TheAxisJournal

When one is using a substance, whether it be a depressant, a stimulant or another, or if they are experiencing another form of pleasure, they are being controlled. A person’s mind will not be one set on truth and knowledge while under external stress that is portrayed as an internal satisfaction. Alcohol, drugs, sex, and sloth will lead a person away from spirituality tossing them into the cave and shackled from the light of truth. This truth is what drives great men of history to become who they were meant to be. Truth, the only certainty in our existence, is what compels oneself to stave off from these substances that produce a tragic character with no purpose in their life.

A person consumed by pleasure does not know and will not understand the importance of seeking truth, for they cannot connect dots or come to conclusions beyond that of what they can visibly see and feel. The idea of thinking about things is foreign to them, they often say “it’s not that deep bro”, but it is that deep my friend. Every ounce of our being and everything around us has a meaning, yet we are blinded by comfort and unable to see the intricacies of the world around us. As they can only think about what is in front of them and not about how that thing in front of them may have a deeper meaning, they remain on a 2-dimensional plane and will never find meaning in their lives. Seeing is sometimes a plague as it limits the capabilities of the mind, it sickens us with only thoughts of pleasure, thoughts of depravity which are not cohesive with the spirit and truth; the two, when practiced, do not allow such thoughts.

Pleasure kills the mind much like dementia or Alzheimer’s. Pleasure fixates on a feeling; it urges that person to pursue those feelings over anything else. Thus, this person engulfed by pleasures will never amount to anything of any truthful importance. However, there’s a solution to this mortal issue.  The only way for one to find importance is in the way they lead their life, is it one of clarity? Is it one of inspiration? Is it one of spirituality? Is it one of purity? If it is not, then what is the meaning of life? A life without the truth Christ brings makes life meaningless, and pleasures give neither if they are used in an unintended way or in glutton.

Christ calls his apostles to leave everything they have and follow him, even their wives and children. This doesn’t mean to never enjoy your life, it is quite the opposite. He calls us to be fully engulfed by his love and the holy spirit, as we need nothing else, but not that we can’t enjoy other parts of life. In John 6:35 Jesus told his followers “I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” Jesus is the only way for one to be fully pleased of their spirit, rejecting their earthly ways. Bread and wine can result in people becoming gluttons, not because of the substance itself, but because of their lack of self-control. Christ gives self-control, as there is nothing one needs to be gluttonous of or pleased of if they are filled with the holy spirit. The weakness of modern man and men of the past is from the control of pleasure, only when Christ is the center will one take off their shackles of comfortable pleasure and take on the promise of greatness through the truth of the Son of Man.