9/27/19 Merrick (To see conversation, click HERE)
I was out for a long walk, and reached out to another guy on
the sidewalk, Merrick, asking if I could record a conversation about his
religious beliefs. He was very happy to
share with me and the whole world about his path to spirituality: and soon told
me his secret: LSD and other mind-altering drugs.
Merrick had abandoned his Baptist upbringing in his late
teens when he began attending all-night raves (dance parties) and began taking
various psychoactive drugs. At first he
began to embrace atheism, but now sees his drug use as a sort of shortcut to
spirituality.
When I asked about his actual religious beliefs, such as his
beliefs about a higher power or what happens to us when we die, I was kind of
surprised to find that he is reaching the same conclusions as many who pursue
an altered state of consciousness through more natural means, such as
meditation or yoga.
Often, these people say they have abandoned organized
religion but are quick to call themselves “spiritual” or mystics. They see creation and creator as a universal
whole and see their life much like a quick splash of water that will soon
disappear back into a vast ocean. They say
they pursue mind-altering drugs or experiences in order to shed worldly
concerns and experience this elusive transcendent reality. Some want to share their experience, viewing it as the way to express love for others. Merrick was able to articulate well how this is his newfound purpose in life, which is why he was very enthusiastic about having our conversation recorded. He wants to help destroy manmade divisions that alienate people from one another and the universe, and told me he sees religion, primarily Christianity, as the cause of most of those divisions.
l was tempted to see this dependence on drugs as just some
left-over vestige of the 60’s. But is
it? More and more, scientists are
identifying how many mind-altering drugs are produced by the body naturally and
released through various experiences such as meditation, hypnotism, sensory
deprivation or overload, breathing exercises and group activities such as singing
and swaying in unison. The release of
natural chemicals can create a feeling of euphoria and brain scans reveal that
different parts of the brain are activated during such experiences.
I think we are being slowly trained to believe that there
are just chemical and neurological explanations for what people have long
viewed as spiritual experiences. How
much of that is true, and are we just looking for an emotional or mystical
experience that we can call “spiritual”?
What makes Christian worship different from someone who just blatantly
uses drugs to get the same effect?
I believe the Bible gives us important principles in this
regard. We are warned not to be people whose
“…god is their stomach” – in effect, people who live for sensual
experiences. We are warned against drunkenness
repeatedly in both the Old Testament and the New Testament, such as in
Ephesians 5:18: “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery”. Alcohol is a mind-altering substance just as
are other drugs, and as much as people claim to be seeking “spiritual”
experiences, we are told this is nothing less than debauchery, which is defined
as “excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures.”
The very next verse tells us that sobriety and community is
the path to spirituality -”Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one
another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit”. A chemically induced, mind-altering
experience may fool us into thinking we have connection with one another and
the universe, but it leads to isolation from our Creator. We may think we are more open to the Spirit
of God, but in our disobedience we are just opening ourselves up to the
disobedient spirits of the demonic world.
Do we need to get drunk or high on drugs, natural or
artificial, to experience true spirituality?
I believe we are hearing a resounding “No!” when we read in James 1 that
“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look
after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world.”
Our body is the
temple of the Holy Spirit, let’s keep it pure so that we can practice what is
truly spiritual – loving and obeying God and loving our neighbor as ourselves
in real, practical ways.
Thanks for allowing me to record our conversation,
Merrick! It can be viewed HERE at https://youtu.be/G2S5XQm2yXY
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