Is Weed Good for the Soul?

[YmirGF]

As far as magic goes, I would say that it is a very useful thing in terms of how some people almost magnify their perception because of its use.

That is perhaps one of most unintentionally funny comments I have read in a long while. Yep, I'm sure it helps them to focus...

 

[apophenia]

How does weed effect something that is incoporeal?

I personally believe its a misguided attempt to associate physical effects as spiritual.

There are only physical effects.

You are making the misguided interpretation that spiritual means incorporeal.

You are attempting to glorify rejection of the body. The body is what is meant by 'the glory' - the light, the infinite amazing appearances all of which are our nature expressed in form. Apart from that there is only vacuuity. Absence of any characteristic. Anaesthesia. Spiritual my *******.

Wherever you see that tendency, you find religions which foster sexual abberations,and typically child sexual abuse, especially among the priests and gurus who are under pressure to condemn their natural state as sinful.

 

[Orias]

The similitude of a weed smokers thinking THC properties (Canabanoid receptors) is like the drunk who thinks being drunk makes people attractive. Mind altering drugs or drugs that inhibit areas of the brain will always have that specific association of spirituality.

So to answer the question: "Is weed good for the soul ?"

Perhaps I can answer a question with a question....

How does weed effect something that is incoporeal?

I personally believe its a misguided attempt to associate physical effects as spiritual.

Marijuana doesn't actually inhibit the brain.

Its just that most people do it for fun, so when they do nothing it seems like a new experience.

But not all people do it for fun.

And the human spirit isn't an incorporeal thing, as its capable of being rallied and put down by any number of psychodramatic effects.

That is perhaps one of most unintentionally funny comments I have read in a long while. Yep, I'm sure it helps them to focus...

The funny thing is that I never said focus.

 

[Mr. Skittles]

Marijuana doesn't actually inhibit the brain.

Its just that most people do it for fun, so when they do nothing it seems like a new experience.

But not all people do it for fun.

And the human spirit isn't an incorporeal thing, as its capable of being rallied and put down by any number of psychodramatic effects.



The funny thing is that I never said focus.

Actually marijuana inhibits nerve cells essential for short-term memory in the hippocampus. I realize that people do it for fun and by no means am I making a judgment. All I'm saying is that there is an assumption that drugs which alters mental states is some how related to "spirituality."

Perhaps there needs to be an understanding on what we believe "spirituality" is

 

[Mr. Skittles]

There are only physical effects.

You are making the misguided interpretation that spiritual means incorporeal.

You are attempting to glorify rejection of the body. The body is what is meant by 'the glory' - the light, the infinite amazing appearances all of which are our nature expressed in form. Apart from that there is only vacuuity. Absence of any characteristic. Anaesthesia. Spiritual my *******.

Wherever you see that tendency, you find religions which foster sexual abberations,and typically child sexual abuse, especially among the priests and gurus who are under pressure to condemn their natural state as sinful.

What is spirituality to you then?

Can you define it in laymans term on what spirituality is then?

 

[Orias]

Actually marijuana inhibits nerve cells essential for short-term memory in the hippocampus. I realize that people do it for fun and by no means am I making a judgment. All I'm saying is that there is an assumption that drugs which alters mental states is some how related to "spirituality."

This is only true according to some individuals, like not all people are allergic to dogs or cats. It doesn't actually do this though, what it does is expose endorphins, which after repetitive use can dull the "happy" sense, which can lead to routine events which is the main cause in short term memory recollection.

Perhaps there needs to be an understanding on what we believe "spirituality" is

Spirituality is why man does stuff.

 

[apophenia]

What is spirituality to you then?

Can you define it in laymans term on what spirituality is then?

Sure. Spirituality is about the quality of our relationships, both intrapersonal and interpersonal. It is about will, self-expression and intention.

It is a reference to the subtleties which constitute the qualities of consciousness, and
our sense of meaning , purpose and connectedness.

It is the ongoing recognition of our nature.

That is how I use the word. Other people use the word differently.

 

[Cassiopia]

Now, do you believe that marijuana is capable of enhancing one's spiritual relations, by any means, with one's God or spirit of choice? Do you also believe, that it is good for soothing the tender soul?

I suppose it depends on one's spirit or God, their nature, their attributes, their personality and what they require of the devotee. In some cases it might enhance or compliment the relationship, in other cases not.
Drugs in various forms have been associated with all kinds of spiritual, magical and shamanistic practices for thousands of years.

Recreationally it can be soothing and therapeutic, but it can also have the reverse effect.

I have not checked the exact wording of the site rules on this topic so I will not say any more now.

 

[Breathe]

Use of substances has been a pretty common and geographically broad aspect of spiritual practice as far back as prehistoric times, potentially. Many forms of spiritual practice involved substances, some of which are illegal today in some areas.

Yeah, I'm aware of this. It's not just the Rastafari who use/d narcotics after all.

<<snip>>

Maybe that's true, but even then, the biological activity from the brain could be an effect from the spiritual experience, and not just the cause of the spiritual experience.

"Imagine that I look at a dog. Visual information from the dog passes through my eye and my optic nerve to be processed in the brain. If you SPECT-scanned my brain while I was looking, you would see lots of activity in the visual processing areas. Has that activity caused the dog? Of course not, although it correlates perfectly with my dog-viewing. Does the fact of the observed brain activity mean that the dog is a delusion? Of course not. All this is almost too embarrassingly obvious to say, and yet it is often suggested, on analytically identical grounds, that we can confidently say that there is a 'God Delusion'."​

-- Source: Wired for God? The Biology of the Spiritual Experience; Charles Foster​

 

[Father Heathen]

That is perhaps one of most unintentionally funny comments I have read in a long while. Yep, I'm sure it helps them to focus...

One of the effects of cannabis is heightened senses; taste, touch, smell, sight, hearing, etc. He wasn't talking about focus, but whether or not the substance hinders focus depends on the individual and the amount.

 

[Father Heathen]

Here is a site that has a nice collection of facts, data and info: Erowid Cannabis (Marijuana) Vault

The site also has information on the use of entheogens for spiritual purposes: on http://www.erowid.org/entheogens/spiritual.shtml

 

[Penumbra]

Maybe that's true, but even then, the biological activity from the brain could be an effect from the spiritual experience, and not just the cause of the spiritual experience.

"Imagine that I look at a dog. Visual information from the dog passes through my eye and my optic nerve to be processed in the brain. If you SPECT-scanned my brain while I was looking, you would see lots of activity in the visual processing areas. Has that activity caused the dog? Of course not, although it correlates perfectly with my dog-viewing. Does the fact of the observed brain activity mean that the dog is a delusion? Of course not. All this is almost too embarrassingly obvious to say, and yet it is often suggested, on analytically identical grounds, that we can confidently say that there is a 'God Delusion'."​

-- Source: Wired for God? The Biology of the Spiritual Experience; Charles Foster​

It depends on how specific they get. Different substances or practices affect the brain differently, but it gets a bit more specific than that example.

For example, in many spiritual or meditative or prayer experiences, people report a feeling that space and time is altered or doesn't exist. But when it turns out that during those experiences, their frontal lobe (associated with concentration) is increased, and their parietal lobe (associated with the ability to internally organize surroundings in space and time) is greatly increased, then we've got something there. And when there's another study showing that people with injuries to their parietal lobe are more likely to report spiritual experiences, we've got another thing there. Plus it's combined with observation of the general medical problem that certain types of parietal lobe injuries cause problematic symptoms related to, among other things, spatial perception.

So using just that specific example of the parietal lobe, if it can be showed that a) the parietal lobe doesn't just observe spatial activity but plays an important role in organizing it, and b) doing certain things, like intensely concentrating on something, results in increased activity in the frontal lobe and decreased activity of the parietal lobe, and c) participants then report experiences of altered or absent spacetime recognition, then there's more than just an argument of correlation there.

It's quite different from being unclear about whether visual activity causes the dog or whether the dog causes visual activity.

The last part of the quote is problematic because it's linking the title of a book that has little to do with this topic, to the topic, probably to score emotive points.

If anything, demonstrating the science and causality behind those types of experience is helpful to the practitioners rather than harmful to them, because it reinforces the notion of how it works and what it's doing. The first time I ever tried meditation was after reading a set of scientific studies on it showing that there are measurable brain responses going on and that even in a secular context it's a potentially useful exercise. Plus it can be argued that if the parietal lobe is basically an organizing filter for interpreting our environment, then decreasing activity there results in a truer interpretation of the environment rather than a delusional one.

 

[Mr. Skittles]

This is only true according to some individuals, like not all people are allergic to dogs or cats. It doesn't actually do this though, what it does is expose endorphins, which after repetitive use can dull the "happy" sense, which can lead to routine events which is the main cause in short term memory recollection.



Spirituality is why man does stuff.

Um its proven fact through psychological and psychiatric research that weed effects short term memory. How does it not effect some people?

In a study I recall, researchers did a memory test comparing chronic users (no pun intended) and non-users. The study showed that over time, chronic users failed at recalling information compared to non-users. There are many studies showing that strong correlation. Marijuana does inhibit part(s) of the brain. I am not sure how your under the impression that it doesn't effect all people.

Even if your not a smoker your short term memory will be affected. I've plenty of weed smokers who did well on test. However there is a difference between taking a college test and a test that is supposed to measure your ability to recall information an MMPI test comes to mind.

In regardd to your spirituality definition what do you mean when you say "man doing stuff?" Am I accessing my spirituality when I wake up in the morning to masturbate? You may want to be more specific.

 

[Mr. Skittles]

Sure. Spirituality is about the quality of our relationships, both intrapersonal and interpersonal. It is about will, self-expression and intention.

It is a reference to the subtleties which constitute the qualities of consciousness, and
our sense of meaning , purpose and connectedness.

It is the ongoing recognition of our nature.

That is how I use the word. Other people use the word differently.

Ok makes sense. In that case why relate it to something spiritual? Call it as you say qualities of consciousness.

In my understanding spirituality is the experience of immaterial reality of the divine realm. In addition I thought spirituality shares its relationship with religions (e.g the quality of a Muslims spirituality is praying 5 times a day) but as you admit, others define it differently

 

[Breathe]

So using just that specific example of the parietal lobe, if it can be showed that a) the parietal lobe doesn't just observe spatial activity but plays an important role in organizing it, and b) doing certain things, like intensely concentrating on something, results in increased activity in the frontal lobe and decreased activity of the parietal lobe, and c) participants then report experiences of altered or absent spacetime recognition, then there's more than just an argument of correlation there.

Correlation, yes, but we know that correlation is not necessarily the same thing as causation: is the individual experiencing these symptoms because of the affect on that part of the brain, or is the experience simply being translated and interpreted by the brain that way? Or both? Or neither?

 

[Penumbra]

Correlation, yes, but we know that correlation is not necessarily the same thing as causation:

That's why I said there's more than just an argument of correlation there.

is the individual experiencing these symptoms because of the affect on that part of the brain, or is the experience simply being translated and interpreted by the brain that way? Or both? Or neither?

As I explained, the parietal lobe is shown to have causation regarding the organization of spatial awareness. Based on this reply I'm not entirely sure you read the post carefully, because I think that if you had any objections after reading it, they'd be more specific than this. This is a repeat of what you already had posted.

 

[Orias]

Um its proven fact through psychological and psychiatric research that weed effects short term memory. How does it not effect some people?

In a study I recall, researchers did a memory test comparing chronic users (no pun intended) and non-users. The study showed that over time, chronic users failed at recalling information compared to non-users. There are many studies showing that strong correlation. Marijuana does inhibit part(s) of the brain. I am not sure how your under the impression that it doesn't effect all people.

Even if your not a smoker your short term memory will be affected. I've plenty of weed smokers who did well on test. However there is a difference between taking a college test and a test that is supposed to measure your ability to recall information an MMPI test comes to mind.

Refer to post #50.

It doesn't effect all people, because simply not everyone is effected by the same thing the same way. Not everyone is allergic to dogs or cats, not everyone is impaired to the stimulus after receiving its effects.

In regardd to your spirituality definition what do you mean when you say "man doing stuff?" Am I accessing my spirituality when I wake up in the morning to masturbate? You may want to be more specific.

Yes.

Like I said, spirit is capable of being rallied, its capable of being beaten, and its also capable of going "super saiyan".