Alcohol and Spirituality

Category Ego

So is alcohol okay to drink or does it fly in the face of “being spiritual,” whatever the heck that means?

What Would the Gurus Say?

Jesus drank wine.

The Buddha said, “There are six results of drinking: decreasing wealth, increasing quarrels, danger of disease, gaining an evil reputation, indecent exposure, and ruining intelligence.” -Digha Nikaya 31

Zen master Bassui stated, “The true meaning of the precepts is not just that one should refrain from drinking alcohol, but also from getting drunk on nirvana.”

Soc, the teacher in the fantastic book and movie The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, has his student Dan refrain from drinking because he drinks excessively and for the wrong reasons, then later on in the movie turns around and drinks with him and breaks the image of “pure spiritual guy.”

In Wild Nights, one of my favorite books on spirituality, sexuality, and love, author David Deida lives a very pure, healthy, and secluded lifestyle away from the wild forces of women and world until his teacher Mykonos arrives and helps him open up to the flow of Divine Love and Spirit, using alcohol as a tool to learn to manage the energies that arise in the body when one fully surrenders to Love itself.

My Take on It

I’ve never been too big into drinking.. Drank some in college during parties or whenever I felt like it after class. I enjoyed it, but it was never too big a deal or anything I deeply desired or relied upon. I haven’t drank in a while now, yet for the past few nights I was suddenly getting this urge to drink for some reason.

Of course the whole debate arose of “Oh, this is just my ego trying to escape the present moment. What is it here that I’m avoiding?”

But I figured why not? Let’s roll with this and see what happens. So I went to the store and grabbed a six-pack of beer.

As I felt the alcohol kicking in, I could definitely notice the “I Am” Presence within as well as the energy of drunkenness starting to swirl around and distract awareness away from itself and towards the blur of drunkenness.

What was most fascinating about the experience was how clear it was that the energy of being drunk is NOT ME.. at ALL!

It created a sense of split, where I could consciously notice both consciousness and drunkness simultaneously and clearly discern the difference between “me” and “not me.”

By consciously experiencing what I am not, it became much more clear what I am, and in a sense, that’s what this life we’re living is all about!

Share Your Opinion

Is there some sort of rule that we should box ourselves into as far as what we should and shouldn’t do?

Is drinking just a personal choice?

Does it help or inhibit one’s conscious evolution? Is it not so black and white because it’s more a question of how the tool is used?

What’s your opinion on alcohol and how it relates to spirituality and positive growth?

Continued Discussion | 3 Forum Comments

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13 Responses to “Alcohol and Spirituality”

Chris Edgar | Purpose Power Coaching said:

Thanks for this post. What I often recommend to people is that they be honest with themselves about whether they are using alcohol (or really anything else) to distract themselves from their inner experience — from the thoughts and feelings they’d rather not be with. If they’re doing that, they are growing more alienated from themselves.

Chris Edgar | Purpose Power Coachings last blog post..Getting To The “Heart” Of Public Speaking Anxiety
Bonni said:

Not only did Jesus drink wine, the first recorded public miracle of his ministry was turning water into wine at a party. Just making note.

As for drinking being “spiritual”, I don’t see a problem with it, so long as it’s in moderation and balanced. Excessive drinking certainly is bad for you, and when you’re drunk you tend to lose control of yourself, your thoughts, your actions, etc., in ways that are not only unbecoming, but which can lead to some really unfortunate circumstances.

Also, personally, I find that too much alcohol just drives me deeper into my own ego, thoughts, ideas, whatever.

I do like a nice glass of wine from time to time, or the occasional mixed drink. I haven’t seen or experienced that drinking occasionally in any way interferes with my ongoing spiritual growth (however you want to frame the term “spiritual growth”).

With all things, I think it’s how you use it that matters. Use alcohol to deny, hide, escape, whatever, and it becomes an oppressor. This is true of all things, including food, video games, books, television, the internet, and on and on and on….

Ariel Bravy Reply:
March 2nd, 2009 at 2:49 am
…and then everyone else turned the wine back into water. Another miracle!
Jasper said:

With drugs, its just like with everything else in life: Balance matters big time!

If you circulate the energy of any drug freely in the body(by the means of breathing etc.), as is advised in “Wild nights”, the result can be a great experience.

Once I was drunk, I was able to observe the body being drunken, doing funny stuff, but at the same time I was still inside, untouched by the alcohol, and fully conscious to decide if my actions were appropriate. I believe this to be a result of circulating the energy properly.

I prefer a drug-free life, but sometimes you just gotta open to the flow…
mister whatever said:

to a certain point, drinking helps you get in touch with yourself. its tendency to dissolve your inhibition lets out your basic urges as manifest in your behavior. you become more honest with people and with yourself.

as long as you are capable of facing the demons inside you and confronting the potentially ugly and lumbering version of you that emerges when you lower your consciousness with drink, there is a lot to be learned about the basis of who you are. even if you become ashamed of your behavior and actions after overimbibing, you will still have the chance to see what you are like when you are less than yourself and keep the qualities that emerge in mind when you are sober so that you can recognize and correct, combat, or change them to fit better into your evolution of consciousness.

the casual drink with friends works the same way, opening people up to share themselves with one another more freely.

the dip into lower consciousness can be an excellent tool in realizing what your id is made of. even the occasional binge and morning-after apologies can show you a part of what you desire and how you feel it should come to you on a basic, barbaric level and open your eyes to how you believe you -should- be in comparisson to that.

if you use drink as a tool to escape thought, that’s not good for any part of you. drinking often is certainly not good for the body, which is in turn not good for the mind, spirit or soul. but like any other experience, there is something that can be learned from it. it’s all about using it the right way — to bond with friends, to shed formality and behave more primally and to accept how you are when it happens.
Evelyn Lim said:

Because I have undertaken the 5 precepts, I try my best to stick to them and that includes not getting intoxicated. I generally don’t take alcohol well anyway and have gone through so many episodes of being “high” when I was younger that I don’t relish going through the after effects any more. My opinion is that any “presence” that comes from being intoxicated is temporary and not real.

Evelyn Lims last blog post..Interview On How To Attract Life Balance
Ariel Bravy said:

Excellent perspectives thus far everyone. Thank you for sharing!
vvwalzbe said:

My take on drinking is enjoy it and be responsible. The best quote about drinking and other vices: Use do not abuse; neither abstinence nor excess ever renders man happy ~ Voltaire

I’ve been around alcohol my entire life, both my parents are pretty much alcoholics as well as some of the key people in my family. At a very early age (like 5 i think) I vowed never to drink or do drugs because I didn’t want to make anyone else feel the way my dad made me feel. I always shied away from underage drinking and drinking in general until I was about 19. I was finally around people that did it responsibly and I started to realize that it’s all in how you do it. My roommate at the time said “I drink because I like the taste and sometimes I happen to end up drunk, I don’t drink to get drunk”.

I was fortunate enough to start drinking with her as well as some other awesome people and have developed a much more European style of drinking. In my opinion, there is nothing better than having a great glass of wine with good food. I mean I definitely drink at parties to and can do shots with the best of them, but I am VERY aware of how drunk I am getting. I’ve been able to develop an acute awareness of my body and can tell the moment I start getting a little buzzed. I aim to just keep that light happy buzz all night. I mean there are definitely times where I go overboard, but that’s few and far between.

All that being said, alcohol does have some interesting effects on energy control (as well as any altered state). The point of being lightly buzz personally helps me relax a bit and can sometimes aid in me just letting go of the ego and self. (It also acts as a pain killer for my knees so I can dance and enjoy being with friends more haha).

But aside from the spiritual side of it, the most important and valuable thing about drinking to me is the hospitality and community that it creates between friends. It definitely helps open people up and create an amazing environment were you can really connect. The last apartment complex I lived in we had a communal courtyard and we all hung out there drinking beers and cocktails and we definitely had some AMAZING conversations.

For me, my place in life is walking in the middle and helping those people on the fringe. I’m the person that hangs in the balance and can relate to opposing spectrum of people- spiritual/secular, gay/straight, christian/pagan, you name it. As such, the fact that I drink gives me grounds and opportunities to relate to far more people than if I didn’t.

In my experience, drinking just brings out your true character and that works for some people and it doesn’t for others. My answer is, do what’s best for you and if it becomes a NEED or begins to hinder your spiritual development, then definitely stop. Like I mentioned earlier, I have a history of alcoholism in my family so I have a lot of safe checks in place to make sure I’m always responsible- Like I won’t drink if I feel like i NEED a drink or if I’m emotional or if I’m using it to escape.

That’s my very long winded 2 cents…
Ryan said:

Yeah this is a good topic. Like you hinted at, it seems like the context of how it is used is the most crucial element. I always try to bring in the energy of allowing as much as possible rather than adherence to belief systems or rules.

For the past couple years I have been drinking on and off and about 6 months ago I went to Las vegas for a yearly trip with some good buddies. I went ahead and drank to excess as I have done so many times before. I felt it, was totally conscious, and the next day I seemed to make a subtle but powerful inner choice to not drink…just for that day.

That energy of “not drinking for this present moment” has stuck with me since. It’s as if I have no appetite at all to drink.

Often times these cravings for things like alcohol come from energetic imbalances deeper within us and if we try to repress them it can cause more stress in our life.

The goal is not to avoid alcohol, its to be so full that we simply dont crave alcohol. This must be done on a much deeper, inner level with compassion for the self, non-judgement, and forgiveness (especially in times of hangovers

Many addictions seem to be locked in place by the very thought “This is wrong, I shouldnt be doing this”.

If it’s a problem, one can accept alcohol and its current role in one’s life, then go to work loving the part of themself that is out of balance.

It usually comes down to some form of self love, or feeling safe.

Fill the hole in the soul and the addictions fall away on their own. It may take some time but thats ok too.

Ryans last blog post..The Power of Being a “No Man”
Tim @ MiniLifeHacks said:

In middle school I decided that I would not drink alcohol. I’ve admittedly had 4 or 5 beers since then and a few glasses of wine, but I consider myself to be very anti-alcohol. As far as personal development goes, I think nothing good can come of drinking as it is merely self-deception.

Tim @ MiniLifeHackss last blog post..Let Today be Forever Known as the “Inspiration Age”
Mike said:

Hawkins calibrates alcohol at 90, and says that all great teachers have basically said, “Avoid that which makes you go weak, period.”

So on that level, it’s a pretty easy decision. However, like everyone mentioned above, alcohol seems to have potential benefits. The least of which may be, being happy and making friends at a party instead of being that one sober guy who’s bored the whole time. There’s something to be said for the spiritual benefits of happiness, as you’ve written about before, Ariel, and I’m not sure how to reconcile that with the simple dictum “avoid the negative.”

Great to get some more points of view on this.

Mikes last blog post..Alan Watts, Existence and Nonexistence

Ariel Bravy Reply:
March 4th, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Yeah, regarding the avoid everything that makes you go weak, that’s valid up to a certain point, when you don’t know how to deal with darkness.

If we look at people like Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Jesus, or MLK Jr., they were able to face some of the darkest corners of the earth. It’s not like they were running in the other direction.

They were all examples of people who were able to transmute darkness into light.

Energetically, it’s learning how to be transparent enough, surrendered enough, light enough so that darkness doesn’t affect you. It just goes through without resistance.

This isn’t advocating darkness or drinking or anything, but it does seem like there are higher levels than pure and simple avoidance. I guess it’s not as black and white, which is really the point of this discussion.

Avoiding that which makes you go weak, I would agree that that’s good advice, particularly in the beginning.

Didn’t Hawkins even point out that people who did the course in miracles were no longer negatively affected by certain things below 200?

If that’s the case, would there be any sort of positive benefit to the tool when the negative effect is been rendered null and void?
Jessica said:

I agree that this issue is one of thinking of the world in terms of black and white. One who is in the b&w mentality cannot understand exceptions to the rules, or else breaks the rules every time with no exceptions!

That’s what Soc was doing in “Peaceful Warrior” when he offered a drink to his apprentice. He was teaching that the world is not always so black & white.

In my “spiritual phase” during my 20s, I never drank or did drugs. It still didn’t help me resolve all the inner emotional problems that plagued me. Now I’m in my 30s and I drink socially with my husband. As everyone above mentioned, the occasional beer can help us have conversations we would not have while sober, and we can deepen our relationship this way. It’s always loving. I wouldn’t tolerate it any other way!