Wisdom by Dr Gabriel Cousens : there is no final liberation if one gets stuck in drug use / abuse.

The issue of drugs comes up over and over again for people on the spiritual path. The question is not whether drugs are healthy, dangerous, or offer psychological insights, but whether they are a valid part of the pathway to liberation. This consideration gives us a broader perspective for the discussion.

Everyone has a fire in their soul that burns to know the Divine. Everyone has this desire to some extent. This soul fire motivates us towards the Divine, and if this soul fire is weak, people are less motivated to take up a spiritual way of life.

What is the most solid way to evolve towards the Divine? Where, if at all, does the use of mind-altering substances play a role in this process?
There is no actual drug-use as a path to liberation in any of the traditions. This is not to say that people don’t ever use drugs to wake up at a certain level; however, as the soul fire burns within us, pulling us to know God, there is a balance that must be accounted for.

It is as if we are candles, and our fire wants to go upward towards the Divine, but we are rooted to the earth by the weight of our candles’ wax and wicks. If we burn too high too fast, without being ready, we can extinguish the very fire that reaches for God by destroying the wax and wick of our physical vessels.

Another way to understand it is sanatana dharma, the natural way of living that brings us to liberation. When we build the internal structures capable of holding the higher divine fire through a natural way of living, including the Six Foundations, we ensure the durability necessary to support these higher, intensified spiritual frequencies.
The Six Foundations includes eating a 100% organic, 80% live-food, 100% vegan diet; prana-building exercises such as Ophanim, tai chi, yoga asana, and ecstatic dance; service and charity; staying spiritually inspired by working with a spiritual teacher; meditation, prayer, and chanting to silence the mind; and shaktipat or haniha, which awakens each individual’s spiritual energy.

Source : http://treeoflifecenterus.com/drugs-the-spiritual-path/

Rabbi Gabriel Cousens
M.D., M.D.(H.), N.D.(h.c.), D.D., Diplomate Ayurveda,

Diplomate American Board of Holistic Medicine

Gabriel Cousens functions as a Holistic Physician, Homeopath, Psychiatrist, Family Therapist, Ayurvedic Practitioner and a Chinese Herbalist. In addition, he’s a world leading diabetes researcher, ecological leader, spiritual master, founder and director of the Tree of Life Foundation and Tree of Life Center US.  In addition, he’s a bestselling author of There Is a Cure for Diabetes, Conscious Eating, Spiritual Nutrition: Six Foundations for Spiritual Life and Awakening of Kundalini, Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine, Creating Peace by Being Peace, Torah as a Guide to Enlightenment, and Depression Free for Life. He is considered one of the leading live-food vegan medical doctors, holistic physicians and the world expert on spiritual nutrition. Dr. Cousens is also recognized as “the fasting guru and detoxification expert” by the New York Times.

He graduated A cum laude from Amherst College where he was captain of an undefeated football team, and was selected as an All New England guard and middle linebacker. He was one of eleven National Scholar Athletes inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame. He received an M.D. degree from Columbia Medical School in 1969, and completed a psychiatry residency in 1973. He was one of eight selected for the NIMH Mental Health Career Development program, and served as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Cousens was the Chief Mental Health Consultant for the Sonoma County Operation Head Start and a consultant for the California State Department of Mental Health. He is a former member of the Board of Trustees of the American Holistic Medical Association (AHMA).

Info : http://treeoflifecenterus.com/gabriel-cousens-m-d/