Addictive Voice, Beast, Maturity
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Addictive Voice, Beast, Maturity
The AV (Addictive Voice) is said to reside in the primitive hippocampus (more specifically the amygdala) area near the brainstem, It is sometimes referred to as the “Lizard Brain”. I also call mine “The Beast”. Despite years of sobriety it still gives me some trouble. It lights me up when I get angry, fuels my obsessive- compulsive instincts, my irritation at inanimate objects (like that famous alcoholic movie actor, W.C. Fields, in “The Golf Specialist”, hopelessly entangling his golf club with newspapers and an apple pie). My “beast”says “Yes but...” to everything, urges me to do X when I want to do Y, encourages “multitasking” when I try to focus on “one thing at a time”. It seems as if I’m just getting started taming this “child within”. Even now, as I grow very old, it still seems like a wild mustang (see “The Nightmare” a 1781 painting by Anglo-Swiss artist Henry Fuseli (1741-1825)). (Google <Fuseli, Nightmare>)
I suspect that taming it is a little like “breaking” a wild mustang horse and that, when tamed, perhaps with techniques like in “The Horse Whisperer”, it might resemble a friendly horse. Taming it may involve going slowly, cautiously, carefully, always alert to its hidden agenda, its tendency to “game the system”, get what it wants, whether that be alcohol, other substances or just playing “uproar”, creating chaos, causing trouble.
Since its presence is accessible by introspection, its influence must have been known to the ancients, perhaps the early Christians, with their enmity of the “Devil” and their teaching that “the Kingdom of God is within” (as if the ultimate battle with the Devil were the struggle with the “Beast”), the Greeks with their emphasis on the importance of knowing oneself, the value of “moderation” in all things, the Buddhists (struggling with the world of “suffering”) and Lao Tzu, reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, advocate of “one thing at a time”, that by seeking to know all things, nothing gets known (so much for the Internet!).
Although I’ve been sober now for a long time, it seems as if I’ve just begun to “horse whisper”, tame my “Beast”!
W.
I suspect that taming it is a little like “breaking” a wild mustang horse and that, when tamed, perhaps with techniques like in “The Horse Whisperer”, it might resemble a friendly horse. Taming it may involve going slowly, cautiously, carefully, always alert to its hidden agenda, its tendency to “game the system”, get what it wants, whether that be alcohol, other substances or just playing “uproar”, creating chaos, causing trouble.
Since its presence is accessible by introspection, its influence must have been known to the ancients, perhaps the early Christians, with their enmity of the “Devil” and their teaching that “the Kingdom of God is within” (as if the ultimate battle with the Devil were the struggle with the “Beast”), the Greeks with their emphasis on the importance of knowing oneself, the value of “moderation” in all things, the Buddhists (struggling with the world of “suffering”) and Lao Tzu, reputed author of the Tao Te Ching, advocate of “one thing at a time”, that by seeking to know all things, nothing gets known (so much for the Internet!).
Although I’ve been sober now for a long time, it seems as if I’ve just begun to “horse whisper”, tame my “Beast”!
W.
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I wondered about the story behind those paintings, I'd seen them before. It's the creepy gargoyle dude that has my interest. Thanks, W.
'Taming the child within' might be an unreasonable goal. For me the answer is not to tame it, but to recognize it and accept it. This makes it easier for me to separate from it, become an observer of it, rather than trying to hang on to it while it drags me all over the place, pulling me through knotholes and barbed wire. It gives me emotional space so that I don't react immediately, I can let that amygdala do what it does, while I keep er out of the ditch.
How addiction hijacks the brain - Harvard Health Publications
'Taming the child within' might be an unreasonable goal. For me the answer is not to tame it, but to recognize it and accept it. This makes it easier for me to separate from it, become an observer of it, rather than trying to hang on to it while it drags me all over the place, pulling me through knotholes and barbed wire. It gives me emotional space so that I don't react immediately, I can let that amygdala do what it does, while I keep er out of the ditch.
How addiction hijacks the brain - Harvard Health Publications
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[QUOTE=freshstart57;4857003]I wondered about the story behind those paintings, I'd seen them before. It's the creepy gargoyle dude that has my interest. Thanks, W.
'Taming the child within' might be an unreasonable goal. For me the answer is not to tame it, but to recognize it and accept it. This makes it easier for me to separate from it, become an observer of it, rather than trying to hang on to it while it drags me all over the place, pulling me through knotholes and barbed wire. It gives me emotional space so that I don't react immediately, I can let that amygdala do what it does, while I keep er out of the ditch.
Man Love that! I honestly been working on my inner child and your paragraph speaks volumes to Me, because I came to the same conclusions, 
GREAT JOB!!!
'Taming the child within' might be an unreasonable goal. For me the answer is not to tame it, but to recognize it and accept it. This makes it easier for me to separate from it, become an observer of it, rather than trying to hang on to it while it drags me all over the place, pulling me through knotholes and barbed wire. It gives me emotional space so that I don't react immediately, I can let that amygdala do what it does, while I keep er out of the ditch.
Man Love that! I honestly been working on my inner child and your paragraph speaks volumes to Me, because I came to the same conclusions, GREAT JOB!!!
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Originally Posted by wpainterw 
Although I’ve been sober now for a long time, it seems as if I’ve just begun to “horse whisper”, tame my “Beast”!
W..
W..
Tame the beast by detaching from all matters of the beast. You are free yet the challenge is to act free, be free, transmit insight freedom from addiction, allow yourself the gift of liberation with conviction...and be such with communication to transmit freedom from addiction truthfully diligent with right intention...you have that.. be very convinced in your valuable experiences, life knowledge...deviate little from your truth. Stand with total conviction. Your experience is a gift for all concerned.
These gifts you have are immensely valuable.
I am very pleased to have your written insights so as I to grow from..
Blessed be.
Will. G.
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I am trying to make peace with my Beast. It has to learn its place; me as master and it in its cage. But it will be with me as long as I live, I realize that. It's not "evil" per se, just selfish and devoted to pleasure. What it loves is poisonous to me but it doesn't really understand that.
I've talked a bit about the "monkey brain" here at SR. I have more issues with my monkey brain than my Beast voice. The monkey is part that is ego, anger, rage, frustration, etc. Sadly the monkey is testosterone powered and stronger in men than in women but it's there. The monkey is the part of you that tells you to smack the guy that spilled your drink or honk at the A-hole that cut you off in traffic. It's my word for "ego".
Unfortunately no matter how I try to be "evolved" the monkey part of me is quick to bare its fangs. While I have learned to control it more as I get older (and not coincidentally because T declines as we get older) I'm still quick to anger. I cool down just as quickly but the heat of my anger can be frightening. It was very bad for the first six months of sobriety! I kind of avoided people because it didn't take much to set me off. I must point out that I'm not talking violence, just verbal venting.
I will credit maturity! I think we outgrow some of it, or at least we learn new ways to deal with things.
I've talked a bit about the "monkey brain" here at SR. I have more issues with my monkey brain than my Beast voice. The monkey is part that is ego, anger, rage, frustration, etc. Sadly the monkey is testosterone powered and stronger in men than in women but it's there. The monkey is the part of you that tells you to smack the guy that spilled your drink or honk at the A-hole that cut you off in traffic. It's my word for "ego".
Unfortunately no matter how I try to be "evolved" the monkey part of me is quick to bare its fangs. While I have learned to control it more as I get older (and not coincidentally because T declines as we get older) I'm still quick to anger. I cool down just as quickly but the heat of my anger can be frightening. It was very bad for the first six months of sobriety! I kind of avoided people because it didn't take much to set me off. I must point out that I'm not talking violence, just verbal venting.
I will credit maturity! I think we outgrow some of it, or at least we learn new ways to deal with things.
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P.S. I can recognize the beast in other folks. For example one 48 year old acquaintance who is all over the lot emotionally, seeking to "plan" everything, seeking to control all that goes on, childishly assuming that everything is done her way, manipulating others with her hidden agenda. Very toxic, a terrible role model for her children, yanking around her husband so that he does her bidding, which then transmutes to his kids so that they try to get him to do their bidding, mimicking their mother by threatening meltdowns if dad doesn't obey. The secret is that mom is being yanked around by her "beast" and has never developed the maturity and wisdom to get it under control.
Speaking of "beast", I watch my dog. He's a beast and also must have a "beast" within his brain. He's got a hidden agenda, tries to manipulate me into giving him a treat. But being a beast, he will never develop the introspection necessary to control and tame his inner "beast". He will never attain wisdom in any real way. Is any animal capable of doing that? A cat may appear wise, may have developed wisdom, self knowledge, but this is probably theatre. The cat thinks it knows but ain't telling. But it's a put on act. The elephant, on the other hand, not only looks mature and wise but may have attained something along that line. Are elephants manipulative? Are they self centered, wanting "what I want when I want and I want it right now"? They look very patient and appear to be living one step at a time. If the world were to be governed by animals instead of humans I would personally favor the elephants. Jonathan Swift, in an episode in "Gulliver's Travels", suggested horses. I disagree. Some horses can be similar to the one in Fuseli's "Nightmare" painting. I can't visualize Fuseli painting a "Nightmare" like elephant..
W.
Speaking of "beast", I watch my dog. He's a beast and also must have a "beast" within his brain. He's got a hidden agenda, tries to manipulate me into giving him a treat. But being a beast, he will never develop the introspection necessary to control and tame his inner "beast". He will never attain wisdom in any real way. Is any animal capable of doing that? A cat may appear wise, may have developed wisdom, self knowledge, but this is probably theatre. The cat thinks it knows but ain't telling. But it's a put on act. The elephant, on the other hand, not only looks mature and wise but may have attained something along that line. Are elephants manipulative? Are they self centered, wanting "what I want when I want and I want it right now"? They look very patient and appear to be living one step at a time. If the world were to be governed by animals instead of humans I would personally favor the elephants. Jonathan Swift, in an episode in "Gulliver's Travels", suggested horses. I disagree. Some horses can be similar to the one in Fuseli's "Nightmare" painting. I can't visualize Fuseli painting a "Nightmare" like elephant..
W.
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P.S. It's interesting that some respondents say that they can't tame or "horse whisper" their "Beast" but that they can train themselves to sense its influence in many aspects of their lives (not just alcoholism) and can guard against this. Perhaps there is little difference between "taming" and "guarding against" and it may be that the latter is safer since one thing is clear: the "Beast" can be tricky and dangerous. In many ways it can be your most deadly enemy. You can't get rid of it (short of surgery removing your "lizard" brain area, which, situated just above the brain stem, would be inevitably fatal). You can try to confine, it, put it in a cage, but it may still try to influence your behavior. It may interact with the "Beasts" it finds elsewhere, that is in other people, leading to arguments, riots and wars. Whether we think of "taming" or "confining" (i.e. caging) the "Beast" it all comes down to working on maturity, a process which tends to be postponed by alcoholics and substance abusers until sobriety.
W.
W.
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Originally Posted by wpainterw
For example one 48 year old acquaintance who is all over the lot emotionally, seeking to "plan" everything, seeking to control all that goes on, childishly assuming that everything is done her way, manipulating others with her hidden agenda. Very toxic, a terrible role model for her children, yanking around her husband so that he does her bidding, which then transmutes to his kids so that they try to get him to do their bidding, mimicking their mother by threatening meltdowns if dad doesn't obey. The secret is that mom is being yanked around by her "beast" and has never developed the maturity and wisdom to get it under control.
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Originally Posted by SoberJennie
Ha, I never saw that one, W
W.
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Yes, a control freak, manipulative, self obsessed nun with a very active "Beast". Very robust amygdala. She's not a drunk but she's out of control. Streep is a wonder at nearly any role.
W.
W.
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