Originally Posted by
dustyfox 
''Beast as entity isn’t complex in any manner , it is simply the desire for more alcohol. '' said dwtbd
Is it though?
Interesting discussion - and I wonder - Isn't the desire for more alcohol more complex than just the 'desire for more alcohol' - isn't also a desire to 'escape from something', to 'block something out', to 'avoid something', to 'deny something', to obliterate the true self because by consuming alcohol there is no need to have to listen to the true self, the big plan or whatever it might be called.
I agree the BEAST is a parasite but it isn't it more psychologically complex, more nuanced - somewhere back in the mists of all our times, there was a time where we had no beast - or do we we think the beast is always there in everyone but in many it never wakes - 0r was there BB ( before beast) and if there was how did it enter in the first place - is there an AB ( after Beast) I don't believe so as once he is known he cannot therefore be unknown. - I think it is perhaps to to simple to think in binary opposites like Beast and True self or whatever but it is helpful in , for me, early days where I need a strong message for myself.
Good questions. AVRT has created a definition for the Beast of AVRT for a specific reason. The only solution being sought is not just to NOT drink, it is to NEVER drink AGAIN. Other psychological issues are completely extraneous to whether someone can decide to NEVER drink again. I KNOW that for myself, and anyone using AVRT must come to know that, too, because ANYTHING contrary to that knowledge IS the Addictive Voice, not YOU. AVRT is a wonderfully direct and simple dissociative technique that avoids the whole morass of “triggers”, “excuses”, “learned helplessness”, etc, that is out there in the world of chemically dependent people trying to get by with bluffing, lying, and throwing out lots of red herrings in the path to confuse others they have infringed upon in order to secure future drunkenness with as few bad consequences as possible.
The Beast of AVRT is born when a person becomes chemically dependent, meaning the habituated appetite for booze has become incorporated into the midbrain appetite center as a “need” - like oxygen. When a chemically dependent person finally gets into so much trouble that they realize it’s time to stop drinking completely, then that chemically dependent person transitions into addiction. They are drinking again AGAINST their better judgement; they are ambivalent about drinking again while just chemically dependent people are not ambivalent, they believe it is right and good for them. The Beast of AVRT transitions from an as yet unidentified beloved partner in chemical dependency to a well defined and simplistic adversary in an addict who is learning AVRT. Dissociating from that very specifically defined adversary is what makes AVRT so effective.
The only reason anyone ever ingests flavored diluted ethanol is to gain the effects of that chemical on the brain and body. It is a deep pleasure, an assault of deep pleasure. A byproduct of that pleasure is the reduction of a human mind to chemically enhanced stupidity that can get into a lot of trouble in our complex society with complex relationships and roles we play.
It is silly to try to solve all the “excuses” that we come up with to decide to get drunk in order to figure out how to not drink any more. Also, by the time we have that first drink going down our throats feeling that wonderful familiar flavored alcohol, the problem the excuse was presenting to us? It’s already gone. We’re feeling great with the drink in hand. And what is our blood alcohol level at that time? STILL ZERO. So it can’t be getting alcohol into us that solves any of the excuses we come up with.