is complete devotion to a path "worth it"? looking for guidance

[Pits&Bieces]

So the idea of taking up a spiritual path seems great in many ways to me.  Totally makes sense to try to know the inner first before knowing the outer and this reques commitment to daily self-cultivation.

 

Beyond daily self-cultivation, purity seems to be something that is essential to be able to be sensitive to Dao and a staple to a sincere spiritual quest.  Food consumption is easy enough to stay pure with for me and I know its for the best to eat well whether i want to follow a path to the end or not.  Porn / PMO is something I struggle with a little bit and I know it needs to go for sure.  The third thing regarding purity is drug use and that's where I'm really hungup.  I feel like I can't commit to a path without being pure in that regard.

 

Right now my drug use isn't at a point i'd like it to be, and I at least want to stop for a while and get back to a place in myself where I can be absorbed in the present and be naturally joyful.  I know that daily self--cultivation is a way to be higher like that on my own. 

BUT - then I think.. what about getting to this point.. and THEN doing coke or G or mushrooms or whatever and having a good time with friends simply getting high.

 

I know that to really get fruits from a spiritual path one must be 100% sincere and authentic with their aspirations so I'm hoping to convince myself that it would be better to cultivate myself daily and strive for purity in all aspects.  But would it really be worth it for a potential future, well-balanced 'me' to give up even occasional drug use for recreational purposes? Are the results and peace of mind greater than the euphoria of taking various drugs?

 

I'd hope to hear from people who've been at both ends of this spectrum but welcome everyone's thoughts.

Thanks!

 

P.S. one more thing that gives me a little hangup is about what is to be done when the goal is reached. if at enlightenment, there is nobody there to experience the joys of liberation then wouldn't it be beneficial to only go right up the point of liberation and perhaps stop there to enjoy for a while, even though there would still be suffering i mean at least something would be happening at those higher levels of being..

Edited June 10, 2015 by Pits&Bieces

[juliank]

As someone who has done it all substance-wise, yes spiritual fruit tastes sweeter and is richer than any external drug ever could be. I wouldn't worry so much about becoming "pure". This is an illusion of the mind in it's nascent stages of spiritual practice. Focus on daily practice and cultivation first, and these questions you are posing regarding purity and liberation will solve themselves naturally. Your questions sounds like you are asking to be convinced. Experience is that which will convince you that you have chosen rightly, nothing anyone can tell you will drive the stake deeper into your heart than your own experience. Find a practice, and work at it daily, then later on will these questions either seem completely silly or will they actually have some relevance for you. I know it may not be sexy answer you want, but this path is about how we learn to hold each moment, not theoretical musings on some far-off future and how we may feel about it. Blessings to you and I sense you are ready to dive in. Go for it, the water is nice .....

[Kubba]

First of all- I will answer your last question - obviously you ask from the ego standpoint. Things will happen on its own. You won't have anything that you can keep with yourself for some time or not hahaha. At that point there would be no such question that you asked - to stay somewhere and enjoy or don't. Probably in some moment's you will not know what to do and if you are somewhere or you are not anywhere at all hahah. If there would be such question anywhere on the path it may lead to problems and illusions that you get somewhere and now you have it. For some it is just necessary part. Seems that the path and the way everything unfolds is individual and related to individual tendencies.

 

Important- The path can't be forced! Never listen to any advices of "rising something". It may lead you to serious problems. When things will come, it will unfolds its own natural way.

Have your own common sense. It will save your live and take out of troubles and don't let you go mad. Sometimes you will have to negleckt the advices of gurus or people you think should had some impact on you, and that you should obey.

 

Meditate, meditate, meditate on breath for example. Make it a strong and pleasurable habit. No, don't make it a habit. A moments when youre totally present. Learn about 5 hindrances and samadhi.

 

Don't bring too much attention to phenomenas rising in meditation, but also don't neglect them nor negate. Some of them are important, will encourage you, bring understanding and will lead you home.

An aware teacher, if you tell him about phenomenas can ensure youwhats going on or put some correction or show the point to look at. So you wont be afraid too much.

Some transformations will be so quick that you will understand them days, weeks or months after. You might think at some parts that you know something, but then there would be another level of unfolding... You can't predict. Just devote to Shakti and trust, fighting against is like putting some force that will hit you back with adequate amount of force, cause you are doing it to yourself anyway.

 

Devotion - there might be different teachings what devotion is. Devote to Shakti in the form that is attractive to you.

Some teachings might suggest to negleckt or deny the Shakti aspect, but it can just bring troubles or temporary madness, Shakti will remind of herself some way.

It might be resonable to look at different teachers with understanding that the awakening happend a bit different way to each person., or they look at these processes from doffernt conditioning so these teaxhings aond different way while they reffer to the same thing. Also true can be that some people did not experience different transformations while others do, some notice different parts others don't. There are just points along the way that shows the footsteps of ancestors, and they show you that you are at the right path.

For some people all happends in one moment but it's extreamly rare (what scriptures say) so be prepared that it will take some time this process, and that noone will understand you but trust it fully and commit fully. Walk the walley of death. Understand that each teacher talk from his own experience and that these experiences may vary.

 

 

Can be even a real woman, relationshim can evoke a real movement of energy. Try to find your own heart. Devote to love. Devote to finding out what the heart feeling and sensation is, how your hear reacts. It will react particullar ways to some teachins or some imaginations or even perspectives. Trust it completely. Love yourself. Accept yorself fully. Care about yourself, care about your body. All about your body is precious and clean. There is no dirty part wheather in your body nor in you psyche. But there might be parts that are not touched or discovered yet and not united yet fully. Find your heart and then your heart will gradually purify/ unite energies on different levels.

 

Fear - be prepared thst it will come. There is nothing to be afraid. You can learn some simple mantra related to breath

Anhor a strong sense of being safe when repeating this mantra. When things might become scarry just repeat it. Fear need to be faced completely too, unless the one that is required to face. Nothing will happend to you. You are safe. Learn to have a strong sense of trust in yourself.

 

Teacher - the crucial point. It's good thing to find one. Wheather you need answers from him/her or not - it will be a good practice to meditate sometimes in the presence of an enlightened being/s. Also just look at him, inhale the energy around. It's all about vibration and transmission of it. You might think that you did not get anything from him, but then...

 

Brahhmacharya - learn anout it, experiment with transmuting sexual energy and with moving sexual energy upwards while sexual pleasure and orgasm. Try orgasm withouth ejaculation. Sexual part can't be avoided. Celibacy is not the case too. But don't put too much effort into it. Jist try, get a taste of this practice. When it will be needed you wil find out and it will find its own way.

Hiding or avoiding it will just make it horrifying to some degree cause all hidden thing will buble up.

 

Drugs - meditate on death. Buddha said about 3 reasons of suffering. Meditate on that. There is self destructive force in every human, the degree varies but it shovs up in all self destructive actions/ thoughts/ impulses.

 

It will clean by its own. You will understand why you take and why it brings tension between The impulse of taking drugs and then feeling guilty or wanting to stop. There is some force required, but you can't fight with it unless it will be fully faced. You might forcefully stop taking drugs, but this potential is there so it will find its own way out anyway haha. Just face it, everything rhat is related to your addictions. Experiment, stop it and observe, then you probably will back- observe. Always observe, there are very slight mechanisms of feelings, sensations actions and thoughts leading to take some shrooms.

 

no part of You is impure orginally. Purification will happen on its own and its other sort of purification than one can imagine. Impurity is only the conditioning of the mind that covers the original view so that you can't see the true nature. Then taking drugs or no is simple haha.

 

Diet - this am not quite sure, but more oily diet can help making transformations more smoth. Sometimes things will change from day to day 180 degree. The physical body needs some fire too and tutrients to support. Your brain and nervous system will be transformed, give food to it. It likes high quailty oils. The lchf diet is quite good. In some moments grains are helpfull to but not required. Trust your body in some points. Sometimes you might not eat for some days others you will eat junk and it will be okay too, but have this common sense what is actually going on and what is the illusion.

 

Pain - be friend with it. Allow it to happend, but offcourse ensure yourself and sometimes go to the doctor to check if everything is okay. There might be moments when something will bring you to the ground... And your bones will be counted. Literally. But don't believe me either and find out for yourself, some things I talk about might not come at all or happend more intensive looking even as if psychodelic episodes. Always have your common sense in the midst of all experiences. Always be prepared for everything. When it will be done, you will know its done. Before that moment don't fall into believe that you have achieved sth (bit you will anyway hahah).

 

Wish you all the best

Edited June 10, 2015 by Kubba

[Spotless]

Do not worry about 100%

if you commit to it, it will move along as it will - but if you are committed it will change many things quickly and it will become easier and easier.

 

Drop certain types of things asap: coke - upper - downers and grass.

 

Grass leaves a haze that last for about two weeks, so just a bit here and there can linger and affect you in subtle unwanted ways.

 

Uppers put you into your head in the wrong ways.

 

Downers can help you to focus on patterns that are not good for you - long run indulgences that are very incorrect thinking.

 

Mushrooms are not so bad but using any drug/fungus such as this for sport and party is a waste - if you must, then create a very special occasion and circumstances for it.

 

Change the porn to soft rather than hard core - in other words nice naked people not cruel or raunchy - this begins to set the stage for right thinking and a higher mind vs indulgence in the vulgar and bottom feeding.

Move away from it and don't worry about it - typically a two week break is what it takes to start to find some separation from it (if you are male). Sometimes it will hit you like a sledge hammer and hammering away is what you will do - your practice will not suffer much from this unless you believe it will - so don't worry too much.

 

Is it worth it ?

It is the most remarkable journey you can undertake and it is beyond all journeys.

You cannot reach the pinnacles alone though you will be alone when you do and utterly alone with the "everything" comprising you.

Don't have trepidation about reaching the pinnacles - worry more about stopping when you have reached some high plateau and setting up shop there only to find out years later that you are at the foot of the great mountain that leads to the high mountains that lead to the ocean.

Edited June 10, 2015 by Spotless

[C T]

'Enlightenment' in some sense is a measure of one's altruistic heart. Therein lies the purpose (in answer to your last question). 

 

Im surprised this quality of enlightenment is so overlooked. 

 

The more altruistic your heartmind, the more people will acknowledge your 'status'. Those around you are the measure of your devotion, wisdom and level of inner freedom, expressed from your action, speech and mental composure. Its not something you can ponder and conclude on your own im afraid. 

[Bearded Dragon]

....want to stop for a while and get back to a place in myself where I can be absorbed in the present and be naturally joyful. 

 

To be present you kinda, you know, have to be present. If you worry about all these things then you're not present in the moment, you're present in unnecessary thought. Do whatever practices you want but have your baseline as letting go from moment to moment. Set a basic plan then forget about the what-ifs. If you're constantly learning to let go then that can hardly be a waste of time.

 

Don't be too concerned about cutting things out of your life. If you can do it, great. If not then don't worry. If you pour clean water into a dirty bucked it will eventually be clean. In other words as you start to let go things will change on their own. If not then the practice becomes dealing with it.

[forestofclarity]

Spiritual practice is practice, training rather than perfection. Part of the process is failing and learning from failure. 

 

This, however, I recognize well--- this is the part of your body that is in love with chemicals. It will always come up with elaborate lies. Even from a physical view, long term use of chemicals sets up a network of craving in the brain. When you stop, the network goes dormant. But even one use will light it up "like a Christmas tree." 

 

 

BUT - then I think.. what about getting to this point.. and THEN doing coke or G or mushrooms or whatever and having a good time with friends simply getting high.

[doc benway]

So the idea of taking up a spiritual path seems great in many ways to me.  Totally makes sense to try to know the inner first before knowing the outer and this reques commitment to daily self-cultivation.

 

Beyond daily self-cultivation, purity seems to be something that is essential to be able to be sensitive to Dao and a staple to a sincere spiritual quest.  Food consumption is easy enough to stay pure with for me and I know its for the best to eat well whether i want to follow a path to the end or not.  Porn / PMO is something I struggle with a little bit and I know it needs to go for sure.  The third thing regarding purity is drug use and that's where I'm really hungup.  I feel like I can't commit to a path without being pure in that regard.

 

Right now my drug use isn't at a point i'd like it to be, and I at least want to stop for a while and get back to a place in myself where I can be absorbed in the present and be naturally joyful.  I know that daily self--cultivation is a way to be higher like that on my own. 

 

BUT - then I think.. what about getting to this point.. and THEN doing coke or G or mushrooms or whatever and having a good time with friends simply getting high.

 

I know that to really get fruits from a spiritual path one must be 100% sincere and authentic with their aspirations so I'm hoping to convince myself that it would be better to cultivate myself daily and strive for purity in all aspects.  But would it really be worth it for a potential future, well-balanced 'me' to give up even occasional drug use for recreational purposes? Are the results and peace of mind greater than the euphoria of taking various drugs?

 

I'd hope to hear from people who've been at both ends of this spectrum but welcome everyone's thoughts.

 

Thanks!

 

P.S. one more thing that gives me a little hangup is about what is to be done when the goal is reached. if at enlightenment, there is nobody there to experience the joys of liberation then wouldn't it be beneficial to only go right up the point of liberation and perhaps stop there to enjoy for a while, even though there would still be suffering i mean at least something would be happening at those higher levels of being..

 

Wonderful questions and honesty - that's a great start!

To answer the original question in a word - yes, it's worth it.

 

The spiritual path is nothing more or less than looking at oneself closely, deeply, and honestly.

There is nothing else that is needed. The changes will occur through the very process of awareness.

In asking these questions you are already beginning.

If you are fortunate and devoted, you will discover a treasure far beyond any artificially induced state.

 

There is a beautiful verse from the Bön tradition -

"Its positive qualities are inconceivable,

Like the revelation of a king's treasure.

The one who rests within its true meaning

Enjoys the inexhaustible wealth of its fruition."

 

It's very hard for the thinking mind to give up the things it craves and thinks it needs, including the incessant worry about the future and rumination about the past.

No need to worry about giving up things or how you may feel in the future. 

No need to worry about what will happen when enlightenment is there.

Right now you still want and need the support that these things give you.

That's OK.

Have some patience and compassion for yourself, treat yourself as you would a child who has lost its mother.

 

The spiritual path is not something that can be planned or predicted.

The entire path is contained within each and every step.

Let go of the planning and predicting and simply take that first step - see where it leads you.

 

If you begin to walk a genuine spiritual path with sincerity, you will soon begin to see tangible changes in your life.

With time your dependence on these distractions and indulgences will fade as you feel the support of truth.

 

I would highly recommend you get connected with a credible and authentic spiritual guide, group, or friend who can support you in this.

Going it alone is much less predictable and makes it much easier to miss the mark and quit.

 

Good luck and blessings to you on your path!

[9th]

I know that to really get fruits from a spiritual path one must be 100% sincere and authentic with their aspirations so I'm hoping to convince myself that it would be better to cultivate myself daily and strive for purity in all aspects.  But would it really be worth it for a potential future, well-balanced 'me' to give up even occasional drug use for recreational purposes? Are the results and peace of mind greater than the euphoria of taking various drugs?

 

The path is not a matter of reason or rationality.  Your arguments above have nothing to do with anything other than your own internal dialog - as a means of maintaining and sustaining the status quo in your life, whatever it may be.

 

Can you get legitimately higher without drugs?  As in, actually "high"?  Yes - but I dont think you understand the price to be paid there.  In my experience, the vast majority of people are not willing to put themselves through the trouble of genuine ecstatic work - with all the ups and downs, ins and outs, and just general lack of control.  They might dip into it every once in a while, as a lark, a vacation, a fancy, etc.  As a lifestyle, its pretty rare - for good reasons.

 

Generating that level of ecstasy in the midst of a productive life within society is difficult in the extreme, because society fucking hates ecstasy.  It transgresses boundaries, its messy, it makes people lose control.  The psychological systems that are spread through "growing up" within society react to ecstasy with an immune response.  Its kinda like how hackers spread malware to networks of computers secretly... without anyone's knowledge... then whenever they need the muscle for a DDOS attack, they activate their "zombie network".

 

P.S. one more thing that gives me a little hangup is about what is to be done when the goal is reached. if at enlightenment, there is nobody there to experience the joys of liberation then wouldn't it be beneficial to only go right up the point of liberation and perhaps stop there to enjoy for a while, even though there would still be suffering i mean at least something would be happening at those higher levels of being..

 

This kind of speculation is worse than useless.  Its like saying "ok what happens if someone comes along and chops my dick off - what would that feel like?  how would i piss?"  Its not that there is no point to it - its that you are actively fucking with yourself - you are creating phantom issues and obstacles.  One thing I can suggest right now is to entirely forget about the idea of "enlightenment", because I can assure you that you have no clue what it actually is - so there is no point in worrying about anything in relation to it.  There is way too much focus on "enlightenment" as a goal, which is wrong.  Its an ongoing process.  It is something you "do", not something you "have".  Once you become aware, you will be aware, and there will be no need for such questions because you will understand why such questions are less than meaningless.

[Pits&Bieces]

Thanks everybody for all the great responses.  The general feel I'm getting here is that I should put aside my petty speculations and worries and just start on something basic that I can stick to - and perhaps the rest will resolve itself as I move along.

What I ultimately want is to live with more joy and have peace.  Now I'm not exactly ready to up and leave to an asram or anything like that.  I want to live my life! but I feel very strongly that anything without a spiritual core to it as a means to improve my life will only be superfluous.  Currently, I really resonate with the eight limbed yogic path organized by patanjali.  I plan on working up to the recommended 6 days a week of asana practice as an addition to my daily meditation and to pay careful attention to the yamas and niyamas as well.

 

My drug use is compulsive when it occurs and often throws me into a brief depression.  Usually my meditation and asana falls by the wayside and I feel like I'm making no progress at all.  Hopefully as I keep on getting back up these compulsions will dissolve as my commitment to daily cultivation increases and any continued drug use will decrease in its now blatantly compulsive and destructive nature.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Pits&Bieces

[Pits&Bieces]

Can you get legitimately higher without drugs? As in, actually "high"? Yes - but I dont think you understand the price to be paid there.

9th, what do you mean - could you elaborate?

To answer the original question in a word - yes, it's worth it.

 

If you are fortunate and devoted, you will discover a treasure far beyond any artificially induced state.

 

There is a beautiful verse from the Bön tradition -

"Its positive qualities are inconceivable,

Like the revelation of a king's treasure.

The one who rests within its true meaning

Enjoys the inexhaustible wealth of its fruition."

 

Have some patience and compassion for yourself, treat yourself as you would a child who has lost its mother.

 

If you begin to walk a genuine spiritual path with sincerity, you will soon begin to see tangible changes in your life.

With time your dependence on these distractions and indulgences will fade as you feel the support of truth.

 

I would highly recommend you get connected with a credible and authentic spiritual guide, group, or friend who can support you in this.

Going it alone is much less predictable and makes it much easier to miss the mark and quit.

 

Good luck and blessings to you on your path!

Steve, you mention a potential to discover a treasure far greater than any artificially induced state. On some levels this is really hard to believe, especially considering some of the things I've experienced on mushrooms and psychedelics in general. (i've given these up long ago, but they've really shown me something else and set an extraordinarily high standard) I have a hard time believing that the euphoria and immense love -as if it was an infinite waterfall gushing through my very being and bursting through all my pores (so much so that it's almost painful)- felt in some of these states is something that could be accessed all the time. If it is, then it's much easier to have a firm resolution although I fear I'm missing the point in my speculations.

 

That's a great analogy about a child who has lost its mother. Something I'll try to keep in mind.

I do hope my desires to occasionally indulge in drugs will fade, at least the overly compulsive part of them.

I worry that some of this compulsive drug-use has done damage and perhaps made me less receptive to the truth. But perhaps this is irrelevant if I'm sincere.

 

The closest thing I have to a group of spiritually-minded people is my yoga teachers and peers. Not exactly a credible & authentic spiritual master, but something I'll be looking for in time.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Pits&Bieces

[Nikolai1]

My concern is that you are simply searching for highs. If you are, then the spirituals life is a hygienic way certainly, but can be incredibly slow and takes immense hard work.

 

Those who are happy to do the hard work aren't looking for highs. They are simply trying to remedy the unsatisfying nature of life. Equanimity is enough for them, and, as this can come quite quickly, they are soon in a situation where they both tasting the fruits and working towards the great stuff.

 

Are you sick and tired of life?

 

Are you bewildered by people and the things they do?

 

Are you disgusted by your own behaviour?

 

Do you despair of yourself morally?

 

Is the world meaningless?

 

If you're answering yes to these, then I think you will put in the hard work anyway and you needn't worry about the occasional trip.

[Pits&Bieces]

Thanks Nikolai.  Excellent point.  I'm not entirely sure why I'm so preoccupied about the high aspect of it but no i'm not just searching for highs.  Still, it's nice to know that some of the things that inspired me to take up the hard work will be there to greet me once more, as like a side-dish ... but high after high hasn't cut it in a long time.  Most of the time it seems like the only really worthwhile thing to do - cultivate, that is - yet getting those habits firmly in place hasn't come easily.

 

Any idea how much if any drug use and past 'impurities' /non-ideal changes to the physical body-mind affect one's ability to progress on a real path?

Edited June 12, 2015 by Pits&Bieces

[Nikolai1]

The drugs have revealed your own potential to you. They have only been harmful if they have left you with the belief that they alone are the way. Clearly this is not true at the moment, but it may become true in the future if you despair of reaching the same state without them.

 

This is why I asked if there is a robust existential motivation underlying it all.

 

Some people aren't really ready for the spiritual life, but they do a trip, truths are revealed to them, and then they find it hard to go back to mundane life. They have left home before truly wanting to leave home, and then they end up homesick. They try and go back to their normal life, and they half succeed, but they can't 100% go back and they are undermined in their ordinary life. If they hadn't taken the drugs they would have been more than happy with everyday life, as most people are.

 

I'm not saying this is you. I'm just saying that those who succeed have a motivation that has come very naturally from within and is existentially experienced.

 

The idea that drugs are some kind of physical pollutant is an idea that has nothing to do with spiritual wisdom, but it may have some medical truth.

[Pits&Bieces]

What a relief.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Pits&Bieces

[9th]

9th, what do you mean - could you elaborate?

 

Some people have a natural born tendency to live in and express ecstatic states, which is not honored and revered in our times.  In fact, it is sublimated and repressed, both systematically and recursively.  Plenty of these people may have no clue about this aspect of themselves because it was so effectively pushed into unconsciousness in their early youth, as they were conditioned by society (i.e. raised by parents, educated by teachers, etc).  But these tendencies don't ever go away, they just go unconscious and therefore manifest in any number of ways.  One of the most common is the use of drugs.  For such people, drugs are very attractive because they give access to a crude simulation of their own natural inner state.  The drug experience is enough of a reminder that it has a special attraction regardless of whether the person recognizes it is a desire to return to their innermost being or not.

[liminal_luke]

Hi Bits and Pieces,

 

Seems to me you´re thinking about giving up drugs, but you haven´t 100% decided yet.  There´s something you don´t like about taking them (or else you´d be happily getting high and the question wouldn´t even come up), but, on the other hand, you´re not ready to take the plunge into total abstinence either.

 

You imagine there´s some circumstance (limited recreational use with friends, say) where you can get the good parts of taking drugs without the bad.  That you don´t really have to give it up.  

 

This is a stage in a process.  Most people who´ve successfully stopped doing anything they felt compulsive about have been where you are at now.  

 

Best of luck on your journey through all of this.

 

Liminal

[doc benway]

Steve, you mention a potential to discover a treasure far greater than any artificially induced state. On some levels this is really hard to believe, especially considering some of the things I've experienced on mushrooms and psychedelics in general. (i've given these up long ago, but they've really shown me something else and set an extraordinarily high standard) I have a hard time believing that the euphoria and immense love -as if it was an infinite waterfall gushing through my very being and bursting through all my pores (so much so that it's almost painful)- felt in some of these states is

I've played with my fair share of psychedelics.

Those experiences pale in comparison to "the treasure."

Drug induced experiences are powerful for sure but are still just that - experiences that are limited in time and space.

"The treasure" is infinite, beyond time and space.

Beyond birth and death, beyond beginning and ending.

 

Hard to believe for sure but belief is not necessary, more often than not I find it to be an obstacle.

 

 

something that could be accessed all the time.

That's something that takes much devotion and patience but it can be quite accessible.

I can only guess at the potential as my own is quite limited. 

But when you see and interact with accomplished masters, it seems that the sky is the limit!

 

 

If it is, then it's much easier to have a firm resolution...

Not really as much easier as you may think or want...

The momentum of our karma is very powerful.

Although seeing and feeling the progress is a great support.

Having a beloved teacher and spiritual friends can also be a great support. 

 

 

although I fear I'm missing the point in my speculations.

Yup... the speculation is never-ending.

Interrupt it with practice!

 

 

That's a great analogy about a child who has lost its mother. Something I'll try to keep in mind.

I credit that to my teacher. He loves to use the mother and child analogy.

Quite apt.

 

 

I do hope my desires to occasionally indulge in drugs will fade, at least the overly compulsive part of them.

Mine have, but not completely. Practice is the one thing for me that can eclipse the power of the desire.

And it's important to acknowledge that we are still human until the day we die.

We will never know it all or be completely without our weaknesses and warts. 

We need to accept and embrace them, transform them through awareness rather than struggle with them.

 

One of my favorite teachers, Anthony Demello, talks about this quite a bit. 

That which we abstain from we are bound to.

Awareness without judgement is more effective. 

 

 

I worry that some of this compulsive drug-use has done damage and perhaps made me less receptive to the truth. But perhaps this is irrelevant if I'm sincere.

Damage? For sure - all chemicals we put in our system have consequences, natural or synthetic.

Recreational, sacrament, or pharmaceutical.

 

Less receptive to truth? No, I don't think so - you are an ornament of the truth.

And the truth is powerful enough to shine through no matter how damaged you may feel.

In fact, I think it often requires a considerable degree of suffering before we begin to open.

I agree with you that sincerity and devotion are the antidote.

 

 

 

The closest thing I have to a group of spiritually-minded people is my yoga teachers and peers. Not exactly a credible & authentic spiritual master, but something I'll be looking for in time.

That's a great start. With respect to the authentic master, I feel that the universe will provide when you are ready.

My first meeting with my teacher was quite fortuitous. If I didn't experience it myself I'd find it hard to swallow.

 

 

PS - everything I say is nothing more than my personal opinion based on my personal experience. Take it all with a grain of salt.

 

 

If you are ever looking for support in your practice or your efforts to transcend addiction you are always welcome to send me a message. Warm regards and good luck!