PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT, from 3:15 to 9:05:
“In the writings of the Church fathers, one of the main obstacles, we are told, to any kind of spiritual development, is fantasy. The use of the imagination, particularly in prayer, opens us up to all kinds of deception. The imagination is spiritually dangerous. It opens us up to the demonic realm, because it is at that peripheral part of the self that the demons are able to tempt us and create fantasy.
“And one of the main effects of cannabis is the stimulation of fantasy. So, when a person uses cannabis, this encouragement of fantasy is really directly at odds with what the Church fathers describe as the true spiritual condition. In fact, sobriety of the mind is one of the key essential components of the spiritual life. And the father warn us against everything that will distract us from this pursuit of sobriety of mind.
“Cannabis reduces our ability to develop and maintain sobriety of mind. Sobriety which is a spiritual sobriety. And the fathers do identify this as one of the main impediments to spiritual change and perception of truth. When our mind is filled with fantasy and imaginings, then to identify truth or reveal truth of God becomes impossible.”
“Some argue that cannabis opens us up the spiritual insights they believe they are capable …. Or dare I even say ‘visions.’ Some people will claim, particularly in the shamanistic cults, to have visions under the influence of marijuana.
“St. John Cassian warns us that to attempt to open the noetic eyes through drugs is sorcery. It is sorcery. God has dimmed the noetic sight to protect us – it is for our benefit. There are great aesthetics, those who progressed in the spritiual life, for whom these visions are revealed. But for the majority of us, it is hugely dangerous to do anything to artificially open noetic sight. It leaves us spiritually vulnerable.
“St. John Cassian describes it as sorcery. Sorcery. And this is supported in the Fifth Chapter in the Letter to the Galatians in verse 20 – the word there that is translated in English as sorcery, the warning against sorcery, in Greek, the word is ‘pharmakeia.’ So we see a direct link even in the scriptures, particularly in the Church fathers, between the use of chemicals and altered states of minds, and sorcery.
“To enter into this state, the Church fathers warn, removes us from true prayer. The experiences, the feelings that we may gain, are not true prayer. They are false, they are fake. Counterfeit. We must guard ourselves against all of this because it is demonic deception. To enter into this state removes us from prayer and from God, and it substitutes the reality of encounter with God and spiritual growth with these elusions, feelings, with falsehoods. It creates within us spiritual confusion. A spiritual confusion that can be to such a degree that the person experiencing it doesn’t even recognize the confusion for what it is… “The feelings, the fake experiences, become, to the person who is convinced of them, become the reality off spirituality. And it is deception, it is demonic deception.”
squashkin@wolfballs.com 2 years ago
Hmmm, I have read this too, but I would want to make more precise distinctions. Fantasy of literature and art can seem ok and ennobling, or else J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" would have been condemned by Catholics, and hasn't been as far as I'm aware (I know the OP is orthodox I think, just commenting from the other side). Then also I think visualization can be important for creating new designs, like if you are an artist or engineer. But then of course there are impure fantasies of lust or violent crime, or fantasies of sin, and I could see how that could be idle and bad for the soul.
But how the Church fathers seemed to talk about imagination and fantasy did seem to be against even some of the "positive" cases I mentioned above - well, maybe for the monk who lives a simple life, they don't have to dream up new designs or read literature, but are only contemplating God and things pertaining to religion. So maybe it is a perfection to avoid fantasy, but I think there must be some ordinary positive outlets for fantasy. I had an old priest who seemed to say that we have a need for fantasy that might be satisfied with good art or something.
should be ascetics
Well this reminds me of why some of the "fundamentalists" are against Harry Potter fiction, because he is a "good sorcerer", which Christians don't really believe exists. All magic comes from the Devil.
In the transcript it wasn't mentioned, but I think one of the main oppositions to drunkenness was that it deprives a person of the use of reason. The person who is "blackout drunk" basically becomes like "possessed" literally or metaphorically, they lose control of themselves and their actions. They die, in a way, and so does their soul. So I think that happens when people are "high" on cannabis. But I wonder if they might be able to smoke a little, and not get so high, that they lose control of themselves, like how people might have a drink or a few without getting drunk. Maybe that would be a lesser sin though.
Someone posted an article on another forum about how drug users basically haven't gained much major insights, so that drugs have been in practice a dead end. I know of famous people who have done drugs and they're totally sober now and have basically argued the drugs weren't necessary to whatever "success" they have had. So, quite honestly at one time I was intrigued by the question of drugs, or particularly psychedelics, for some kind of spiritual or intellectual purpose, but I've kind of turned entirely skeptical.
The uppers and downers are ok to me in moderation: some caffeine to speed people up, a little alcohol to relax, that's fine if you're not abusing it for drunkenness and can control yourself and keep moderate.
To conclude, I think maybe people turn to drugs because they're looking for something that can be driven naturally. If they want energy, like with caffeine, maybe they could just exercise or eat something or fast. If they want relaxation, they could take a nap or take a break instead of alcohol. If they're craving "visions" of psychedelics, maybe they need to consume or product some art or do something creative. That's been my thought on it anyway, that drugs aren't really needed for these desires, but maybe they do have some kind of natural desire or need that can be filled in some other moral way.