As a professional jazz musician, I have been asked if I ever get "high" to perform or if I do drugs to enhance my performances. In the performing realm and in the arts in general, one knows the game that is played with the ego, and the pressures to maintain constant, fresh inspiration and freedom of expression. I know there might be times when it could seem normal for me to feel like an emotional yo-yo— being up for a show and then coming down only to set up again for another performance. Some suggest that drugs can handle this, that they relax you and help you to reach your true self, which in turn allows you to be creative and expressive. Some may say drugs help to maintain an "up" feeling. According to that belief, you would need drugs to come down, or relax, then more drugs to help you forget your emotional ups and downs, then perhaps some more drugs to gain more inspiration, more freedom, and then a few more drugs to ... you get the idea.
I know individuals who have given up drugs as they realized the falsity of the drugs' promises. One musician told me recently that he feels freer, happier, and healthier being off drugs. Drugs only deceive one into believing that there is a substance that can do or complete the job that God has already done and is doing. That truly is drug abusive thinking.
So, to answer the original question, no, I don't do drugs. Rather, I've learned to turn to God, the only true substance. This substance is unchanging and unerring and totally satisfying. I am coming to see that the substance of Spirit, God, is my very substance as His image and likeness. The substance of Soul is my very substance as its reflection, and Soul is the only real source of inspiration and freedom.
