Smoking as part of a spiritual process - Why Spiritual People Smoke
by Ask a Healer
I used to hate being around cigarette smoke so much that I would actually feel angry when someone smoked around me. I felt violated and attacked by the presence of someething that felt like poison to me. I hated the smell of burning tobacco and I also judged the person, particularly if they seemed to be walking a path of Spiritual Awakening.
I now recognize that my reaction to cigarette smoke was strongly charged with emotion that stemmed from an earlier time. My childhood exposure to cigarette smoke was part of the reason for my strong reactions. At various times in my childhood, I was in a smoke-filled environment.
As a child, I felt very helpless to control anything in my environment including environmental pollutants assailing my young lungs. Back then, no one knew how dangerous second hand smoke was but my body knew and recoiled from it. I learned to hate it deeply and it has only been in the past few years that I've shifted into a higher pespective on cigarette smoking. I now recognize that cigarette smoke serves a specific soul purpose for those drawn to smoke cigarettes.
Because I could see the cloud that tobacco smoke caused in the auric field, I wondered how they could still smoke tobacco without it impacting their spiritual connection. I felt that smoke was being used in much the same way as food or other addictions, to tamp down emotions that one did not want to deal with or did not feel capable of confronting. In some cases, and with some people, I believe this is an accurate observation. With others, though, it did not seem to fit.
Why Spiritual People Smoke:
Sometimes, a person smokes because there is an addiction pattern that is being explored. While some choose food or alcohol, others gravitate to cigarette smoking as a way of escaping feelings or thoughts. On certain occasions or in certain situations, cigarette smoking may help to shield the emotional body from overwhelm. I've noticed that many who smoke to the point of addiction are also highly empathic; it may be that the smoke decreases the empathic overload of feeling the feelings of others around you.
Smoking in a present life may even be due to past life factors which may result in the frequency of smoke being soothing and or just feeling comfortable at a certain level of consciousness. For example, if someone smoked during a particular type of stressful event in a past life, and that person never really cleared the stress around the event in that lifetime, a similar event in this lifetime might trigger a need to smoke.
I've been told by a Native-American teacher that the indigenous peoples used cigarettes as a way of still continuing to honor the tradition of smoking the Sacred Pipe, after that right was taken away from them. To them, tobacco is a Sacred Medicine Plant that helps carry their prayers to the Creator.
Although I haven't always felt this way, I do not judge the choice to smoke now. I just choose to not smoke and to keep my personal space as free of that frequency as possible. Smokers may be more comfortable attending retreats where
smoking is mutually enjoyed by most participants.
Health Disclaimer: While I don't judge smoking, I do have a strong sense that the lungs do better without inhaling the smoke from burning substances whether tobacco or herbal in nature. I don't believe our lungs are meant to breathe in smoke. So, as a wellness counselor, I cannot say I feel smoking is a healthy habit. As a spiritual practice, that would have to the choice of the individual.
