Nowadays, we are so much used to the existence of stimulants like alcohol, coffee, tea, and other substances that stimulate our thinking process, that often we forget to question what kind of detrimental effects they have on our body.
It is no surprise that being born on Earth, and being born as a living organism, we have only one body, physical body that we are fully responsible for. It is also no surprise that it is given to us for a specific reason, and by conscious relationship to our body we may use it as a conduit for a deeper, spiritual understanding. We obtained our physical vehicles as a gift, that is why we have to take care of them and make the most out of body capacities.
Why are we then so much into getting out of our clear and transparent thinking processes by stimulating our bodies with different substances that exalt our body processes?
Before we get a better understanding of why we should take a look at our generational ancestral timeline, to see where are we now in our evolutionary process...
In the 8th century b.c, wine and alcohol became treated as a holy substance. Before the invention of alcohol, water was seen as a holy substance. The popularity of alcohol grew so quick that it started to be identified with Dionysian cult. It was widely used during times of ancient Greece.
According to R. Steiner - wine is stimulating the development of "I" - a healthy Ego.
"Wine was that which separated man from everything spiritual. He who takes wine cannot arrive at the spiritual. He can know nothing of Manas, Buddhi, Atma. The whole course of humanity is one of descent and ascent."
Because human race is "bouncing" between two polarities, after it reached the highest spiritual potential there had to come time of downfall towards physical.
"Formerly there was a strict rule for priests, forbidding wine. They could experience Atma, Buddhi, Manas. There had to be a religion which could come quite down to the physical plane, one that changed water into wine. Later on the wine will be changed into water. If water had not been changed into wine, man could not have taken with him all that is below in the Vale of Earth."
As we can see, there is a reason why man had to use alcohol - to reach the deepest understanding of how is it to be completely non-spiritual, how to be numb and seated in the flesh, however, times when the use of the alcohol was neutral and when it was used along our evolution, are over.
The reason why alcohol arose in popularity during Atlantean epoch is to help men to become individualized. Alcohol closes off higher capacities of man and encloses him in himself.
We have to say that there is no rule that diet is really responsible for your spiritual development, however, we can control how clear is our perception of spirituality and sometimes by consuming wrong foods we can slow down the whole process. It may be difficult or even impossible to become spiritually initiated without clear perception and without taking care of your physical senses.
Under alcohol intoxication, our healthy sense of Ego is exchanged by counter-Ego - alcohol thinks, acts and feels in the ego's place. Whoever is in this situation, lets the external, material ego dictate him.
"To the extent, however, that a man replaces his inner self with such a substitute, to that extent does he become its slave. If otherwise qualified, a man will be better able to unfold the best forces of his ego when he abstains from alcohol altogether. By drinking alcohol an inner hindrance is created behind which something takes place that actually should and would be accomplished through the activity of the ego itself if the hindrance had not been produced." - R.Steiner
Another not less important factor of drinking alcohol is the connection between alcohol and past life memories. Before Atlantean epoch when alcohol wasn't yet discovered, the man was able to recall memories of the past lifetimes. When the popularity of alcohol spread more and more, conscious participation in spiritual development and reincarnation was diminishing.
Right now, there is no necessity of using alcohol. We are in times of easy access to the information and the spirit of time doesn't need to teach us in a hard way - we can make our conscious choices.
My own experiences and observations of totally abstaining from alcohol proved to me that alcohol is unnecessary in spiritual development. Used occasionally it may serve as a trigger to strengthen our own sense of Ego, but nowadays we are used to external validation of Ego by social media and self-gratification they can provide.
If you consider yourself as a spiritually orientated person and an esoteric initiate, and you still use alcohol I invite you to reflect on below quote:
"The person who abstains from alcohol ensures the possibility that the I can work freely on the blood. An individual who drinks alcohol behaves like someone who, wishing to demolish a wall, hammers on one side, while at the same time placing on the other side people who hammer in opposition. Consuming alcohol eliminates the I's activity on the blood in exactly the same way." - R.Steiner
Yes, alcohol dissolves in the blood, and blood circulation is our bridge to perceive spiritual realities through the physical senses.
Be serious about your life, make the right choices and space for spiritual perception to appear.
Be mindful.
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