This is obviously a question directed for people who already beleive in god, but I welcome all answers!!!
Imagine this...Your wayward, often hullucinating, drug taking friend said he saw God. However you suspect that it was just because of the drugs. However, because of this 'vision' he changed his Athiest beleifs, turning to religion based on this vision.
Would you tell him what you really thought, that it was probably just because of the drugs, even if you knew telling him this would turn him away from religion?
Or would you let him beleive in it anyway, with your beleif that beleiving in god is better than not, even knowing that he based the start of his beleiving on a lie?
Please think hard before you answer.....
(and I don't particualy want to be preached at either...)
xxx
2007-11-26 23:50:39 · 19 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
**It is not *my* friend at all... It was a philosophical question into the minds of people who beleive in go, do determine there thoughts on I suppose.... God vs Morals? Or something along those lines... just to get people thinking....
2007-11-26 23:58:14 · update #1
Great question!!
I think his so-called hallucination induced by the drug must have been rather strong for him to change over to 'Belief'...... a strong belief becomes stronger when opposed without any perfectly conclusive proof.... I can produce no conclusive proof that what he saw was mere hallucination and not reality... therefore, even if I try to tell him that his newly acquired belief is based on a lie, he would most likely cling faster on to his belief and discard my suggestion as ignorant or even malicious. In any case, how can I ever be sure that what he saw was drug induced hallucination and not the reality.... it would be wise on my part to realize that I know no better to suggest one way or another and hence let him have his belief without any undue interference.
2007-11-27 00:12:41 · answer #1 · answered by small 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Nice answer from Small.
It can not be inconclusively proved by any one that which Delusion / Halucination is best in this world.
Whether halucination after money, recognition and other material and scientific benefits and comforts that are seen always fleeting or seen just two feet away as a mirage or the Halucination after the God, the God Delusion.
May be whatever is giving happiness to one in a more permanent Nature is to be accepted by one. The sole judge is the individual only which way one should go.
Sathya Sai Baba say among all the halucinations (some of the types described above) the best is halucination after God, the Devotion for God (Bhakthi).
SAI RAM
2007-11-27 00:31:34 · answer #2 · answered by jayakrishnamenon 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The thing about God is that… none of us know what He/She looks like so if we saw Him/Her, would we even know it? People have visions all the time without taking drugs and they are usually dismissed.
God is a conceptual abstract that can take any form so if someone who was sober as a judge said he saw the Almighty standing as a tree or a rock, we really have no common frame of reference to either believe or disbelieve by. We just take their word for it or we don’t.
In the realm is seeing God, taking drugs may actually be considered an enhancement because as these things go, being straight doesn’t mean a lot.
2007-11-27 00:00:02 · answer #3 · answered by sincityq 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Those drugs do open up ur mind. The "vision" could just be his inner self come out and realize he needed change. The "vision" came from w/ in his head when he was able to think freely. I think at least. He could be crazy... but it seems to have done no harm he kinda became better. Telling him it's just the drugs will possible make him think you just don't understand. There's a song about that by Ben Folds. hahaha. Personally I'd just be his friend and long as he doesn't start preaching and annoying people juts let him think what he wants.
2007-11-27 05:25:50 · answer #4 · answered by Fancy Pants 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the experience turned this person around, I would be careful about criticizing the experience.
For your own information... things like this do happen, but it is best to think of the event as a "short circuit," rather than a Spiritual Revelation. I use that term because continued use of harmful drugs will damage that persons chances of having a 24-7 Spiritual life.
Perhaps you can approach the problem this way: Emphasize the quality of life they will experience every day and hour of their life... if that is improving... then in all probability, everything is OK.
The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
2007-11-27 00:06:34 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If he changed his Atheist beliefs, turning to religion based on this vision, then this vision would have to be very convincing to him. That being the case, I might believe in the fact he really did have a vision of God and who am I to tell him differently. I would be happy for him. However, I would be concerned that he would continue to turn to drugs so that he may see other life changing visions. I would try to talk him out of taking further drugs.
2007-11-26 23:58:38 · answer #6 · answered by bobe 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Maybe he did see God. Shamans have been receiving divine visions under the influence of sacred plants for millenia. Maybe that's how God was able to reveal himself to him, while he was in a receptive state. The irony that something so pure can come from something so polluted as processed drugs can be explained by 'Laughing' Leonard Cohen: "There is a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in". It's often when we hit rock bottom that God's grace lifts us up. Be happy for him.
2007-11-27 05:15:39 · answer #7 · answered by Holistic Mystic 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Telling your friend you thought it was because of the drugs would not necessarily turn them away from their spiritual experience (notice I don't mention religion since his experience fits less into religious and more into a spiritual experience). I am sure this person is well aware of the hallucinatory effect of the drugs they are taking. I would also point out to you that you are assuming the experience was related to the drugs (which I fully understand and appreciate your position on this), but who is anyone to say that the experience was drug related vs an actual spiritual experience.
2007-11-27 00:00:44 · answer #8 · answered by DMG 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would follow the advice the the 16th spiritual master John of the Cross and tell my friend that visions are but for a moment, the practice of the spiritual life is for a lifetime-- and that in the end, our life is not measured by any kind of vision, but by the quality of our love.
2007-11-27 02:29:00 · answer #9 · answered by Timaeus 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well as a avid fan of hallucinogens I enjoy all my visions. Tell him to keep up his hallucinogenic ways. It's OK that he saw god. Though maybe if he keeps up a good hallucinogen regiment he will be able to see past god one day. Hallucinogens can be very spiritual for the person taking them. That's one of the great thing about them. I bet you Adam was eating some mushrooms when he was talking to god.
2007-11-27 00:06:00 · answer #10 · answered by Slowburn 2 · 3⤊ 0⤋