Originally Posted by
DoubleDragons 
but reality is to get to this level of self honesty, I think most people have to have had a major crisis that gave them no choice but to get honest with themselves. That is the blessing of our addictions that stopped working for us.
I find this to be true for people with many other chronic illnesses as well. I've seen it in many other contexts... A couple years ago I was wondering, looking through my history of friendships and relationships: why is it packed with people with all sorts of problems? Both mental and physical. I am definitely not a codependent type of person, so it's not because I feel a need to "fix them". I think it is because of what you guys said. The self-awareness and honesty is just irresistible. Most people need to be their lives "taken away" from them in order to appreciate it and get "real" about it. I think the kind of afflictions that involve self-destruction, like addictions, are especially powerful to lead people on this read because it's self-inflicted and not just "happens to us" passively. I'm still not convinced all this has to do with
a priori abilities and intelligence on the general scale. More lots of development.