Long before entering treatment, serious questions arose about life without alcohol. These issues were never addressed in any type of reasonable inner-discourse because, for one thing, they usually came up while drinking. Booze aside, it became apparent the wrong questions were being asked. Addiction is a manifestation of the unchecked ego, and this ego will never permit “threats” to its existence to form, whether it is soul-searching or listening to a loved one’s concern. The questions were presented in way that made me out to be the victim…full of improper language and direction, if not completely misguided intention.
A few years ago I began to read G.I. Gurdjieff and Robert Anton Wilson, two great authors who espoused the use of positive words and thoughts to affect your own life and of those around you. One recent morning it struck me that this needed to be applied to the issue at hand if there was to be any breaking down of this unruly ego.
It’s working.
A very significant example that pertains to the recovering alcoholic is the nagging question: "Why can't I drink?" This pathetic inquiry contains not only the negative "can't" and the selfish "I", it lowers the defenses and applies undue importance and power to the act of drinking. It exudes a fatalistic energy and sets the mind in a destructive and self-pitying path. The more such an approach is taken the more one is bound to feel overwhelmed and vulnerable, less likely to view the world in a complimentary light and able advance towards recovery. The alternative, "why is it important to drink?", turns a greedy, defeatist question into one that will provide a substantially beneficial and introspective answer that everyone in this position possesses and needs to realize. With this we take an advantageous stance. We immediately diminish the power of alcohol and coax ourselves to search for the reason it has had control over the enjoyment and overall function of life.
The results came quite quickly.
Personally, the answer has multiple levels, of which here are a couple examples. First of all, I wouldn't be in the position to ask myself such a question if the act of drinking wasn't detrimental to begin with. I know the results over the years lay bare the fact that not much good has come from such behavior. In fact, the vast majority of bad experiences in my past have some direct correlation to alcohol consumption (blaming every bad experience on booze prevents us from appreciating the dynamic essence of life.) By disposing of that which causes heartache permits more potential for pleasure.
Secondly, does the survival of the human race rely upon a Margarita being made in one's mouth? Alcohol is not the mother's milk, and in fact has the potential to be quite the opposite. It had been a part of my profession for the past ten years to study the process of alcoholic fermentation, and while the act of yeast processing sugars into alcohol is certainly natural, there is no tipple out there that does not involve a complex process orchestrated by human kind. If our preservation necessitated the consumption of alcohol, the ethanol-laced liquid would be akin to water. The psychological and physiological damage endured by the addict is vast and deeply troubling.
More answers exist, but those given offer ample evidence that alcohol has no place in the life of one with an addictive personality (even after that character flaw may be properly dealt with.)
Choosing the proper words clearly makes a world of difference when forming such important and necessary questions. What we say and how we say them reflects and affects or inner well-being. Positive phraseology and mind-set is of absolute importance in conquering addiction.
© 2009 Uncover/Recover
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