Apparently didn't read the OP.
Do You Associate Pipe Smoking with a Sense of Spirituality?
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Re: contemplative-
"Two things fill the mind with ... awe,...the starry sky above me and the moral law within me. Neither of them need I seek... as if shrouded in obscurity... I see them before me and connect them immediately with my existence. "
-Immanuel Kant, pipe smoker
"Two things fill the mind with ... awe,...the starry sky above me and the moral law within me. Neither of them need I seek... as if shrouded in obscurity... I see them before me and connect them immediately with my existence. "
-Immanuel Kant, pipe smoker
I find it disappointing that so many in our modern world too readily embrace the notion that if something is beyond the register of our five senses or cannot be directly measured by scientific equipment or observation that it must not exist or at a minimum does not require pursuit. This point of view oddly enough has a religious fervor of its own. The laws of physics and our own scientific observations tell us that that the existence we are experiencing emanates from realities and dimensions that our minds are unable to fully understand, contemplate completely, or experience directly. So we infer about what we cannot see, know, feel, touch, or directly experience as we contemplate what we cannot directly understand but indirectly experience and see evidence of something. Pipe smoking - the smoking of tobacco in particular - is a tool that lends itself to contemplation. Native Americans understood and accepted this as have other cultures. Humankind is more than just physical bodies or cognitive self-awareness. When one says "spiritual" it refers to our ability to wonder about, contemplate, and connect with and touch those things that are beyond the veil of our senses and understanding. Why a conversation about such things should be controversial or considered inappropriate as to the thread's original question is interesting in and of itself. One either finds pipe smoking spiritually contemplative or they don't. If one does, discuss why? If one doesn't, then one doesn't - you are encouraged to say why not. Or, perhaps someone feels very differently about the experience in a way that hasn't been discussed. Please share. But to call for a moderator to shut down the discussion because it is inappropriate for such a forum.... Really, has our society fallen so much that we are afraid to talk about or discuss such simple questions - questions clearly related to and apart of pipe smoking history, culture and centuries of associated experiences related to pipe smoking. Thankfully, it seems most people here embrace such discussion.
A good start to avoid that lightning would be to not stand up, regardless of your company. God helps those who help themselves (allegedly).
Well, I have certainly contemplated spiritual matters while smoking my pipe. 
Funny how the title mentions spirituality and most comments refer to religion.
Maintain a conscious contact, and everything is spiritual.
Maintain a conscious contact, and everything is spiritual.
The Thinking man smokes a Peterson. A Thinking man thinks about all things of importance. I don't see this as a religious thread ie: discussing religion but rather a thread about does pipe smoking lead one or lend itself to pondering the existence of a higher plane of existence ? It did for the first smokers. Does it now? Smoking, Religion, Spirituality, Poetry, prose, mathematics, all have a contemplative and meditative aspect. Nicotine is now even being studied for its curative properties for senility and alzheimers. I think the OPs topic is one fair for discussion and doesn't violate any prescribed forum rules. It is above them
Just 2 sense.
I think Spirituality means different things to different people. I think some relate Spirituality to Religion, others to a more contemplative or meditative nature. I think this is a interesting thread and no one seems to be pushing their thoughts on others.
"To renounce what one has is a minor thing, to renounce what one is, that is asking alot." Pope St. Gregory The Great.
Nicotine also helps focus the mind at times. I find it helps to clear abstractions and focus the mind to the matters at hand so it can go either way ... contemplative or directed focus. Isn't that what the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle implied with the 'three pipe problem' incident in Sherlock Holmes ? Researchers are trying to isolate the chemical element of tobacco that assists neurological transmission in an effort to aid those with dementia and alzheimers. It worked for me this morning. I had a bunch of tasks to complete in a short amount of time and the pipe directed my focus. Or maybe I just rushed through them to get back to the pipe
pain vs pleasure ??
I finished the Joe Rogan and Russell Crowe podcast discussion last night. They had an interesting discussion on the very topic You just mentioned.Nicotine also helps focus the mind at times. I find it helps to clear abstractions and focus the mind to the matters at hand so it can go either way ... contemplative or directed focus. Isn't that what the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle implied with the 'three pipe problem' incident in Sherlock Holmes ? Researchers are trying to isolate the chemical element of tobacco that assists neurological transmission in an effort to aid those with dementia and alzheimers. It worked for me this morning. I had a bunch of tasks to complete in a short amount of time and the pipe directed my focus. Or maybe I just rushed through them to get back to the pipe
In the distant past certain tribes dwelling the plains region of North American, used tobacco and pipe smoking as a social and religious rite.
The believe the pipe to be as a sort of cosmic cell phone in which the tobacco and other plants would carry their prayer, thoughts, will, or intentions inter dimensionally to be received to the ancestors or the collective conscious.
For the sake of the word spiritual, I would like to define that word as meaning “connection”, to one another, the world, or the universe.
Whatever one’s belief may be, whether it be composed of a scientific or religious context, there is no denying that there is a connection with all things in nature, worldly or universally.
As all things nature, the earth, the cosmos are undeniably connected in their workings or movement.
Call it prayer or a meditative state of being, tobacco and it’s applications are simply that.
That is indisputably applicable to a religious, logical, or philosophical context.
On a psychological, physiological, neurological manner, it has impact.
Post Script: Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
The believe the pipe to be as a sort of cosmic cell phone in which the tobacco and other plants would carry their prayer, thoughts, will, or intentions inter dimensionally to be received to the ancestors or the collective conscious.
For the sake of the word spiritual, I would like to define that word as meaning “connection”, to one another, the world, or the universe.
Whatever one’s belief may be, whether it be composed of a scientific or religious context, there is no denying that there is a connection with all things in nature, worldly or universally.
As all things nature, the earth, the cosmos are undeniably connected in their workings or movement.
Call it prayer or a meditative state of being, tobacco and it’s applications are simply that.
That is indisputably applicable to a religious, logical, or philosophical context.
On a psychological, physiological, neurological manner, it has impact.
Post Script: Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
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Bees and butterflys like to flitter through Lane 1-Q smoke clouds ! Just sayn'
If there's no spirituality in your religion, then maybe you need to rethink your choices.
Nicotine stimulates the endocannabinoid system, which is an important regulating system for all of human physiology. Yeah, it's the same system that cannabis (cannabinoids) stimulates. Which is essentially stating that we've a regulatory system guiding our physiology that is influenced by all of our plant matter (phytochemical) intake.Nicotine also helps focus the mind at times. I find it helps to clear abstractions and focus the mind to the matters at hand so it can go either way ... contemplative or directed focus. Isn't that what the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle implied with the 'three pipe problem' incident in Sherlock Holmes ? Researchers are trying to isolate the chemical element of tobacco that assists neurological transmission in an effort to aid those with dementia and alzheimers. It worked for me this morning. I had a bunch of tasks to complete in a short amount of time and the pipe directed my focus. Or maybe I just rushed through them to get back to the pipe
Perhaps that is quite true.
But from the other direction, spirituality is often what remains after the constraints of religion have been removed.
Said like a true atheist, ha ha. Jk... well... not kidding, but not judging either.
But, the OP mentions smoking while reading the Bible, which then puts the question to the group into the context of spirituality within religion. Not just religion, but Christianity. So, it would be unfair to criticize those who answered within a religious framework.