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    alcohol and spirituality

    i wont begin this thread in some psuedo romantic way . tho it may seem like it . for me at any rate a lot of poets ,writers that i admire were boozers , but at least they worked thier way to some stable form of genious .
    (dont comment on my spelling mistakes im dyselixc)
    . everyone has thier own problems for drinking , for me its always been to fill some sort of vacum inside of me . thier has been other threads about AA here ihave been to a lot of meetings but for that particular organization it was just a mish mash of guilt and sin . and like someone told me when i went to a meeting " oh youve got the disease" youll be safe with us .... why go from one crutch to another ?
    im not going going to spend the rest of my life continually recycling how many days i ve been sober then welcome a new member in a egotistical fashion .
    . ive been to smaller community groups i found thier people were more genuine
    ,, yet i never realted to them
    wether this is because i assumed a elitist bravado i dont know , tho one guy i had a friendship died this time last year of a fit in bed
    but all this is going off the beaten track
    i drink ( tho its got a lot better) ......
    to fill a void , yet this void cant not be filled with ie . losing myself in a realtionship , money. posessions or some religious or political ideal ..
    so what is left ? .
    just myself . and trying to dissolve this "I" . ie a state of self of self concoiusness that perpatuates my own tradegy , as zen says ......."throw away your mind"
    ie just let be . guess the beatles wrote about that
    prehaps im just a symptom of the age i live in , i used to be a existentialist until i discovered that was just a philosphy of crisis and living with absurdity
    we all have the solutions to our problems . ive finally found mine
    ..transcendance

    #2
    alcohol and spirituality

    Very interesting post, Jay. You got me thinking... I do believe there is a purely physical side to alcohol addiction, but I also believe that there is a spiritual side. For example, AAthlete claims to have finally found peace through some sort of spiritual experience. I don't know what that is, but I wish I did.

    Anyway, I think we have to chip away at the addiction from all different directions-- physical, mental, spiritual.

    And, in the end, really, doesn't everyone want to be at peace-- with themselves, with the world? Isn't alcohol a horribly twisted attempt at that? Others, who are not addicted to alcohol, use other means to try to find peace, some of them just as destructive, or more so, than alcohol, some far less.

    (Maybe AA fills that void for some? just a thought. For me, it seemed like AA tries to take away your own power to search (and find) on your own. But let's not turn this into an AA thread, ok?)
    Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

    Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Adress, 2005

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      #3
      alcohol and spirituality

      PS-- can you elaborate on transcedence? If you have found your solution, please share!
      Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

      Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Adress, 2005

      Comment


        #4
        alcohol and spirituality

        i dont think ive found a solution per say. but what ive found its only dissolving this personal sense of me . me and to stop continually making our own tradegies can we slowly or surely can make any genuine step forward in any direction
        the writer joseph cambell once siad the greatest fear of any human being is a change of conciousness ie from self to a greater self .
        that in my opinion is the root of all this human striving and prehaps with the collpase of the "self" we awake to a new one but as society and religion (which is no more than a middle class morality of a personal god) negates the whole individual its a hard road .
        we all have to figure it out for oursleves .

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          #5
          alcohol and spirituality

          Here`s to us all "figuring it out", jay. Am 42 and still really haven`t a clue........I don`t know what life is all about. I think before I truly grow up, I need to simply grow. Have my first therapy session in the morning........God help the therapist!!! :H

          Starlight Impress x

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            #6
            alcohol and spirituality

            letting go and letting things be, sounds very easy, but when you actually try, you will find that you are so attached and tangled in a web of our own creation that it becomes difficult to free ones self.
            becoming self aware, not self absorbed is the first step.
            You can't turn a pickle into a cucumber

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              #7
              alcohol and spirituality

              Jay - good to 'see' you...and a very interesting thread. I will follow with interest...

              May I just 'hijack it' to give Star a loving KICK!!! Wotdyamean!?!?! God help the therpaist?!?! LUCKY therapist! Hey love - this is for you coz you deserve to 'figure it out' and he/she's there for you - receive it...with trust that you are fine; no better place to start than where you are now.....! (As in that's only ever the only place we are!)

              Thanks Jay.
              :heart: c: :heart:
              "Be patient and gentle with yourself - the magic is in you."

              Comment


                #8
                alcohol and spirituality

                Jay, I think your leanings reflect much of the "message", if you can call it that, of Buddhism. Losing yourself to the greater self...

                Our Western culture's values are almost exactly the opposite, aren't they?

                From my readings in Buddhism, I also understand compassion to be a major element. I try to apply that (being a naturally sarcastic and self-centred person) to others and I have had good results in understanding others as a result of my efforts. (I wish the people I am, or was, close to would do the same towards me, but that is another story.)

                Yes, we all have to figure it out for ourselves...
                Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

                Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Adress, 2005

                Comment


                  #9
                  alcohol and spirituality

                  Jay, are you OK????????
                  sigpicXXX

                  Comment


                    #10
                    alcohol and spirituality

                    Hi Jay....I tend to feel that all addictions are actually spiritual (or in the psyche, in the profound sense of that word)....although physical addiction may follow for some.

                    Your phrase 'to fill the void' resonates with me. Inside myself I am constantly hungry for something.....I used to think alcohol could fill it. I still don't know what it is!

                    I like Joseph Campbell too. I have some of his words on my wall in my workspace. I particularly like his one word one.............."Jump!"

                    It would be good to hear more from you about it.

                    Suze x
                    Just hand me the chocolate and.........I'll consider my position. My solicitor has advised me to say no more than that.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      alcohol and spirituality

                      interesting jay. you know perhaps you've read a good deal of david hawkins as he is on the path of enlightenment and his first writing power vs. force differentiating the I, ego states. well, he was addicted to many things along the path and freed himself of those addictions although later on in his consciousness he did indeed begin to smoke again although i'm not sure if he claimed it as an addiction or an experiment of a state. since it isn't the i with the addiction anyway always the consciousness states of the ego, one could say there isn't anything to transcend. in fact, any conversation to do with it could be said to be simply that a conversation or series of them and a very powerful illusion inside of it. hummmm. i have to go back and pull those books off the shelf
                      :welcome:

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                        #12
                        alcohol and spirituality

                        I can't follow you at all BCB. I am a bit tired (but AF tonight), ... is it me? Maybe I should just go to bed. Don't feel like it just yet, but, well, what ARE you talking about?
                        Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life... And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.

                        Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Adress, 2005

                        Comment


                          #13
                          alcohol and spirituality

                          "lighten up" is a good philosophy

                          That void for me was all the things I couldn't do whilst drinking.

                          Going for a bike ride with my child does it for me now - for a student of philosophy I have come back to basics.

                          Navel gazing makes me wanna drink

                          Cashy
                          "Life is what happens to you when you're busy making other plans" - John Lennon

                          Comment


                            #14
                            alcohol and spirituality

                            hahaahahaha beetle. was just talking about enlightment and consciousness honey. hahahahahaaha you crack me up beetle. it wouldn't make such unless you had read one of hawkins books. and he is great fun to read actually. yummy stuff. and i would say he is about lightening up considering it is "enlightenment" ahahahahahahahaah
                            :welcome:

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                              #15
                              alcohol and spirituality

                              Cashregister, that was very funny!

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