieve short-term; let me first spend some time with body and HS again! Lucid dreaming maybe, we will see!
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Robanan
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10879Post Robanan »

hmm... nice yoga teacher you got there to be honest, one of a kind indeed. I liked the moment when you explained that you get the "feeling" of "making progress", precious!
The essence of Consciousness, is the ability to Create, Process, Transmit and Receive Information Autonomously.
Teda
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 10915Post Teda »

Hi TomJensen,

Just want to come in to give you a big warm hug. Congratulations!

Raw food will speed up your healing process and help keep your cravings at bay. Google search on raw food, living food and Natural Hygiene. If you eat meat and dairy, google raw paleo diet which includes raw eggs, meat, butter and yoghurt. I believe this will help you greatly and keep you moving forward and upwards and reopen your spiritual faculties. I know this from experience.

Here’s a litte bio of Anand Wells, an ex-drug addict: http://onelusciousbite.blogspot.com/

Hi, Anand here. I have been exploring consciousness since discovering drugs as a teenager. I was particularly drawn to the mind expanding effects of hallucinogenics, however, at the age of 23 I found myself addicted to heroin and dealing drugs for a living. I realised that I was heading for and early grave and by some act of grace I walked away from the seedy world of drugs in Melbourne (at the age of 24) and into the world of rebirthing and meditation in the Byron bay region of Northern NSW. I never looked back and have continued to experiment and inquire into the nature of consciousness to this day (without drugs!) 5 years ago I was introduced to the possibility that the food we eat not only has a massive effect on our state of physical health but also on our mental, emotional and spiritual state of being. This was a missing piece of the puzzle for me and I am forever grateful for learning this. Now my work is simply sharing the benefits of what I have learned (and continue to learn)along the path. Love peace blessings to all. Anand.

Love and peace
Nic
Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you.

- Maori proverb
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v1ru5
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 11285Post v1ru5 »

Well what i learnt about weed, is that it distorts reality. Anyone who ingests a high amount of it from time to time while at the same time working on their spirituality, it can open them for a possesion. I really dont know how and some of my friends are even Weed smokers. I tried it a small handfull of times and i can say i get bad reactions from it. Dont do drugs... unless its XTC. =D Kiddin.
Cheers.
Our emotions rule intellect 3:1, our minds negativity dose much the same with no regard to our optism, could it be that our emotions that prime us is doomed to fail us?
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Zark
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 11412Post Zark »

>> One joint was enough and she never asked for it again.
>> What harm is that going to do to her? Nothing.

Unfortunately the medical research is finding evidence that the one joint is, for a modest number of people, enough to do permanent damage. These people have a genetic deficiency and a dose of marijuana - apparently - can make permanent changes in the way signals are transmitted in their brain (I am going on memory here, so forgive me if I make a mistake)


"The increased risk applies to people who inherit variants of a gene named COMT and who smoked cannabis as teenagers. About a quarter of the population have this genetic make-up and up to 15 per cent of the group are likely to develop psychotic conditions if exposed to the drug early in life. Neither the drug nor the gene raises the risk of psychosis by itself."
quote from: http://www.schizophrenia.com/prevention ... drugs.html

"Results indicated that the hippocampus of marijuana users was 12 percent smaller, and that the amygdala of marijuana users was 7.1 percent smaller than among nonusers. Cannabis use also was associated with sub-threshold symptoms of psychotic disorders. "
Quote from: http://addictionrecoverybasics.com/2008 ... h-summary/
I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be. -- Douglas Adams
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Rezo
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Re: Is Marijuana harmful for spirituality?

Post: # 11413Post Rezo »

awesome links, zark! I had this idea a few months ago that it must involve hippocampus and amygdala - lots of great research documentation as well, thanks!
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