Redmayne

In my recovery I've gone from being a 'high functioning alcoholic' who couldn't imagine a day passing without, at some point the consumption of alcohol. Bringing with it all the fear,guilt, low self esteem and self loathing I'm sure many of us also experienced...

To being a very spiritual person, my thoughts on it being along the lines of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin saying, 'We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, but spiritual beings having a human experience.'

Perhaps none so much as the terrifying aspects of addiction or alcoholism???

So when I came across this from Eric Clapton aka 'Old slowhand', reflecting on my own efforts to make spiritual progress. I not only identified with it, in the sense that it really resonated, like the strings of a guitar, with me,

'My identity shifted when In got into recovery. That's who I am now, and it actually gives me greater pleasure to have that that identity than being a musician or anything else, because it keeps me in a manageable size.... it gives me a spiritual anchor.'

For me, it's the anchor that's important as it's always seemed important to others to describe alcoholism as a two fold disease/illness consisting of a physical allergy and a mental obsession whilst failing to mention the by product of which is a spiritual malady...

On which basis, I'm with Eric because whilst I accept the main problem for the alcoholic, centres in the mind, the mind itself needs an anchor. Otherwise you end up with what the Buddhists refer to as 'a monkey mind', jumping around all over the place, out of control guided by its own instincts and desires. Which is what got me started in the first place, and before you know it you're back where you started....and this time there's no guarantee you'll make it back again...

Bird615

Yes! That's what I would call it too--a spiritual anchor.

Being aware of and connecting to a higher source is what has made all the difference and I've also learned that I don't need to let my mind control me the way it used to.

Redmayne

Thank you, that's a great way of looking at it, perhaps reflected in Marcus Aurelius saying,'You have power over your mind, not outside events. Realize this and you will gain strength' and the words of 'The Serenity Prayer'....