This is a topic that I wanted to get down here before I forget what I was going to say. I just want to tell my story and ask how has herb effected you in this area.
When I was 18 and had just joined this site, I was without a church having moved away from my homestate and really didn't know how to start looking for a one and at that point of my life, if I even wanted to go to a church, which didn't leave me a place to go. I thought. I had been smoking for a year and some change and had eaten around 200 hits of LSD within that short time. I had known the good feelings from youth about what it was to be in a community with love, and had learned a whole new level of where my mind could reach, via the Lsd. Pretty much from the time I started smoking , I thought, this really makes me sit back and think about how I really feel about life and ponder what was really good or bad, if they even existed.
My Grama has and still sends me 'The Upper Room' a Protestant Christian devotional. One nite while thinking it came to me that it was okay with me if it was just me and God, whatever that was. I never quite got into the white bearded interfering type God, even as a youth. So I decided that I would use this herbal tool to annalize and study the Bible via the lessons that I kept getting in the mail. I didn't want the paper or postage to go to waste.
Each evening I would sit on the floor with a my study Bible, which was referances, The Upper Room, and a joint. Also in the room I kept many candles and often only had a dim reading light on in the room and incense burning. I would first read the UR and get the daily passage, mark that, as well as mark the pages for the 'Bible in a year' reading. While finishing up I'd be smoking this joint and sitting there, kinda wondering what the scriptures were going to say. After I would smoke I'd open the pages I'd marked and read them through and look up some of the foot noted verses.
After reading these I would sit there and finish up my joint, which I'd snubbed out and then sit there in silence and try to absorb the meaning not so much the words. While doing this one nite, I decided to close my eyes and do what I figured was meditation.
Now after a few nites of this I decided like a good orthadox dogma ridden believer, I went to the internet to look up properly meditation. What I found was that there really wasn't A said way to sit and there were many ways to meditate depending on tradition.
Well this was mind blowing for me. 'No wrong way'. Wow. These few sentences opened my mind to the possibilities. What is a Buddhist I thought? So I read on.
This is what I came upon first.
The Four Noble Truths
1. Life means suffering.
2. The origin of suffering is attachment.
3. The cessation of suffering is attainable.
4. The Path to the cessation of suffering (The Noble 8 Fold Path).
The Eight Fold Path:
Wisdom:
1. Right View
2. Right Intention
Ethical Conduct:
3. Right Speech
4. Right Action
5. Right Livelihood
Mental Development
6. Right Effort
7. Right Mindfulness
8. Right Concentration
The Five Buddhist Precepts:
I undertake to observe the precept to abstain from ...
1. ...harming living beings.
2. ...taking things not freely given.
3. ...sexual misconduct.
4. ...false speech.
5. ...intoxicating drinks and drugs causing heedlessness.
I became overwhelmed when reading the 8 Fold Path, because I felt I had been striving to live in this manner all my life. I had found a Way, that matched how I thought I aught to be reaching spiritually.
Next time I'll talk about how I veiw the 5th and why this got me wanting to type this up.
Generally in alot of spiritual paths, intoxication isn't looked upon favourably.
But I'd like to hear your story if you like to share.
Tomorrow I'll come back and talk alittle about this idea and tell some more of my story perhaps...perhaps like maybe the forest is full of trees
But then would it be a forest if it wasn't?
Loving Kindness,
SageTree