Worship and the Doctrine of Getting High

Worship is a fascinating and often overlooked aspect of Christianity. Every church engages in it to some degree, whether the context be a musty old cathedral with an organ or a revival tent with a blend of acoustic and electric instruments. But what’s the deal with the songs they sing? They’re all so…blech. Have you ever tuned into your local Christian radio station? If you haven’t you’re probably better off keeping it that way, but if you have then you’ll know what I’m referring to. All the songs have an airy, “uplifting” quality to them (some music stores classify it as “Inspirational” music). And what is the intent behind worship music? This is where things get interesting.

Christians tend to be ambivalent at best or hostile at worst toward hallucinogenic drugs like marijuana or LSD, but their reasoning is beyond comprehension. After all, there’s no biblical mention of hallucinogenic drugs. The only mind-altering intoxicating substance to speak of is alcohol, and the places where it is mentioned generally refer to it positively. For instance, Psalm 104:15 references “wine that gladdens the heart of man” (a clear reference not only to the consumption of alcohol but also its intoxicating properties) and Jesus’ first recorded miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding in which the participants were already drunk. Christians love to reference Ephesians 5:18 which says “Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.” Without getting too nitpicky about semantics, adequate literary analysis would suggest that while this phrase condemns the lifestyle of the debauched, its primary goal is to convince the reader that life is about being “filled with the Spirit.” Interestingly enough, this verse seems to indicate that getting high on the Spirit is a preferable alternative to getting high on spirits, which can only mean one thing: Christianity is all about getting high.

Spiritual enlightenment is something every culture and religion has sought to deliver by its own unique method. Christianity (although not necessarily the Bible) says the best way to do it is to actually avoid all traditional forms of intoxication (i.e. comestibles) and to focus our energy on connecting with the Spirit of God. Eastern traditions emphasize the power of meditation as a way to clear one’s mind and discover truth about yourself and your place in the universe. To “tune in” to this “higher place” is something all humans like to do, whether that “higher place” be a physical location (Mecca), intellectual ideal (atheism), or good old-fashioned hallucinogenics (reefer). I guess what I’m really trying to say is this: everyone, Christian or not, wants to get high, and indeed, must get high, in order to feel fully human.

Christians like getting high on worship, so they create songs that will do very little to interrupt their perceived elevation into the heights of heaven’s courtyard as they lift hands, close eyes, bunch up their faces, and try to forget about their surroundings for a while. I remember in high school how much people emphasized the power of worship, and the looks on people’s faces after they had just gotten really emotional about a song that had just been sung, and how similar that look is to people who have just had really great sex or taken a puff from a joint. I never liked this extreme style of worship, mainly because the people who did it freaked me out and I thought it was phony. Well, I’m now realizing that I was wrong; worship is far from phony, it’s a totally legitimate and effective way to get high. It’s because they aren’t drinking or smoking pot, so they have to get all that “high energy” out somehow, usually by being really enthusiastic and energetic and silly, like at youth camps. Some Christians get high on intellectualism, to borrow a quote from Sheryl Crow, and pride themselves with the joys of mental rigor through debate and personal, “quiet time” reflection (another commonly-used method by Christians to get high).

Do you see how radically this can change our perception, as human beings, of other people and their personal habits? It makes sense of a lot of things–why people are drawn to intoxicating substances in the first place, and why religions emphasize enlightenment so heavily. It’s all to address the same innate human need, mysterious as it may be, to transcend sobriety and transport oneself to another realm where life is fulfilling and simpler to understand, contrary to the survival-of-the-fittest world of reality in which enlightenment at times seems altogether absent. Humans may have a maker, or some kind of spiritual energy that binds them together, or they may simply need a way for their brains to take a break or step back for a moment and see the “big picture,” which is that we are very small creatures on a very small chunk of rock in an infinitely vast universe. Whatever the case may be, we’re all getting high, folks; it’s just a matter of picking your desired route.

Advertisement