What Is the Difference Between True Spiritual Realization and Contemporary Drug Use?

What is the difference between true spiritual

realization and contemporary drug use?

Spiritual realization is a fundamental and permanent shift in our sense of reality, and all our conclusions about it. It is not a single secret that a person or a book can reveal to us and there is no single act or path that can bring about spiritual realization for all people. Some people may follow a religion all of their lives and do everything they've been told that they are supposed to do, and never come to spiritual realization. Other people, no matter what beliefs they may have had, may come to spiritual realization when they aren't even looking for it. The realization itself is not something that can be explained in words, nor is it knowledge that can be passed on. While there is nothing wrong in seeking wisdom from others and opening ourselves to spiritual experiences, all we need to reach spiritual realization already lies within ourselves. It is something we all have to find in our own time.

Native Americans often use mind altering substances like alcohol, tobacco and peyote to purify the spirit and bring balance to people who are unhealthy in spirit, mind, or body. They use drugs not to escape reality, but to understand Nature and everything surrounding them better. With the use of these substances, they open themselves up to all sorts of spiritual attacks and seducing spirits that help them understand and sometimes define “cyclical interrelationships with the elements, the Earth and all that lives upon land.” (J. E. Brown 83). Many cultures in the world today embrace the use of mind-altering drugs as a tool for spiritual enhancement, viewing drugs as a way to access God (or Gods) that cannot be reached in an unaltered state of mind. This drug use is not recreational but spiritual and takes place in a controlled environment. Under these circumstances, people find great meaning and connection with a higher power.

On the contrary, people and...