Cocaine and Christianity

I’ve heard many times that drugs ought to legalized.  Never more frequently (and loudly, might I add) than from Ron Paul’s libertarian camp, generally because they believe that the pursuit of happiness is a legitimate right, and doing drugs doesn’t really hurt anyone. 

But this sort of hobgob is from people who understand neither happiness nor the pursuit thereof, and it should be a philosophy reserved for teenagers.  After all, if we can honestly determine that evil is never pursued without some sort of happiness in mind, then not all forms of pursuit are legitimate.  Any law is a testament to that.  And if we can determine that your inner state greatly influences your interactions with others (as behavior comes from nowhere else other than within you), then legalizing more forms of personal pollution would only seek to negatively impact social harmony.  The notion that drugs have any positive qualities was tossed aside only ten years after the drug experimentation of the 60’s, following the explosion of crime and illegitimate childbirth fueled by the excess consumption and rapid moral deterioration.

Nevertheless, since many are inclined to ignore visible consequences of drug abuse, a philosophical case against drug use–and even casual drinking–must be made.  As an ex drug-addict and a current drinker of alcohol, I feel there is no one better to make the case against drugs and alcohol than myself, though I make myself to be a fool for drinking.  So let us begin with some obvious statements.

The first is that people intoxicate because they want to be happy.

The second is that this world is a world of living machines, and the human machine is one of them.

The third is that happiness is largely a byproduct of adherence to proper moral codes, the directions for running the human machine.

As such,when happiness is reduced to a goal in itself instead of a byproduct of a true goal (the true goal being moral behavior), people are going to seek happiness illegitimately, opting out of proper procedure and causing themselves and others damage.  This happens in all walks of life, drug abuse being just one form of illegitimate pleasure seeking.

And because the human machine is made to run a certain way, when a person refuses to accept moral codes or is placed in desperate situations (generally by others who won’t accept moral codes), their body will react by making them unhappy, and the fastest way to temporarily restore a sense of happiness is by adding chemicals and bypassing the body’s signal that something is wrong.  A person generally becomes accustomed to shortcuts after repeated use, destroying their own fortitude against oftentimes legitimate displeasure and giving themselves an illusion of control over their own happiness.

It is this which the addict craves: release from the causes and effects of temporal living, a chance to feel success regardless of behavior, a shortcut to what every human feels is rightfully theirs: happiness.  And we were built to search for happiness, there’s simply nothing wrong with the pursuit thereof.  But the truth is that emotional happiness is like everything else temporal existence has to offer, and is thus completely subject to change at any given time.  As such, the attempts to prolong natural feelings unnaturally can send the addict into a downward spiral, searching for some kind of satisfaction that’s–quite frankly–reserved for another life.

Atheists will have a difficult time accepting this last statement, however, because they simply do not understand that last promise of another life. Although the need for universal morality is readily apparent to their more intelligent ranks (as no atheist exists independently of the universal cause-and-effect machine, and self-preservation in society ranks as a key goal), they cannot firmly state that their unquenchable desire for substantial happiness is indicative of future reward, leaving immediate existence as their perceivably sole opportunity to make themselves happy. 

On the other hand, C.S. Lewis states that Christians can recognize the purpose of yearning for utter satistfaction.  Hunger exists because food exists, sexual desire exists because sex exists, and a fish knows what it means to be dry because it is supposed to be in water, just like our understanding of and yearning for complete happiness indicate that we were intended for something greater than the disappointments life has to offer.  There simply wouldn’t be a desire if there weren’t something to satisfy it.  He would say that you cannot come to understand that life is meaningless unless built to have meaning, like a creature without eyes cannot tell that it is dark.  Simply put, we are not built for solely material existence or the meager pleasures it affords.  There is something on the horizon.

As such, happiness is nothing to be sought after singularly, but rather in connection with other things by which happiness is produced.  Without a stable understanding of our ever-changing universe and the God who created it, a man or woman is caught up in the insane quest of producing something which cannot permanently exist in this state, without knowing where it is taking them.    This writer spent years of his life chasing cocaine lines down a mirror, only to find that what it offered–that temporary haven of safety from perceived meaninglessness– was a lie.  Our happiness is not chemical, and the human recognizes this eventually: whether from the mouth of the wise or at the bottom of a drug-saturated abyss.  I was stupid and stubborn enough to find it from the latter.

And this is what our nation’s increased consumption of intoxicants plainly indicates.  Our enforced multiculturalism and its quiet implication that God doesn’t matter is paying off quite nicely… for Mexican drug lords.  To deny this would be tantamount to denying gravitational pull. 

Last, I must add that the alcohol industry’s attempts to correlate consumption with manhood are ridiculous.  Sobriety is a testament to manhood, displaying one of two things: that the abstainer either has a firm grip on the moral universe he has been presented with, adhering to the obvious mechanics thereof; or that he is capable of tolerating and/or overcoming difficulty without the need to self-medicate.  Of course, there are those who are truly in pain, and to them medication may be given if they need it.  Also, those celebrating events should feel free to safely and responsibly partake in drinking, as even Jesus provided alcohol to a wedding.  However, sobriety will do fine for the rest of us the rest of the time.  If we ban even alcohol, it will be nothing less than a testament to the manly fortitude of the American populace.  It is simply foolish to buy Budweiser’s marketing gimmicks.

So ought we to legalize drugs?  My answer to Mr. Ron Paul (a man who I otherwise respect) is a “hell no.”  Take that talk and give it to the rest of the sissies in Amsterdam.

This entry was posted on 5. September 2009 at 18:40 and is filed under philosophy, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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