The Tower in the Heart
On the Illusion of Ascent
There’s a subtle but dangerous lie that circulates among modern seekers: that we can use mind-altering substances — weed, psychedelics, or otherwise — to get closer to God. That in loosening our grip on “the limited structure of our daily thinking” aka consciousness we can transcend the world, slip behind the veil, and access the divine. The language often sounds spiritual, even reverent: “I’m more in tune with creativity”, “It unblocks the energies holding me back,” “I feel connected to the universe,” “I saw God.”
But here’s the thing: God is not reached through manmade towers. God is not found through altered states or synthetic euphoria or engineering.
This is part of a larger pattern I explored in The Threshold of Wonder, where AI and VR become new tools for false transcendence.
What you're doing with these substances, whether or not you're conscious of it, is building a miniature Tower of Babel in your own heart. A structure of sensation, emotion, and self-exaltation meant to reach heaven on your own terms. You may call it spiritual, but it’s fundamentally human, a striving upward.
You believe that you set the terms, the boundaries, the start and end time. Or, as a friend of mine used to say with a shit-eating grin, “you bought the ticket, so enjoy the ride”; understanding that you are not at all in control but have handed it over to something else.
As the people of Babel learned very abruptly, God is not a Being we ascend to through effort or altered awareness — He is the One who descends to us. The entire Christian life itself isn’t about climbing to God; it’s about receiving the God who stooped low to find us.
In the Book of Genesis, the people of Babel said,
“Let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves.”
It looked bold. Visionary. Even spiritual. But it was utter rebellion and self reliance cloaked in ambition; a refusal to let God define the terms of encounter. Substances similarly offer a counterfeit transcendence. They promise vision but dull discernment. As DanielvsBabylon rightly said on Twitter:
You may think weed puts you above the influence of the world and spirits, but it actually makes you more susceptible to them — especially the ones who would love to masquerade as light while leading you into deception.
That’s the danger. When you dull your mind, you don’t stop receiving influence — you just lose the ability to test the spirits, “enjoy the ride”.
Scripture doesn’t tell us to empty our minds or chemically alter our perceptions to encounter God. It tells us to be sober-minded and watchful, because “your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) That verse doesn’t only apply to overt evil. It applies to any pathway that removes our spiritual guardrails and replaces them with vague feelings of “oneness” or “transcendence” disconnected from Christ.
God’s presence is not accessed by force. It is not conjured.
It is received. It is gifted. And it comes in Christ alone. Not through chemicals, smoke, or mind-bending trips or AI systems, but through surrender, humility, and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. You don’t need to get high or check in with the global weegee board (AI) to feel spiritual. You don’t need a shortcut. You need a Savior.
And the good news is that He already came down and is waiting for you.