The idea of
being “awake” in philosophy is surprisingly ambiguous, and it is necessary to
define being awake to avoid confusing different uses for the term, particularly
because it varies between individuals. For some people “to be awake” is a simple
concept, as it is the state of consciousness preceding and following sleep. Alternatively
for some, if someone is free from ignorance and misunderstanding then they are
also “awake”. By this definition, even if they are technically conscious, when
someone is blind to some things like materialism and hypocrisy they are still
considered “asleep”. Because of this, I will be referring to being awake in the
non-literal sense, where being awake is akin to enlightenment and freedom from duplicity
and material ills.
In class we
discussed achieving Nirvana, and whether or not you could achieve it when using
drugs. Nirvana is the Buddhist idea of achieving true freedom from samsara,
which are burdensome earthly ties. According to Marga, or the Noble Eightfold
Path, you must relentlessly work towards relieving yourself from physical and mental
weakness in order to be truly awake. Some key aspects of this are aiming for
truth, compassion, intense self-control and discipline. According to Buddhist
philosophy you must abstain from drugs and alcohol in order to allow the
clarity of the mind needed to reach your goal of purity, and this makes it
clear that with the true Buddhist definition of what nirvana is, you cannot reach
it with drugs.
Despite this, some new-age people claim that you can reach true
clarity and enlightenment while on drugs. However, it is not true Nirvana,
simply because according to the religion it takes years of focus and discipline trying to rid yourself of
all egocentrism, deceit, lust, and ill-will of any kind, and it is impossible
for someone who relied upon an outside and earthly source to try to experience the
enlightenment found through self-awareness and discipline. Someone who feels
the need to influence their natural mind’s function is not achieving Nirvana in
its actual Buddhist definition, and is not capable of being truly “awake”.
Reaching Nirvana has somehow become some sort of drug culture uber-achievement to swap stories about, but according to the definition of Nirvana and using the Buddhist ideals, it just isn't that quick and simple.
