A discussion took place on 2012S discussion group which I found quite interesting and wanted to reproduce in part. The question was whether SaLuSa has descended into Puritanism in warning us about drug use, smoking, etc., and its impact on our ability to ascend.
Reference was made to the fact that indigenous cultures use smoking as part of some of their sacred rituals and that Jesus said it’s what comes out of our mouths that’s important rather than what goes in.
Those are good questions and Dorian and I attempted to address them as best we could. If these same matters have been going through your mind, perhaps these three responses – two from Dorian and one from me – may assist or prove suggestive.
Here is the passage in question from SaLuSa:
“Man’s pleasures are often the very things that cause disease and distress, but some people cannot see the connection. You who are more enlightened will know of what we speak, and because you do have found no difficulty in giving them up. Your body is your temple, and it is your responsibility to look after it if it is to serve you well. Smoking and the taking of drugs are most damaging, and sometimes it is irreversible. Indeed, most pursuits of this nature are leading you onto the path of ruin.” (SaLuSa, July 29, 2011.)
Please don’t think that either Dorian and I believe we’re somehow “correct” in what we say. Our opinions are simply grist for the mill, to stimulate your own thinking.
Dorian
I couldn’t claim to speak for SaLuSa, but my perception of [SaLuSa’s] meaning was that we need to honour and care for our bodies, and not do things which are destructive. My perception of what he meant by smoking and taking drugs was the addictions people engage in that are damaging physically, as well as mentally/emotionally/spiritually and are in fact caused, as you point out in your quote from Jesus, by things that “come out of” the person – patterns and issues that have not been dealt with that are being repressed with substances.
I personally feel there is a great difference in things that are done in a sacred manner and things done compulsively, as addictions. When something is done with reverence and care it has a different energy – an uplifting energy instead of the dragging down that seems apparent in addictions of all kinds.
According to what I’ve learned, plants and other things used in a sacred manner, in ceremony, etc., are kept apart and used only occasionally because they have great power, and great power is dangerous if not used carefully. Modern society seems to have lost the concept of the power inherent in things, in the land, plants, stones, etc. Everything has become a commodity. Everything is available 24/7/365. No limits are entertained for anything.
I did not feel that SaLuSa was condemning those who use plants in ceremony, or even those who use things within self-set limits of respect for their inherent power. Inelia Benz points out in several articles on her site that we can do Ascension work without giving up anything, just that some things will make it harder on us.
That isn’t a value judgment or a criticism of those who choose to do the work while engaging in things that may make it harder – one of those things is pharmaceutical prescriptions. Some of us can’t yet give those up or we might not survive long enough to reach the point of Ascension where they will no longer be needed. That doesn’t mean that Ascension is not going to happen for us; just that some of the work may be rougher to go thru.
Many things cause measurable physical damage but if used only occasionally most of us will easily recover from them. Someone who has an addiction to cocaine, or oxycontin, for instance, is going to have a lot harder time recovering the full balance and health of the body.
I think he’s discussing the harm to the body in this message but perhaps the underlying meaning is also that since we do have to let go of all the heavy, dense, lower-level energies in order to ascend, we’ll need to process the issues that have led us to addictions before we ascend – in that case the damage to the body is secondary but it’s still damage.
I had a similar reaction of anger and disbelief when I read an article on foods that would make Ascension work harder, because garlic and onions were on the list to give up – and how can you make chili? (And how can you live without chili if you live where it’s really hot?) I guess that sounds silly to most people, but I realized after a bit that my upset wasn’t due to Inelia’s article. It was due to being on ever-more-restricted diets due to my health problems. I felt overwhelmed at the idea of giving up another food when I had so few left.
After processing my upset with my own issue, Inelia’s article became as harmless and understandable to me as it probably was to everyone else.
After watching so many people I loved die from cigarette smoking I didn’t even question his meaning until you posted, but after thinking about it, I really believe that addiction leading to major damage and death is what he was referring to, not the ceremonial or sacred use of any plant.
Namaste,
Dorian
Dorian
A problem I have had with many channelled messages and other spiritual teachings from various places and times is that sometimes things are so broad as to lose meaning in specific situations, and sometimes so specific that they appear to be meaningless to those not involved in a certain narrow worldview. It seems to me to be a “road hazard” of this kind of work.
I like your point about not having to do everything right, but aiming for the right place and letting Universe, Creator, etc., guide your path. That is extremely helpful at all levels, imho.
I think perhaps SaLuSa made the generalization intending to nudge those who were mired in addictions, rather than in confusing those who were not. I guess that most people who’ve grown past the stage of addictive behaviour would also be aware of their own balance and internal knowing.
It’s very easy for those who are mired in addictions to turn any opening into an excuse, in my experience (i.e., any statement that a balanced use of something is ok would lead some to assert that their own addiction was in fact a balanced use, even if it obviously were not to an outside observer).
Perhaps, rather than one size fits all, SaLuSa was assuming those who did not need to be nudged to pay attention to addictive behaviour would simply follow their own discernment and not take his statement to heart. He does often suggest we not take what he says as a given but always employ our discernment.
I agree that absolutes are often a source of trouble. I see so much conflicting information and ideas in channeled messages from various sources that I often wonder if the point of it all is to force us to exercise our discernment and find our own path, as each person’s path will be unique to them.
Sometimes I think even the most consistent and trusted sources throw in random, wonky bits just to be sure we are thinking and exercising discernment instead of falling into the lazy way of ‘cult followers,’ simply taking comfort in the messages and not doing any work ourselves. 😉
I thank you for creating a dialogue. …
Namaste,
Dorian
Steve
I actually think Dorian did such a splendid job of addressing your concerns that there’s little for me to add.
Nonetheless, I did want to address a few points.
Not only SaLuSa but probably all channels – spirit communicators, celestials, ascended masters – face several challenges when channeling.
One is the state of the medium. A long disquisition, I’m led to believe, can sometimes tire a medium, as Matthew sometimes says in regard to his messages through his mother.
Two is the willingness of the reader to read a long message.
Three is the complexity of a topic and the difficulty of making a single statement that will cover all aspects of it.
I’m often tearing my hair out (not easy when you wear a crew cut) because Matthew or SaLuSa just says one sentence on a subject and doesn’t expand on it.
So here is SaLuSa commenting on the impact of some things on the human body. He has in mind saying something about substances that can impact us and interfere with our assimilation of the higher energies.
He could, if he wanted to, address a range of substances, a range of people, and a range of degrees of use. But instead he boils his comment down to one short mention:
“Man’s pleasures are often the very things that cause disease and distress, but some people cannot see the connection. You who are more enlightened will know of what we speak, and because you do have found no difficulty in giving them up. Your body is your temple, and it is your responsibility to look after it if it is to serve you well. Smoking and the taking of drugs are most damaging, and sometimes it is irreversible. Indeed, most pursuits of this nature are leading you onto the path of ruin.” (SaLuSa, July 29, 2011.)
I haven’t the knowledge to say whether “smoking and the taking of drugs are most damaging.” I’m led to believe by some people that smoking leads to lung cancer. The use of alcohol can lead to cyrrhosis of the liver, others say. Heroin use can lead to tremendous problems. If these people are right, then smoking and the use of drugs can, it would seem and under certain circumstances, be dangerous to people.
Is moderate use dangerous? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not.
Perhaps the more contentious phrase is “you who are more enlightened will know of what we speak.” If we could ask SaLuSa what he means by this it would help but we cannot ask questions of SaLuSa, unlike Matthew, and so we’re obliged to make of it what we can, as Dorian mentioned.
But the bottom line is that smoking and drugs either do cause damage to some or they don’t; moderate use is OK or it’s not; some people are able to use them and remain unharmed or they are not. That I cannot address but SaLuSa is saying we may need to address it.
SaLuSa’s concern is to have as many people ascend as possible and so he addresses a matter which may impede our taking in and assimilating the higher energies. Matthew has addressed it as well, by the way, in a message earlier this year:
“Readers have asked if enjoyment of pornography ‘occasionally,’ gambling, sex parties, ‘social drugs,’ an extramarital relationship, and ‘dabbling in black magic’ can delay spiritual evolution or prevent physical ascension with Earth. When you put those activities into the context of everything we have offered as guidance for spiritual growth, you will know that the answer is ‘yes.’ Regardless of your reasons for indulging in those kinds of diversion, they all generate very low vibrations that form a barrier between the consciousness and the soul, and that dims the light within.” (Matthew’s Message, Jan. 11, 2011.)
However Matthew also made a second comment in which he corrected some of what he said here:
“Furthermore, even truthful information from external sources can err in omission of some facts, thereby unintentionally conveying incomplete data that readers can assume is the entire story. Let me cite an example that in the Tapestry of Life is insignificant, but still I gave a flawed bit of information. With thanks to all who wrote about the medicinal effects of marijuana, I see the error in my reply [in the January 11, 2010 message] to readers who asked if certain enjoyments, including ‘social drugs,’ could delay spiritual evolution or prevent physical ascension with Earth.
“In my ‘Yes’ answer, I was thinking of heroin, cocaine and the assortment of synthetic drugs that cause adverse effects on body, mind and spirit. Marijuana does indeed offer medical benefits, and there are no damaging effects from its moderate use in a social setting. Legal consequences, yes, so I surely am not encouraging its use without medical prescription! I am simply stating that with the sensible use I mentioned, marijuana is not among the drugs that form a barrier between the consciousness and the soul and prevent the absorption of light.” (Matthew’s Message, Feb. 14, 2010.)
The point I’m making is that, if they are correct, then how we feel about it may not be relevant. It boils down to an objective measure of whether that diversion or substance use is damaging or not. If it is, then it is; if not, then not. SaLuSa is asking us to give thought to the matter, as one concerned to see us ascend.
There may be, in the range of people who are alive today, some who can use things moderately and it won’t affect their ability to ascend. There may be those who are doing other things which, added to moderate use, put them on the borderline. There will be all kinds of circumstances and no “one size fits all” prescription, as you mentioned. But SaLuSa works in a modality that requires him to boil down his comment into just a few lines.
So I actually recommend we hear what he has to say, use it to stimulate our own enquiry, and then do what we consider wise and necessary to be done. We alone are responsible for our preparations for Ascension.
If what SaLuSa says doesn’t apply to us, well and good. If it does not, well and good.
We haven’t gone from 51% of love and light in our beingness; we’re discussing what factors allow us to assimilate love and light and make them our own and what factors work against our being able to assimilate and hold them.
One final comment. You ask about indigenous use of things, Hitler’s exemplary vegetarian practices, and whether SaLuSa is being puritanical. But I repeat that SaLuSa is making a simple statement of fact. A substance will be harmful to our ability to take in and assimilate the higher light energies or it will not. If it is, it doesn’t seem to matter whether one is of this group or another, or what one’s values are. Physical harm is physical harm.
Yes, some may be able to ingest a bottle full of LSD, as Neem Karoli Baba did, and not feel its effects. But I certainly could not. It depends on the person.
Moreover, Hitler would probably not ascend, whether he was a vegetarian and non-substance user or not. Again SaLuSa cannot cover the range of circumstances and exceptions, etc., in the format of his short messages. But if he could, I’m sure he would satisfy you on all the questions you raised. We are obliged to think through, develop and apply the short statements he makes as best we can.
Namaste,
Steve