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Originally Posted by Lotus If your temple were crumbling, would you not try to shore it up?
You're very lucky, Bruce, that you seem to have naturally good health. I do not, and I was not given a choice about taking drugs in the beginning. And my temple was tearing itself down. After about 3 years of very serious chronic illness (in me, from age 9 -12ish), my mother went to bed crying every night because she was afraid that I was going to die.
[...] Sometimes you have to bug bomb your temple if you want to keep living in it.
At least, that's my perspective. If someday you have to live it from this side, you might see what I'm talking about. But I hope you never have to; I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy. |
While I do not believe I have naturally good health (I had to work to reach a level where I could consider myself as reasonably “healthy” and even then, I have to maintain this level), I was certainly not born with, nor did I develop such afflictions that you have unfortunately been subject to.
However, that is why I said this in my above post:
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Originally Posted by Bruce Achterberg While I believe that almost anything, including drugs and other such substances, can be of use if used in a responsible and consciousness manner, it is not my opinion that drugs (including legal prescription drugs, etc.) are necessary, and for the vast majority of cases where people take (legal or illegal) drugs, there are other solutions to be found that do not have the negative consequences that are associated with drugs. |
In your particular case you where not within that “vast majority” that I mention, and while it is possible that there may have been something else other then marijuana that may have assisted you with eating when you had ulcerative colitis, at that particular time there did not seem to be any other options available to you, and there is no harm done in doing what you had to do in order to live.
But this does go to show that there can certainly be some cases where the positive benefits of drugs completely outweigh the negative side effects, and I can say I am truly thankful to be living in an age where there is so much available to us without unreasonable restrictions. As Fearless says:
“In all of my experiences I have learned that anyone one thing is not intrinsically good or bad, what makes something good or bad is what we do with it.”
A knife, for example, is not intrinsically good or bad. A knife can be a useful cutting tool, but a knife can also be a dangerous weapon used to inflict harm. It all depends on the usage, and more importantly
the user. The same thing goes for drugs (including marijuana). Without a doubt, marijuana certainly has some useful application (in terms of medical treatment, etc.), but at the same time it can also have some undesirable applications (such as addiction, overdose, etc.).
With that said, it is also quite possible for someone to derive some good from a seemingly inherently negative experience. For example, someone who was previously chronically addicted to dugs could write a book about how they eventually overcame their addiction and end up helping hundreds of others to do the same. Again, it is all dependant on the user, and additionally, how you perceive an experience is also dependant on you. A quote from
Kahlil Gibran’s book
The Prophet comes to mind:
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven?
And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?
When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which
has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.
When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see in truth that you
are weeping for that which has been your delight.