getr345

Spirituality!

That, above all, is what I have discovered in my journey through addiction, through sobriety, through recovery; and finally into a life of spirituality where once there was only addiction, concerns of the flesh and things that I could use to make myself feel "good". I now can clearly understand why the spiritual awakening is such an important step in AA and in any similar 12 step program.

Spirituality is the opposite of addiction.

The opposite of addiction is spirituality.

You know deep down inside it's true, and maybe I always did too.

In a nutshell, IMO the brain is the "seat" of the soul (the throne of the King) the vital organ responsible for care and well being of the spirit. When that organ is focused away from it's true purpose, focused away from it's duty to the soul because of addiction; we cannot see clearly our spirit or our soul. All we can see is the physical world and we focus on what we want or what we think we need. Sadly, the vital organ responsible for the soul is made a slave by addiction. And so it lies. It denies. It commands the body to act only in accordance with it's addicted needs. Through addiction, the brain becomes our enemy. An enemy to our body AND spirit. An enemy to our soul.

When the addicted mind finds true recovery, what "replaces" it in the best case scenario is spirituality and Bill W. knew this and so does anyone who has ever truly been through it. Free of addiction, the vital organ we call the brain can once again (or maybe for the very first time) do what it is meant to do, it can be LOYAL and useful to you and your spirit, to you and your soul.

The opposite of addiction is spirituality.

drent

I couldnt disagree more with this post. It sounds like its just replacing one addiction with another addiction. It just happens that Spirituality isnt as harmful to your health. I think the best thing to replace addiction with is life. Just go out and live it, for better or worst, just live it.

getr345

That's OK you disagree, if only you had elaborated more fully your disagreement perhaps we'd have something to discuss about it. As it stands now for me, I have no real interest in trying to convince anyone that what I believe it true, that's a useless endeavor that never worked for me (or on me) in my past, I had to find out for myself. It's about sharing ideas, and inspiring people if I can. Glad if I did too. OK if I didn't. You'll notice there are two words I did not use in this post or in this thread and that's because in the context of spirituality and a higher power as I understand it; those two words have no place and only serve to put up walls where there need be none.

If you're sober, I congratulate you. If you are still struggling, I hope only the best for you.

Isaiah

I agree, but I might be a bit sympathetic to Drent as well.

I think addiction is a pattern of behavior above all. Spirituality is often the thing that brings many of us toward a proper mode of behavior. As someone who would like to think of himself as spiritual I know that I find a better direction for my behavior in acting in accordance and cooperation with what I believe to be my God's/HP's path.

But I think Drent's criticisms reign true. Spirituality cannot be an escapism from the world. I think life, living vitally, is a greater thing than a misshapen belief. I might argue that as someone who is not only spiritual, but proudly "religious," that I find plenty of life in my belief. But the main thing for me is that no one should buy into what they do not believe. Believe in God, or believe in a Higher Power, believe in none of those things but just don't lie to yourself.

getr345

Presently, I find that the opposite is more true, that the material world cannot be (should not be) an escape from spirituality, and that for many people (most especially the addicted)...it is. Let me ask you both this then: if spirituality is not the opposite of addiction, what then is?

Isaiah

I, myself, agree with you completely.

I am an anti-materialist, lets-get-back-to-basics fool. However, I cannot ever, not even for a moment, condoning anyone developing a spirituality that is not genuine. And I don't think sobriety must depend on some sort of spiritual awakening. I think it's awesome whenever one finds religion/spirituality a blessing in their life, but I don't want to push the atheists and agnostics out of recovery if they find nothing. To believe in God or a HP simply to aid recovery is worse than heresy.

I mean a big thing, a huge thing, for my recovery is helping others. But I cannot get myself to tell someone like Drent that he must believe in God--let alone my God--or any spiritual principle in order for him to stop. That's not my message, it's not divine, no matter how its encoded in AA lit it ain't necessarily true.

If we're going to say that spirituality is the alternative to drunkeness then we better have something to offer people, not merely vague promises from one religious perspective or another, how someone might genuinely come across our ideas without having to sacrifice their integrity or conviction.

getr345

No agenda, just sharing what has worked for me. Sharing how it happened for me, in spite of my best efforts to control it, or steer it to meet the demands of my addictions, my expectations, and my bias. My spiritual awakening was totally organic, and totally genuine. I did NOT seek it out as a part of recovery, it simply became a part of it because it IS a part of it. It seemed that when I was able to (by force of will really) overcome the addictions in my life, my mind became much more open to spirituality and I was able to see that (for me) the opposite of addiction on my mind was (and is) the power of spirituality in my life.

Where one is in control, the other cannot thrive.

Isaiah

If you get a gift in sobriety, if it's not some b.s. of your own making, run with it like a sprinter to a goal line.

Rock whatever you've been given.

ru12

I would posit that the opposite of addiction is, well, indifference or apathy. The opposite of spirituality is perhaps secularism.

Untoxicated

I think the opposite of addiction is bacon...because bacon is awesome.

Soph

Untoxicated, then you invite more debate: turkey bacon or regular bacon? ;-)

How about, who cares about defining the opposite of this or the opposite of that.

I guess maybe, getr345, to write something like "you know deep down inside it's true" to the whole world at large is, well, a bit of a sweeping statement.

So perhaps to preface personal philosophies with IMO or IMHO would avoid debate. Although maybe debate is good too, I don't know.

All I can say is, whatever keeps you sober and safe to yourself and others is great!

Soph

Boleo

I agree with the idea that spirituality is not the opposite of addiction. I was spiritual before, during and after my addiction. In fact, I would say my early days of drug & alcohol use/abuse were the most spiritual time in my life. The trouble was, it took more and more drugs/alcohol to reproduce the effect. At some point it robbed me of nearly all of my spirituality.

Calling spirituality an addiction that interferes with life is like saying spirituality is a false life. The eastern religions and philosophies point out that it is the non-spiritual life that is false (Maya). Also to imply that spirituality is "addictive", misses the point that spirituality is highest level of conscious and thus, the goal of human evolution.

If I had to choose a word that was the exact opposite of addiction, I would say it would be detachment. Not the psychological type of detachment that Psychiatrists talk about, but the spiritual kind that Meister Eckhart talks about:

“He who would be serene and pure needs but one thing, detachment.”

michelle01

I can see what gtr is getting at, even though I don't want to think of spirituality as just a means to an end, spirituality can be an important component of sobriety for many. We can all have different associations with the term 'spirituality'. If I am feeling spiritually balanced, there tends to be a flow on effect to other areas of my life. Not saying that it is a magic wand, there are still the day to day difficulties, but I am more at peace with them.

It's not an instant fix, and it is important to have balance in all areas of your life in recovery... that may take time to sort out for some folks.