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“Starting a new religion is not an easy thing,” Temple of Advanced Enlightenment Rev. Kevin Loring said. “In a way, we are the child religion of all religions.”
The Temple of Advanced Enlightenment is a group advocating for responsible spiritual use of marijuana. The group was founded by the Rev. Kevin Loring in 2005. The highly organized group, with beliefs and practices that include a written creation story, is striving to be recognized as a religion.
Loring, clothed in a black robe with a green collar, sat with his hands clasped in front of him on the cafe table. The young man, with dark, shoulder-length hair, wire-rimmed glasses and a goatee, spoke of his mission.
“We want to raise awareness of religious intolerance, protect civil rights and become a valuable tool in the fight against drug abuse,” Loring said.
The temple is in the planning stages of petitioning the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency for a religious use exemption for their use of marijuana. They also aim to provide public education programs on spiritual use, religious freedom and civil rights.
Religious use of pot is restricted to temple members who are at least 18 years old and have completed basic religious studies of the Temple. They then may engage in practices such as the Sacred Smoking Circle, Vision Quest, Blessing of Meals, Blessing of Home, Holy Anointing and Honoring the Deceased.
Members attend an open-floor discussion twice weekly at the Union Street Brick Church in Bangor and meet for prayer and worship at Loring’s house on Tuesday at 4:20 p.m. and Sunday at noon. Other temple services include drug abuse mentoring, marriage ceremonies, funerals and instruction on compassionate care giving and medical marijuana.
According to the temple’s Web site, “Cannabis is the Divine Inheritance given to all people by Mother Earth so that we may unlock the mystery of the many and varied messages of the Pure One.”
They do not advocate for the outright legalization of marijuana because they believe use requires spiritual guidance.
“We are not trying to open a floodgate for people who just want to smoke reefer,” Loring said.
In the Sacred Smoking Circle, the clergy leads prayers as a peace pipe is passed clockwise to symbolize the passage of time. Usually each member consumes one gram of marijuana at each ritual.
Prior to the Vision Quest, a member fasts for a week. Then he or she is led to a remote location and partakes in sacrament – where water and music are used in order to reach an enlightened state of mind. Loring heard his calling on a Vision Quest in his late teens when he spent more than a week alone in the woods.
“We try to get people to not focus on the sacrament,” Loring said. “It’s like focusing on the little cracker at Catholic Church.”
The temple views marijuana as a substance that has a 5,000-year history as a spiritual and medicinal tool. They feel it aligns the mind and body, unlocks portions of the mind and transcends boundaries to bring people together. Medicinally, it is an effective treatment for pain, asthma, diabetes and mental distress, according to Loring.
One of the chief concerns about marijuana is the stance that it functions as a “gateway drug.” Police seized more than 100 pounds of marijuana in Starks, Maine on Oct. 4 during Harvest Fest, an event sponsored by a marijuana-advocacy group. In addition to the marijuana, they seized ecstacy, mescaline, cocaine and prescription medications.
“These are all groups that advocate for legalization of marijuana, but it defeats their argument when there’s more hard drugs there than marijuana,” said detective Chris Gardner of University of Maine Public Safety.
Loring, Jillian Dunton and Garrett Wozneak make up the temple’s high council. In order to be ordained, one must be a member for three years, complete 500 hours of community service, be tested by the council, sign an affidavit of spiritual cannabis use and take a vow of poverty, compassion and morality.
“Those who choose this path are choosing to step forward voluntarily and walk a very hard path that may include jail or prison time, fines or worse, if we are persecuted by the government,” according to the temple’s Web site.
Dunton, ordained in 2006, is a UMaine education student who teaches elderly aquatic exercise classes and children’s swimming lessons at the YMCA.
In addition to the three priests, two members are in the process of clergy training, and 40 to 70 people have adopted the temple beliefs.
“We are starting to have a lot more from campus. Younger minds are a lot more open,” Loring said.
Their beliefs largely stem from Native American spirituality, but they incorporate teachings from numerous religions. A unique creation story, written by the clergy, is online as a portion of their evolving religious text. They worship a single entity and capitalize on lessons of love, tolerance and respect of nature.
“A belief with a lot of followers is generally recognized as a religion while one who doesn’t have a lot of followers generally is not,” said UMaine anthropology professor Henry Muson.
Although cannabis is key to their practices, the temple does not sell it. The clergy plans to engage in voluntary reporting of their intended activities to local and state authorities, such as city governments, local police departments and the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency.
A goal of the temple is to increase by 500 members and add 1,000 emails to its mailing list. Loring often walks the streets or campus to talk to people about the temple. People can learn more at templegreen.org.
