A mature spiritual distinguishes between temporary states on the one hand, and station, or level of being, on the other. Less mature approaches may tend to rely on ecstatogenic techniques, narcotics of the path for the spiritually addicted. Certainly many people from the drug culture have been attracted to spiritual paths because they seems to offer these altered states of consciousness. But mature traditions speak of a sobriety which encompasses and surpasses the ecstasy of intoxication.

Shamsi Tabriz, the teacher of the thirteenth-century Sufi mystic Rumi, said:
Some of our friends find their joy in cannabis. This is the fantasy of the devil. With us, there is no place for the fantasy of the angels. How much less is there a place for the fantasies of the devil! We don’t even accept the illusions of the angels, so what can the illusions of the devil be? Why don’t our friends take pleasure in that clean and infinite universe of ours? This universe embraces them and makes them drunk without ever making them aware of it. Everyone is in unanimous agreement that this universe is not an illicit substance.