On Advancing Spiritual Growth:by Peter S. Lopez ~aka Peta~

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2009/07/on-advancing-spiritual-growth-by-peter.html

Previous Post: Sunday, July 26, 2009
Update: Sunday, October 18, 2009

~ Stages of Spiritual Healing ~

Spiritual healing from the affliction of addiction is a dynamic active process that starts out, develops and advances in three (3) distinct succeeding stages:
1. Physical sobriety;
2. Progressive recovery; and
3. Spiritual liberty.

At times these different stages of development can blend into each other; they are not static, fixed and frozen, but fluid and flexible in the flowing flux of connected reality. Sometimes we need to focus on one specific area more than another in light of the immediate existential situation we are in ~ our own here and now before us at the time.

"Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
~ Dr. Carl Jung {July 26, 1875 ~ June 6, 1961}

First of all we must achieve a state of physical sobriety, one must get sober to stay sober; second, one must get actively involved building up a solid strong spiritual program based upon the A.A. 12-Steps; and third, we must consciously work hard on our spiritual growth as responsible global citizens of the world.

“I just know that you are expected, at some point, to do more than carry the Message of A.A. to other alcoholics. In A.A. we aim not only for sobriety---we try again to become citizens of the world that we rejected, and the world that once rejected us. This is the ultimate demonstration toward which Twelfth Step work is the first but not the final step.”
Source: As Bill Sees It: Citizens Again, LETTER 1959 by Bill Wilson {November 26, 1895 – January 24, 1971}

In the process, we want to be liberated from all addictions, especially chemical dependency on drugs and alcohol, unless prescribed for valid medical reasons. We cannot be content with only arresting our addiction. We aim to get rid of the evil plague of addiction once and for all. We need to come together, heal ourselves and seek a real cure. Go all the way or do not venture onward at all. Just try to stay sober on your own and see how long you last. Along the way, we must change the things we can in our lives, as the Complete Serenity Prayer says:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, and the Wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time; enjoying one moment at a time; accepting hardship as the pathway to peace. Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it. Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; that I may be reasonably happy in this life, and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen!”
~ Attributed to Reinhold Neibuhr ~
Websource: http://www.aahistory.com/prayer.html

We must surrender our selfish self-will and put our will power in good harmony with the divine will of the Creator of the cosmos: our Highest Power. If we are in recovery, much of our past addiction involved a selfish egocentric mentality because of our deep fears, personal problems, inner insecurities and avoiding challenges we face in life.

We had the ‘me first’ mentality and always had to make sure we had our ‘issue‘ and satisfied our base animal needs. As a result, we were not concerned with the needs of others, failed to unite with the real world, ignored the impact of our social environment and became divorced from our Creator. Now we need to really wake up, closely examine our past, appreciate the gift of the present and have an inner vision for the future. We need to reach out to help others and thereby actually help ourselves. Helping others makes the world a safer place to be, raises our own personal self-esteem and makes us feel better about who are in our new sane and sober life-style.

~ Physical Sobriety ~

It all begins with a firm decision to stay sober one day at a time. Sobriety is the basis of the whole healing process. Sobriety is a free open gateway available to all who suffer from addiction and leads to active involvement in a strong recovery treatment process and spiritual program.

In practicing sobriety we rid our bodies of the chemical toxins and poisons that have polluted and infected our bodies. We pay attention to our general nutrition, get involved in a physical-spiritual fitness program, including karma yoga, marital arts and deep meditation. In essence, we get involved in our general health and well being. Yes, there are also spiritual poisons we need to recognize that involve eliminating main core character defects, overcoming personal shortcomings and exorcising any inner demons. Those are the reasons why we need to participate in an on-going spiritual program. In fact, obvious outer signs of addiction are really symptoms of deeper core issues in our lives that need to be addressed, understood and resolved on a mental-spiritual level, not the real root origins of the addiction itself.

No sobriety, no chance of any lasting recovery. No recovery, no chance of real spiritual liberty. Understand that the recovery process itself is part of a larger wider spiritual healing process in the form of a spiritual liberation program.

~ Early Recovery ~

In early recovery we are first exposed to the basic spiritual principles and general guidelines of the original A.A. 12-Steps which originally came from the Holy Bible. Those who claim to be into recovery and do not know that the A.A. 12-Steps came from the Holy Bible do not know true A.A. history. As Dr. Bob Smith, an A.A. co-founder along with Bill Wilson and upon whose sobriety date A.A. got its founding date of June 10, 1935, revealed:

“It wasn’t until 1938 that the teachings and efforts and studies that had been going on were crystallized in the form of the Twelve Steps. I didn’t write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do with the writing of them. . . . We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got them, as I said, as a result of our study of the Good Book.”
Source: The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975, pp. 11-14):
Sources: http://www.dickb.com/Christian_Endeavor.shtml

At this early stage, we learn about incorporating the 12-Steps into our personal lives; go to different recovery meetings on a regular basis; get a sponsor to help guide us through the 12-Steps; improve our general literacy level; study the basic recovery literature; discuss relevant related topics; build up a strong support network; and learn the general guidelines for living life on life’s terms sane and sober. It is hard honest work!

Many people have problems working certain steps, such as the 4th and 5th Steps, which involve a deep personal inventory and confessing our wrongdoings before God and another humane being. The ideal is to first work all the 12-Steps as good as we can, then be willing to go over them from time to time again and again in order to learn them well, stay fresh and not get stale.

Along the way we get more and more connected to our inner soul, our true core character and learn better who we really are on the inside today. We get to know ourselves again in the new bright light of truth. We should experience a daily spiritual awakening, be open to a deep spiritual conversion and strive to be in harmony with the universe, not in stubborn resistance and blind opposition to it. We must commit ourselves to real personal change in any area of our life where we need self-improvement. Our being Honest, Open and Willing to change for the better is absolutely essential for spiritual progress and that is HOW the program works for us.

Even if we suffer a relapse we always need to keep coming back to the rooms of recovery for refreshment. Always remember that a severe relapse is NOT a part of recovery, it is a part of one’s continued sickness and exposes a need for further self-understanding and spiritual revelation about who we really are today. A relapse is really a matter of having a weak useless recovery program, forgetting the basics and an example of lingering self-hatred and self-destructive ways.

If we survive early recovery without a severe relapse then we have arrived at a good understanding of the basic recovery process and our spiritual program. We become aware of the need to dig deeper and find out why we got caught up in the insane suicidal ways of past drug addiction in the first place. We learn from our past mistakes, clearly see the lives of others, both positive and negative examples, and remember the life lessons we have learned the hard way in order to prevent any future self-destruction.

~ We Are Recovering Addicts ~

We need to make a firm decision to get involved in a strong progressive recovery program that has a spiritual basis. We maintain our sobriety as we work on our spiritual growth in order to be free, to be liberated from our addictions and their harmful side-effects. The very nature of a real recovery process is progressive, positive and recognizes the impact of social conditions on our lives. It is the oppressive social conditions in our lives that drive us to escape from them via ‘dope and booze’ that must ultimately be transformed. Beyond recovery, it is all about spiritual growth and transforming connected reality. We must show within our own lives the real transformation we seek in the outer world.

Life is all about changes, transitions and transformations. Look at the comings and goings of the days and nights, the changes of the passing seasons. A real living life is growing, expanding and moving forward in a progressive fashion.

Unfortunately, many good honest people get stuck along the way in their recovery, fail to move beyond early recovery and end up getting strung out and addicted to the recovery process itself with the same obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) they had in their former chemical addiction. Some pride themselves on chasing recovery like they use to chase the ‘dope bag’ instead of proceeding in a calm, rational and balanced manner without needless worry, undue anxiety or mindless stress. At times we need to just stay still, take a deep breath, get down on our knees and pray.

Many falsely believe that ‘once an addict always an addict’ and continue to claim that they are addicts even though they are no longer indulging in street drugs or practicing drug addicts. How can we ever recover, hope to be healed and seek a real cure if we believe that it is impossible?

We former addicts who are now into the progressive recovery process are no longer practicing our past addiction. We are at a new higher level of spiritual consciousness. We should stay wide awake and ever mindful of the priceless preciousness of our natural sobriety. There is a qualitative difference between a drug addict lost in his addiction and a recovering drug addict seeking self-empowerment and helping others who are lost find their way home.

We should stop labeling and condemning ourselves as being addicts and expose the big lie of ‘once an addict always an addict’. We show by our personal examples that the program works for us because we work the program. We should proudly yet humbly declare to others that we are honest humane beings working on our recovery and spiritual growth as ‘recovering addicts’.

Even the old notion of a blanket anonymity should be cast aside as a form of denial of the truth about who we are today. We were surely not all anonymous in our active addiction, why should we hide our being involved in progressive recovery today? The foundation of our spiritual program is a firm belief in the Creator, not any A.A. anonymity. If someone does not want to have anything to do with you because you are into recovery then let them go their own way and you go yours. Avoid fools. Use plain common sense wisdom when dealing with an employer or authority figure, but do not create bad karma with a lie.

Remember the power of the word, the power of belief-systems and the power of labels we define ourselves as. Society already has its own perverted prejudices against drug addicts. Many thousands are caged in prisons because of simple drug possession. Why feed into it? Why add to our own suffering by putting false labels on ourselves? Who wants to hire an addict for a decent job, who can trust an addict or who will fully accept an addict as a parent?

We want to get rid of all forms of fanaticism, all obsessive compulsive disorders and all manifestations of addiction, not replace one addictive behavior pattern with another twisted addictive behavior pattern.

Some folks become stale talking Big Books, cannot think outside the book and fail to speak their own minds. The Big Book is not the Holy Bible! Many repeat the same old worn-out catchy phrases, clichés and automatic answers they picked up along the way, instead of expressing their own fresh original ideas, honest heartfelt opinions and personal analyzes as free thinkers with common sense wisdom.

~ Progressive Recovery ~

When we are strong in our progressive recovery it is time to continue to spread the message of spiritual liberty to others in our lives who sincerely want our help and are ready to make the necessary life-style changes to get better. We cannot force recovery on anybody. It takes what it takes. We can only point the way for others, go our own ways and do our own personal inventory. Ultimately it is an inside job between each of us and our Maker. We best teach spirituality by the power of our personal examples, appreciating the serenity of sobriety and by daily practicing our new found spiritual principles in all our ways.

The term ‘recovery’ is basically a medical term, as when we go into a treatment program for a serious medical illness. Our basic spiritual program helps to prepare and equip us with the tools for sober living, along with other methods of spiritual healing. However, we cannot recover what we never had. Recovery itself will not get you the house, job or life long relationship you never had, though its benefits do have promises. We seek to recover from the rages and ravages of addiction, not fantasize about what we never had. As we advance in our recovery we enter more and more deeper into an open spirituality guided by common sense wisdom.

We should be very practical, very realistic and always remember that this is a very simple program for those who have complicated their lives with the affliction of addiction. For us, recovery means staying sober, getting well, working a spiritual program and continuing to work on our lifelong spiritual maturity. In essence, growing up to be the best we can be.

We can stay straight, be recovered and do it one day at a time with a vision for a bright future ahead. We will always need to safeguard our sobriety and watch out a stupid slip does not go down into a full-blown relapse. Now that we are into sober recovery and spirituality we are armed with the tools, techniques and weapons we need to win the war of life between the forces of light and darkness.

Many times the basics must be repeated over and over again until these ideas are planted deep within our consciousness so that they stay in our memory. We want to keep them in our memory banks and remember them at least on a subconscious level.

Drug addiction itself is the most complete disease known to man because it attacks all of us in the trinity of the mind, body and soul; it attacks our whole being as a human being and has negative bad side-effects on our family ties, our larger community and the world in general. Thus, our overall spiritual program should have a solid and sound wholistic approach that addresses the complexities of who we are as triune beings and where we are at in the big picture of the world at large.

Solitary individual isolation or group exclusion when we attempt to shut out the world outside is a real danger. True social integration on a multi-dimensional level in our lives is where it is at for us to be winners. We should not be afraid of new situations, new learning experiences and facing new challenges. Go out into the world bold and brave!

We should be busy transforming the things in life that slow down, retard or block our spiritual growth. In order to stay sober and survive with our sanity we must continue onward on spiritual pathways towards spiritual liberation. It all about growing up, hanging up our hangups, taking direct responsibility for our lives and helping others along the way to become better humane beings with spiritual principles, humane values and living healthy life-styles guided by a common sense wisdom that seeks pure love, inner peace and mutual understanding.

As we persevere and advance in our spiritual growth we find that life begins to open up for us. The future before us has unlimited potential. It is the process of the journey that is more important than the destination. If you do not stay on this journey you will not reach your destination: to live in love with life happy, free and with a liberated soul.

We must examine the social conditions in our communities that made many of us seek a false escape through indulgence in drugs and the suicidal life-style of the typical drug addict. All along the way we need to help raise consciousness, spread our messages, support positive progressive causes and get actively involved in basic community action to help make this a better, safer and cleaner world for us and generations to follow. It is not all about us as lone solitary individuals; it is about us helping others and helping ourselves in the same process. Recovery is good for our spirits, society and the world at large.

The rate of development of our real spiritual growth will vary from time to time. Sometimes we grow faster than at other times. Sometimes we need to slow down, take stock of our situation and not be afraid to ask for help from others who are more experienced. In the long run, it is the quality of our spiritual growth that is more important than the quantity of sobriety time. Sometimes we are in an empty void where it seems that we are not moving forward. Appreciate the void as a time when we need to stop, breathe, take inventory and appreciate our progress so far. Look ahead!

We need to be patient with ourselves and others as we persevere in our spiritual growth. One should not still be stuck with the hurry-up rush attitude of the old dope fiend who wants instant gratification of his animal needs, a quick microwave recovery and is unwilling to do the concentrated deep spiritual work that is required to get well. At times, we may get irritable and inpatient with others and exhibit the after-effects of PAWS (Post Acute Withdrawal Syndrome). Keep an undying inner faith in God and yourself; believe in the overall process of spiritual healing. Trust God that it will all come out for the best for all of us so long as we hold onto our spiritual principles, keep our integrity and make wise decisions in our lives as humane beings with love, concern and compassion for others.

Spiritual growth on a personal level is a very private matter unique to each soul. Each of us has our own truth, our own way of looking at life and should be guided by the light of love. Others can offer general guidelines when it comes to your way of moving forward but if it is all to come true it is up to you.

The soul is eternal and out lives the host body. We are ultimately spiritual beings having a lifetime experience in physical bodies. Our bodies always fall in the end, but the very quintessence of our spirit lives on lifetime after lifetime in our quest towards oneness with the Creator.

We are here now to heal ourselves and the sickness in the world, to help others advance and advance our own spiritual growth, development and maturity as we struggle towards the ultimate aim of true spiritual liberation from the chains of addiction and all forms of oppression that bring us pain, sadness and suffering.


c/s

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On the Spiritual Healing of Drug Addiction: by Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-spiritual-healing-of-drug-addiction.html

Original Posted: Wednesday, September 03, 2008
Update: Friday, May 15, 2009

Main Entry: heal
Pronunciation: \’hēl\
Function: verb
Etymology: Middle English helen, from Old English hǣlan; akin to Old High German heilen to heal, Old English hāl whole — more at whole
Date: before 12th century
transitive verb

1 a: to make sound or whole b: to restore to health
2 a: to cause (an undesirable condition) to be overcome : mend b: to patch up (a breach or division)
3: to restore to original purity or integrity

intransitive verb: to return to a sound state

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Table of Contents

~ Introduction ~

~ Definition of Spiritual Healing ~

~ Causes of Severe Relapses in Recovery ~

~ Wholistic Healing ~

~ The Spiritual Disease of Drug Addiction ~

~ Spiritual Healing of a Wounded Soul ~

<<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>><<>>

~Introduction~

The following is an overview on the spiritual healing of the deadly disease of drug addiction in the world today. Drug addiction is a clinical disease yet it should be seen as ultimately a spiritual disease. The outer chemical dependency shows surface symptoms of a vast constellation of other deep core spiritual issues going on: unresolved spiritual conflicts, critical life traumas, past emotional wounds and other key disorders that drive us into seeking a false escape from the painful issues of life by indulging in alcohol and other unnatural mind-altering drugs to the point of all-out addiction and our becoming drug addicts.

The human being is an entity in a trinity composed of the three interrelated realms of the mind, body and soul. At its core, it is the inner spirit ~ the essence of our soul ~ that must be healed for one to become a true highly evolved humane being who has real care, concern and compassion for all living beings.

~Definition of Spiritual Healing~

Spiritual healing is defined as “a systematic, purposeful intervention by one or more persons aiming to help another living being (person, animal, plant, or other living system) by means of focused intention, hand contact, or passes to improve their condition. Spiritual healing is brought about without the use of conventional energetic, mechanical, or chemical interventions. Some healers attribute spiritual healing effects to God, Christ, other "higher powers," spirits, universal or cosmic forces or energies, biological healing energies or forces residing in the healer, psychokinesis (mind over matter), or self-healing powers or energies latent in the healee. Psychological interventions are inevitably part of healing, but spiritual healing adds many dimensions to interpersonal factors."

Source: Spiritual Healing for Mental Health ~ Shannon, Scott (ed), Handbook of Complementary and Alternative Therapies in Mental Health, San Diego, CA: Academic/Harcourt 2001, 258-267. ~ Posted 2/26/02
http://wholistichealingresearch.com/spiritualhealingmentalhealth.html

~Causes of Severe Relapses in Recovery~

As a general rule, the basic causes of a severe relapse that can take us out of a progressive recovery program and away from our spiritual healing are:

~~> A weak spiritual healing program (low or no self-esteem),

~~> A toxic situation (people, places or things) and/or

~~> A cognitive dysfunction or actual brain damage (temporary or permanent)

Many who are attempting to work a serious recovery program have a fatal flaw in their program because they do not have a strong solid spiritual foundation in harmony with the Creator, their inner soul and the world around them.

As recovering addicts, we did not first become addicted all alone in a cardboard box. We were infected by the dark wickedness in the world outside. One bad connection linked to another, then another in a hard chain of events. People, places and things led to a destructive life-style. We became caught up in the dope fiend’s subculture with all its real dangers before we were fully aware of the darkness we were really getting into. We became sad, sorry and strung out. After we hit bottom, we admitted our drug addiction, came to believe in a Higher Power, made a decision to be in harmony with the Creator’s will and got involved in the long-term recovery process of understanding, curing and healing addiction.

A major danger to our recovery is when we suffer a relapse out of recovery back down into our old addiction. Many people in a weak recovery program routinely suffer relapse and some insanely think it is part of recovery.

“The progression of problems that lead to relapse is called the relapse process. Each individual problem in the sequence is called a relapse warning sign. The entire sequence of problems is called a relapse warning sign list. The situations that we put ourselves in that cause or complicate the problems are caused high risk situations.”
Source: Gorski, Terence T., Relapse - Relapse Prevention - A New Recovery Tool, Alcoholism & Addiction Magazine; September 25, 1989
Websource> http://www.tgorski.com/gorski_articles/understanding_relapse.htm

Once we wake up, sober up and detox to get rid of our physical poisons, we then need to work on digging out the deep root causes that first brought about the chemical dependency of our original addiction in order to fully recover and get well. Usually, many people in recovery live in constant fear, whether subconscious or not, of falling down into a relapse and returning to their original poison of choice because they have not gotten rid of their spiritual poisons: the character defects of hatred, greed, anger, jealousy, lust, gluttony, sloth and others.

In a destructive lifestyle, many recovering addicts simply switch addictions and substitute one addictive drug with another or else exhibit addictive obsessive behavior in one form or another, such as:

** Getting strung out on the regular recovery process itself by only talking about recovery, going to group meetings and focusing exclusively on recovery while ignoring one’s inner spiritual growth, local community events and big global affairs.

** Religious fanaticism, forgetting that words of faith without works of love are dead; being intolerant of other people’s belief-systems; judging and condemning others to hell without mercy;

** Sexual activity that is random, unsafe and loose, getting lost in the lust of the flesh in order to avoid the commitment of real love because of a desire for and fear of love.

** Overeating and becoming obese to feed what is really a spiritual hunger, knowledge is the food of the soul;

** Gambling out of love of money and risking financial ruin with a get rich quick mentality;

** Being a workaholic, ignoring family and friends and forgetting the inner and outer spiritual work that needs to be done in life for our wholistic healing.

Any destructive lifestyle that significantly harms, endangers or retards our spiritual growth must be examined, understood and corrected. If there is no significant transformation of behavior and mentality there can be no substantial healing in recovery. We do not make it by faking it, we make it by the hard work involved in a strong progressive recovery program!

Relapse is not a natural part of or a requirement for our recovery. Have you not cried bitter tears of regret for past misdeeds and suffered long enough? Relapse exhibits our continued sickness and is a sign of inner self-hatred, especially when we ignore obvious warning signs that can easily lead to a relapse. Honest ignorance is being innocent and simply not knowing any better. Stupidity is when we should know better and still continue to do what is against our own best self-interest. Relapse in the vicious circle of addiction, the same old drama-trauma of twisted addictive psycho-social patterns, is the sick insanity of doing the same thing over and over expecting different results by performing negative behavior patterns. Chronic relapsers repeat the recovery-relapse-recovery-relapse insanity until they finally wake up, stay sober and make a total commitment to progressive recovery or else the progressive nature of the disease goes untreated, gets worse and leaves us crippled wishing we were dead or destroys us once and for all in a lethal overdose or another dead end. Relapse is a death wish!

In today’s society, the presence of many thousands of drug addicts means big business for the huge corporate parasites connected to the multi-billion dollar drug industry and recovery treatment field that rake in huge profits from the high cost of prescribed medications and expensive drug treatment programs. How many drug counselors will do their work for free???

Many recovering addicts cannot afford the financial costs involved in getting well with the best wholistic treatment methods already available today. Fortunately, most urban areas have 12-Steps recovery groups nearby where people can get good group support and not have to go it alone. Individual isolation is a danger for the recovering addict left to his own designs and devices. We must become integrated in our lives in the real outside society, not hide out in cults of any kind. To further complicate matters, there are many kinds of addictive behavior patterns, twisted mental processes and dakr spiritual traps with bad consequences and negative repercussions that can ruin us.

The old-fashioned way of looking at recovery is that when one is stricken with addiction then one is forever doomed to be a drunk or a dope fiend for the rest of their lives. How can we heal if we do not first believe we can be healed? True, if we only arrest our addiction we leave it a chance to escape and come back harder than ever. However, the false belief that ‘once can addict, always an addict’ is not in our favor as it is backwards, reactionary and counter-productive to our spiritual healing. To heal we require daily works, an active imagination and a strong inner faith in the power of the Creator to heal us.

Psalm 30:1-3 (Ancient Eastern Text)
1 I will extol thee, O LORD; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.
2 O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

Some recovering addicts get stuck, stale and stagnate in their recovery program and fail to progress further up into the higher stage of liberty. They do not think outside of the A.A. Big Book and feel guilty if they do not attend a meeting every day and chase recovery like they chased their dope. It is the raging obsessive thinking and behaving that needs to be stopped in whatever forms it takes. It is the addictive 'dope fiend' mentality that needs to be transformed into a fresh healthy sane mentality. Some are so worried and full of anxiety about having a relapse in an obsessive constant fear that this way of being often results in them suffering an actual relapse in a negative self-fulfilling prophecy. They fail to learn, develop, progress and lose sight of the original vision of creating a new way of living life, that is, a sane, sober and stable lifestyle.

The whole idea behind getting into recovery is to be able to really enjoy life’s simple pleasures, the freedoms that come with liberty and the pursuit of happiness, not go to an endless round of ego-driven meetings. It is all about taking care of our wholistic health, enjoying the rewards of recovery and our continued spiritual growth in liberty as healthy functional humane beings.

We all need to do inner spiritual work and be in divine harmony with the cosmos, nature and our inner soul. The ideal is to be in a peaceful state of serenity, at ease in our own skin, be able to see the big picture and be good with God, not always in the nervous prison of being in a state of dis-ease. Ultimately, drug addiction is a spiritual disease when one is not at ease in his own spirit, out-of-order and disconnected from the higher power of Creator. Drug addicts are dis-eased!

Main Entry: dis·ease
Pronunciation: diz-‘ez
Function: noun
: an impairment of the normal state of the living animal or plant body or one of its parts that interrupts or modifies the performance of the vital functions, is typically manifested by distinguishing signs and symptoms, and is a response to environmental factors (as malnutrition, industrial hazards, or climate), to specific infective agents (as worms, bacteria, or viruses), to inherent defects of the organism (as genetic anomalies), or to combinations of these factors : SICKNESS : ILLNESS -- called also morbus -- compare HEALTH 1
- dis·eased /- ezd/ adjective

We need to heal the disease of drug addiction and be rid of it once and for all in our lives. We must learn to accept life on life’s terms and be ready for whatever comes up. We are capable of handling any situation before us with the full armor of God!

Ephesians 6 (King James Version)
“11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

A well-rounded good healthy life is meant to be wisely lived, loved and enjoyed with all its infinite beautiful possibilities, not endured in sadness, suffering and hardship.

~Wholistic Healing~

The term ‘wholistic’ is a combination of the words ‘whole’ and ‘holy’. We need to be free, whole, independent and capable humane beings living life in all its vast complexity on our own, not as scattered fragments of a mixed-up multiple personality, but with an inner balance unshaken by the external chaos in the world.

Our recovery is ultimately a long-term process of learning, curing and healing us of the affliction of addiction. We meet together in various recovery groups based upon the original A.A. 12-Steps in order to establish a common support system for unity, fellowship and to help others heal, especially the newcomers. To win the drug war one must be totally committed to the whole healing process of sobriety, recovery and liberty in order to help us and help others.

We cannot ignore the importance of helping to heal others. In fact, not caring about others and only being concerned about one’s own individual self-preservation is a part of the negative addictive mentality that keeps us down and enslaved in darkness. We must not only practice spiritual healing for our souls, but we must also heal our minds and bodies into order to eliminate the old demented ‘dope fiend’ mentality that is selfish, self-centered and shallow.

In general, wholistic healing must help the whole complete person in the three major realms of the mind-body-soul trinity. We need to educate the mind, bring health to the body and liberate the soul. The inner soul of the spirit is the central core of our whole character because it shines out who we really are. Our inner spirit guides us in life, shapes what kind of moods we have, determines our feelings about a situation, impacts upon our mental thoughts, influences how we use our instincts and can give us true inspiration. For us, to be truly inspired by love, faith and happiness is to be ‘in the spirit’ of spiritual liberty, at one with the Creator and the creative process of life.

We need a wholistic progressive recovery program to help us get rid us of our character defects, personal shortcomings and to exorcise any invisible inner demons out of us. Unless it is checked and stopped, drug addiction routinely ends up in the active addict suffering jails, institutions or the finality of death. There is an urgent need for the recovering addict to know the whole truth about the original causes of addiction, the progressive recovery process and to gain a clear understanding of the basics of the spiritual healing of drug addiction.

To be flexible, sometimes one part of our whole triune self is the dominant one, as when we use our mind to think of a strategic plan of action or use our body to perform a hard physical task. Some people only live in their head and let the body fall apart. Some let their animal nature take over, especially in a fight-flight-freeze emergency situation. In life, the spirit guides, the mind commands and the body functions. It all depends on the present time, place and situation we are in as social circumstances constantly change in the time-space-event continuum on the cosmic-quantum level. All we really have to work is the here and now of connected reality. The past is gone so we need to get over it, our presence in the present is the gift of being alive bestowed by the Creator and the future is just ahead of here and now beckoning us forward.

We need to have the courage to change and liberate our souls from all evils related to and associated with addiction. Ultimately, we need to heal our souls.

~The Spiritual Disease of Drug Addiction~

Casual drug use easily becomes drug abuse, which usually becomes hard-core drug addiction. Healing from addiction requires admitting we have the disease, overcoming any denial about it and getting involved in a progressive recovery program with a solid spiritual basis!

Drug addiction or chemical dependency is the most dangerous deadly disease known to science because it attacks the whole human being. Any subtle or gross imbalance in any one of the three realms of the mind-body-soul trinity affects the other two. It is a serious life-threatening mental, physical and spiritual disease, not only a mental or physical one. It hits all of us in different ways and is a global epidemic impacting millions worldwide, not an isolated individual case. Some people do not even think drug addiction is a real clinical disease, just a minor drinking or drug problem that we can control with enough will power and temporary abstinence without inner spiritual work or outside healing help.

To combat drug addiction requires staying alive, alert and being aware of our immediate surroundings while working on our continued spiritual healing. It is lot more than just a shaky physical sobriety collecting chips and living crooked twisted personal lives. It involves self-criticism, group therapy, professional counseling and a healthy life-style enlightened by empowering spiritual principles, especially being on the spiritual path with heart as warriors.

Along the way we need to create and develop an educational model that educates the people about the causes of drug addiction, wages combat against its negative powers and overcomes the negative social stigma related to drug addicts in order to promote spiritual healing for all of society

At the same time, we need to always keep in mind the spiritual principles of the original A.A. 12-Steps Program and understand that they all came from the Holy Bible.

“At that point, our stories didn’t amount to anything to speak of. When we started in on Bill D., we had no Twelve Steps, either; we had no Traditions. But we were convinced that the answer to our problems was in the Good Book. . . It wasn’t until 1938 that the teachings and efforts and studies that had been going on were crystallized in the form of the Twelve Steps. I didn’t write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do with the writing of them. . . .We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got them, as I said, as a result of our study of the Good Book.”
Source: The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975, pp. 11-14): http://www.dickb.com/Christian_Endeavor.shtml

True recovery demands staying sober, a daily spiritual awakening and the clarity of sanity. In a weird way, once we get into progressive recovery we are blessed with having once been victims of this disease because it opens our cosmic consciousness about critical areas of our life we need to analyze and continue to work on for our general health and ultimate success in life. Always remember that the outer surface disease of chemical dependency is actually a symptom of a deeper spiritual disease we must root out, cure and heal. Once we wake up and raise our cosmic consciousness to a higher level of understanding we can gradually transform ourselves into being victors in life, not helpless victims of it.

We can receive mental health treatment with group and one-on-one counseling and sometimes drug prescriptions can help for a time, but we do not want to quit one drug just to replace it with another and remain prescription addicts who are still chemically dependent. Eventually we want to be free from any and all external drugs in order to purify the body, fully detox our system and achieve spiritual health. All along the way we need to really live a spiritual life and do the hard spiritual work essential for us to heal.

Spiritual healing requires the synergy of a comprehensive wholistic treatment approach that should emphasize:

>> Conscious communion with the Creator through daily meditation, sincere prayer on our knees and serious quiet study;

>> Being in tune with the whole truth of connected reality, what is simply is;

>> Being guided by higher humane spiritual principles for healthy living; and

>> Building up a strong support team for our collective empowerment as world citizens.

Drug addiction is an all-out invasion of our entire being without any mercy, prejudice or discrimination. It does not care who you think you are or what you have. Those of us fighting on the front lines of the recovery movement are in combat against a form of real chemical warfare, which many times takes place in a dangerous toxic environment. We are fighting against great odds, formidable foes and sick social conditions. We should face the fact that our lives are literally on the line in these daily battles and constant struggles for our spiritual liberty.

Many urban areas inside the United States are already combat war zones where street crime is common and the surprise of sudden death can be only around the corner. We must deal with the external enemy outside in our local environment and the internal enemy inside us that always threatens to take us out. Our lethal disease and the great forces of darkness ultimately want us dead and out of way, especially those of us who are living in the light of love, truth and faith in Creator and exposing evildoers.

“Resentment is the ‘number one’ offender. It destroys more alcoholics than anything else. From it stem all forms of spiritual disease, for we have been not only mentally and physically ill, we have been spiritually sick. When the spiritual malady is overcome, we straighten out mentally and physically.”
Source: Big Book, Chapter 5 ~ Page 64
http://www.aa.org/bigbookonline/en_bigbook_chapt5.pdf

Thus, we must engage in active combat against drug addiction on three main levels:

The Spiritual Level: We need to work on our spiritual health to cure what is essentially a spiritual sickness: know ourselves through deep soul searching, understand the past to better see the present and find out what kind of internal spiritual conflicts are going on inside of us that cause us grief, heartache and trouble today, especially our divorce from our own sacred divinity as sons and daughters of Creator God.

The Mental Level: We need to work on our mental health: come to know who we are, learn how to think in positive creative ways, understand our inner drives and motivations, discover any untreated mental disorders and train the brain to work for our own self-interest, self-esteem and self-empowerment.

The Physical Level: We need to work on our physical health: establish a basic work out program to promote physical fitness, stamina and endurance; eat consciously with diet and nutrition in mind and stay sober and free away from indulging in any harmful chemicals or poisonous toxins ~ whether they are prescribed or not.

Many people in recovery are governed by demons of fear: fear of death, fear of the truth, fear of failure, fear of intimacy and fear of exposing their true inner self to the world. These fears are common to normal ordinary people living out their lives but for recovering addicts they can have crippling effects that prevent them from functioning as mature responsible adults in today’s often-insane society. We must have faith in the Creator and faith in ourselves in order to overcome our foolish fears and have the courage to change! Indeed, as Mahatma Gandhi declared, we must be the change we seek in the world. Internal change first begins inside our own souls, then shines outward for others to clearly see.

~Spiritual Healing of a Wounded Soul~

James 5:14-16 (King James Version)
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

Spiritual healing is all about healing our wounded soul and ultimately the souls of our times. All of us can be healed to one degree or another or up to one level or another. Some hard-core addicts have already caused major damage to themselves that can only be repaired to a limited degree, but there can still be some tangible real improvement, especially in the spiritual realm where all things are possible to one who truly believes without a shadow of a doubt.

Mark 9:23 ~ King James Version
“Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.”

We need to know who we really are, our true nature, and the essence of our inner self that yearns for the free air of liberty. Have the courage to answer a divine calling for a love-motivated ministry to help others live a better life for the good of all of us.

We must clearly understand the global scope and range of drug addiction and its deeper origins in order to combat and win the war against drug addiction and its related problems. Drugs are big business and its finances are a key part of the whole corporate capitalist Empire worldwide.

We require a deep comprehension of connected reality with all its obvious connections, interconnections and complex relationships. We cannot hide out in group anonymity and refuse to claim our personal identity as addicts in recovery to the outside world. We are recovering addicts who need serious help to heal, need wholistic treatment programs, need transitional housing programs and other community survival programs to help us live healthy functional lives. It is the objective social conditions of misery, poverty and oppression that turn so many into escapism through drugs that must be recognized, explained and transformed by us. We are the new creatures we have been waiting for to help heal the world.

Ultimately, we should work on the spiritual healing of ourselves yet not ignore social conditions and our responsibility to help heal the sick society that we live in and that constantly produces more demented drug addicts, especially the youth of today who are so lost without any real consciousness. We help advance our spiritual healing by helping to heal the spirits of others.

Recall CASA Step 12 and its Scripture:
We tried to carry this Message to addicts and practice these principles in all our affairs; having had a ‘Spiritual Awakening’ as a result of working these 12-Steps.
Galatians 6:1 "My brethren, if anyone be found at fault, you who are spiritual, restore him in a spirit of meekness; and be careful lest you also be tempted.”

c/s

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http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/

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Easter Sunday: the Year of Our Lord 2009: by Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2009/04/easter-sunday-year-of-our-lord-2009-by.html

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Today is Easter Sunday of 2009. No matter what our personal religious beliefs, whether we are committed Christians, zany zealots or asinine atheists separated from a cosmic communion with the Creator, today is a global celebration of the Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth!

There are three kinds of believers: the true believer, the make believer and the non-believer. People have the humane right to believe what they want to believe. We should wisely choose our core personal beliefs with caution because many actions in connected reality are based upon our beliefs. Believe what is good, what is true, what is heartfelt and cast not your gems of wisdom before foul fools.

Our role as spiritual humane beings is to engage people in creative conversations about what is the real truth about life among the living and reject what is full of false lies. A lie is the truth perverted. The Creator has granted us free will and the right to use our own consciousness in whatever ways we want in our perception of truth. Each of us has our own version of the truth, not all minds think alike. We agree when and where our different individual truths converge and merge together in a collective way on a cosmic global level.

Naturally, Easter is widely celebrated throughout the world today, at different time zones and in different places, but the special significance of it all should not be lost on those who are caught in the cross fires of religious wars. All these many scattered struggles throughout the world are various forms of real spiritual warfare between the good forces of the light of truth and the dark forces of evil.

Over the centuries since the birth, life, crucifixion and claimed resurrection of Jesus Christ, more regional wars have been fought and more people have been killed in the name of religion that about any other insanity. Look at the great divisions that came about after the tragic Tuesday of 9-11-2001 in New York City! Before long many otherwise decent American citizens acquired a new found prejudice or disfavor against Muslim people, became even more xenophobic, especially Muslim-Arab phobic, and started looking at any male with a turban on as part of a hidden terrorist cell. Even Arab-looking Latinos became terror suspects!

Jesus Christ of Nazareth remains the premier figure in all of world history. Indeed, there has always been controversy surrounding his lifetime here upon Mother Earth and it goes on today. Only His promised return will settle these issues once for all. How could his birth be of Immaculate Conception? Who could perform such miracles as he? What prophecies were fulfilled in his lifetime? How can anyone die and be resurrected in the flesh?

Matthew Chapter 28: 1-20
1. In the evening of the sabbath day, when the first day of the week began, there came Mary of Magdala and the other Mary, to see the tomb.
2 And behold, a great earthquake took place; for the angel of the Lord came down from heaven, and went up and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.
3 His appearance was like lightning, and his garments white as snow.
4 And for fear of him the guards who were watching trembled, and became as if they were dead.
5 But the angel answered and said to the women, You need not be afraid; for I know that you are seeking Jesus who was crucified.
6 He is not here, for he has risen, just as he had said. Come in, see the place where our Lord was laid.
7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead; and behold, he will be before you to Galilee; there you will see him; behold, I have told you.
8 And they went away hurriedly from the tomb with fear and with great joy, running to tell his disciples.
9 And behold, Jesus met them, and said to them, Peace be to you. And they came up and laid hold of his feet, and worshipped him.
10 Then Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid; but go and tell my brethren to go to Galilee, and there they shall see me.
11 When they were going, some of the guards came into the city, and told the high priests everything that had happened.
12 So they gathered with the elders and took counsel; and they gave money, not a small sum, to the guards,
13 Telling them, Say that his disciples came by night and stole him while we were sleeping.
14 And if this should be heard by the governor, we will appeal to him, and declare that you are blameless.
15 So they took the money, and did as they were instructed; and this word went out among the Jews, until this day.
16 The eleven disciples then went to Galilee to a mountain, where Jesus had promised to meet them.
17 And when they saw him, they worshipped him; but some of them were doubtful.
18 And Jesus came up and spoke with them, and said to them, All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Just as my Father has sent me I am also sending you.
19 Go, therefore, and convert all nations; and baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;
20 And teach them to obey everything that I have commanded you; and, behold, I am with you all the days , to the end of the world. Amen.

Only believe deep inside and the Holy Spirit will touch your heart and with divine grace heal your wounded spirit. Modern science alone does not have all the answers.

“The situation may be expressed by an image: science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.” Source: Albert Einstein on Science vs. Religion [1941]
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/albert-einstein-god-religion-theology.htm

There are many mysteries in life we still do not know that remain hidden from mortal minds yet are sensed by our inner souls. Know that for those of us who are healing every day should be a resurrection day when we are born anew to the day, shed our old selfish self off like dried dead skin and embrace a new fresh life of sober recovery, spiritual healing and helping others in our lives. Each morning should bring to our souls a new spiritual awakening!

From Matthew Chapter 10 ~
1 And he called his twelve disciples, and gave them power over the unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every kind of disease and sickness…
7 And as you go, preach and say, that the kingdom of heaven is near.
8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons; freely you have received, freely give.

Holy Bible Scriptures: From the Ancient Eastern Text:
George M. Lamsa's Translation From the Aramaic of the Peshitta
http://www.aramaicpeshitta.com/AramaicNTtools/dr_george_lamsa_bible.htm

The name 'Peshitta' is derived from the Syriac mappaqtâ pšîṭtâ … , literally meaning 'simple version'. However, it is also possible to translate pšîṭtâ as 'common' (that is, for all people), or 'straight', as well as the usual translation as 'simple'.

c/s

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http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/
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On Drug Use, Drug Abuse and Drug Addiction: by Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2009/03/on-drug-use-drug-abuse-and-drug.html

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Original Post: Sunday, March 29, 2009

~ A New Fresh Approach ~

Progressive recovery is a new fresh approach for the wholistic treatment of human beings who suffer from the rages and ravages of hard-core drug addiction, the harmful effects of occasional drug abuse that often begins with innocent casual drug use and who are deeply troubled by personal problems, unresolved issues and internal spiritual conflicts.

Progressive recovery for the drug addict who really wants to be free from the disease and get well emphasizes a comprehensive wholistic approach that treats the entire being in terms of the mind-body-soul trinity (‘wholistic’ is a combination of the words ‘whole’ and ‘holy’). We need to comprehend the cosmos of the whole humane being as a multi-dimensional being that is ultimately a spiritual being on the cosmic-quantum level. You are not your separate body or your independent mind. Deep down inside you are what is in your inner soul!

A drug addict has a self-destructive mentality, engages in harmful behavior and suffers from the moral, ethical and spiritual consequences of drug addiction. Usually there are deeply buried spiritual issues involved that began in early childhood, become more marked in adolescent teenage years and got worse in adulthood. It did not start suddenly overnight and there are no overnight cures. It was a long protracted process that brought about our downfall into drug addiction and its evil effects. We get well only one day at a time. Recovery is a process of digging out the bottom roots of our addiction from anything that is harmful, obsessive and damaging to the soul. It involves sobering up, working a strong recovery program and being involved in an on-going spiritual healing process in order to clean and purify our souls. The bottom roots of our drug addiction are to be dug out of the hidden darkness of our beings.

Progressive recovery advocates conscious humane development, engaging in creative pursuits and constructive community involvement for the recovering addict in order to create a new positive and progressive life-style: train the brain into a new mentality for new ways of thinking, substitute new behavior patterns for self-destructive ones and encourage new spiritual practices of prayer, meditation and serious study. We can experience a fresh spiritual awakening with each new morning when we wake up sane and sober.

Progressive recovery is far beyond the traditional A.A. and N.A. 12-Steps Program that insists on 100% sobriety, no mind-altering drugs and has anonymity as its spiritual foundation. We aim to treat, mend and cure the patient, not get him strung out on a surface recovery going to-and-fro in an endless round of meetings, not playing with tender emotions through deceit and manipulation, not burden him with guilt-trips about sins of the past, and not instill faithless fears with war and horror stories. We want to stay straight, get well and stay well, not be scared straight but truly desire to be straight in all our relations in order to appreciate all the fun, beauty, diversity and excitement of living a life.

Our spiritual foundation is an undying faith in our Creator God, not a stale empty anonymity like a secret cult. We were not anonymous when we exhibited our ‘drunken dope fiend’ behavior, why should we fake it to make it in our recovery? We should have a humble pride in our progress. Many of us already suffer from low or no self-esteem.

Sometimes medically prescribed drugs taken in the recommended dosage should be utilized as a transition period in our recovery for our general health and wellness, not as a substitute crutch. For example, taking methadone for years and not ‘dosing down’ is not real recovery, it is still selfish ‘dope fiend’ indulgence. We can be sober off our original poison of choice, keep our sobriety date from that specific poison and continue to work on our complete sobriety, continued recovery and spiritual liberty. We must move forward, not slide backwards and get caught up in cross-addiction.

Sometimes what is labeled a relapse is actually just a slip. If you slip down you need to halt, stop and think, stand up and get back involved in the spiritual healing process of progressive recovery without delay. Learn from your mistakes, forgive yourself and carry on. It takes what it takes. Remember it is about progress, not perfection.

Many times certain core concepts need to be repeated over and over again so that they are integrated into our core consciousness and become part of our inner being. At regular recovery meetings various versions of the original A.A. 12-Steps are repeated at each gathering because together they are the basis for communion with the Creator, keep us in conscious awareness of our real life present situation and help us build up our inner character so that we are Honest, Open-minded and Willing to transform our lives for the better. That is HOW the program works!

We should have clear definitions of words and need to continue to refine these definitions as time goes by as we achieve greater and greater clarity in the conscious present of the here and now, out of the fogs and clouds of past confusion. Power is the dual capacity to correctly define connected reality and change connected reality in a desired way. We desire power over our own lives so we can make them functional, productive and manageable as we live life on life’s terms, not having the power of drugs over us determining the quality of our lives, but conquering our drug addiction in the drug war, staying straight one day at a time, humbly helping others and thereby helping ourselves.

~ Drug Use ~

Unconscious drug use usually ends up in one suffering from the disease of hard drug addiction which exhibits mental illness, physical weakness and spiritual sickness. This is a dis-ease that impacts on the entirety of our whole being. We are not in a state of sanity, not comfortable in our own skin and there is no stable serenity in our restless spirit.

Definitely, a drug is a drug is a drug. There are different kinds of drug use, not all drug users are drug addicts. Whether it is legally prescribed or an illegal street drug a drug remains a drug, even alcohol is a liquid drug. The alcoholic is a drug addict. However, tobacco and coffee are also drugs. The truth is that we live in a drug promoting culture.

The spectrum of addiction usually begins innocent enough with casual drug use as a youngster. It could just be a beer snuck out at a family gathering, maybe later on a joint offered by an older dude, just one puff… then the hard stuff. Slowly but surely, one starts to check out the drug scene and experiment with drugs. It is a cool thing to do with those in the ‘in’ crowd. We want to be cool, with it and hip in the eyes of our homies, some of whom do not even have a home. There could be a lot of social peer pressure by one’s friends to indulge in various drugs; it could be the local happening at the party, condoned by those we look up to as authority figures and readily available in the environment: in the medicine cabinet, right next door, outside on the corner or at the local store. What started out as weekend recreation becomes an all week fixation.

Over time, drug use that is unchecked can gradually get worse with more disastrous results and complications that can include:

* Severe depression that can lead to suicidal attempts
* DUI arrests, problems with the law and imprisonment
* Infection with HIV through shared needles and other deadly diseases
* Unsafe sexual practices, which may result in unwanted pregnancies, sexually
transmitted diseases and hepatitis
* Ruined personal relationships with our blood families and loved ones
* Loss of job and means of survival, failure in school and loss of self-esteem
* Problems with cognition: loss of memory, short attention span and inability to concentrate for any length of time.
* Learning disability, chronic brain dysfunction and brain damage
* Drug overdose, trips to the ER and possibly an untimely early physical death

To refresh, there is drug use, drug abuse and drug addiction and these three forms of drug taking are not necessarily the same though all forms of drug indulgence can endanger our health. Health is the greatest wealth of all and addiction destroys good wholistic health.

~ Drug Abuse ~

Drug abuse is using a drug to excess. It makes us dysfunctional and unable to live a normal ordinary healthy life. If it is a legal prescription prescribed by your doctor taken beyond the recommended dosage it is abuse of the drug beyond its intended medical purpose. This sounds like common sense, but sometimes the ‘stinkin’ thinkin’’ of the addict mind can twist logic for its’ own dead ends.

A physical dependence on a chemical substance for health reasons in order to function is not actual active addiction. Some drugs (for example, a diabetic taking insulin or blood pressure medication) do not cause addiction but can cause real physical dependence, but its use is within the recommended dosage. Other drugs can cause addiction without obvious physical dependence, but there can be a psychological dependence when one is habitually conditioned to ‘getting high’ that is as real as physical drug dependency. Thus, drug use can easily lead to drug abuse and the drug dependence of long-term chronic addiction. It can be a slippery slope into the depths of hell on Earth with landmines, booby traps and IEDs all along the way!

The exact cause of chronic drug addiction is not fully known and can vary with the individual. One’s genes, early childhood, drug history and environmental factors all can be factors working alone or in combination against us. Many people who creep from drug use to drug abuse end up becoming addicts who can suffer from one or more psychological disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorder, attention deficit disorder, clinical depression, post-traumatic stress disorder or another psychological problem whose roots can usually be found hidden deep in the spiritual realm.

~ Drug Addiction ~

Main Entry: ad•dic•tion
Pronunciation: \ə-ˈdik-shən\
Function: noun
: compulsive physiological need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly : persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be physically, psychologically, or socially harmful—compare habituation

Addiction or chemical dependency occurs when one crosses the thin shifting line separating drug abuse from addiction and goes down into complete dependency on a drug. It is usually marked by one who obsessively and compulsively seeks to use a substance without regard to the potential negative life consequences. The brain’s neurotransmitters of the ‘gotta’ get it’ of dopamine and the ‘ahh, got it’ of serotonin creates an actual chemical chain reaction that enslaves the ‘dope fiend’ caught in the vicious circle of addiction. One is never satisfied once the drug wears off and the run for more is on again. He becomes a dope fiend! The drive to use is not only mental-spiritual addiction, but motivated by the physical need to maintain a certain level of the drug in the system at all times and at all costs. I got to at least get a buzz or I’ll burst!

If this level is not reached the drug addicts reacts by showing severe withdrawal symptoms that may include nausea and vomiting, insomnia, diarrhea, bone and muscle aches, migraine headaches, clinical depression and in some hard core cases a heart attack or even death. Dope kills someone every day and night!

The point is: drug addiction attacks all of our entire being, the mind, body and soul. We must wake up or perish with no one else to blame but ourselves. Do you have life insurance and burial plans?

~ Early Treatment ~

To begin treatment for drug addiction requires us to first overcome the demon of denial about our life-threatening problem. We have far less denial if we are treated with humane empathy and personal respect, not condemning confrontation. We require a conscious commitment to a strong progressive recovery program, an honest daily personal inventory of our assets and liabilities and daily maintenance, not merely short-term abstinence in physical sobriety. We need to transform ourselves and our ways of being alive. Until you get rid of all forms of denial discussion about how to proceed with proper treatment is useless, pointless and a waste of energy.

Early treatment of drug dependency depends on the drug being used and involves weaning off the drug gradually (detoxification). Detoxification is the gradual withdrawal of an abused substance in a controlled environment. A prescribed drug with a similar action can be taken instead, to reduce the side effects and risks of withdrawal. It can be done on an inpatient or outpatient basis. Follow your doctor’s order. Do not be your own pharmacist or quack doctor. People with acute intoxication or drug overdose should see a medical professional and may need emergency treatment. Continued medical treatment should include individual, family, a support group and long-term professional counseling by a therapist, a trusted pastor or wise guide. Remember: recovery is actually a medical term as when one is in recovery from a sickles or ailment. Keep it simple, you have already complicated your life by having a deadly disease.

Get a good medical diagnosis, work on your progressive recovery program as if your life depends on it and the prognosis for the future is a life actually worth living. If it is to come true it is ultimately up to you!

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On Creating Order Out of Disorder: by Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2009/02/on-creating-order-out-of-disorder-by.html

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Posted: Sunday, February 22, 2009

Main Entry: 1or•der
Pronunciation: \ˈȯr-dər\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): or•dered; or•der•ing \ˈȯr-d(ə-)riŋ\
Etymology: Middle English, from ordre, noun
Date: 13th century
transitive verb1: to put in order : arrange2 a: to give an order to : command b: destine , ordain c: to command to go or come to a specified place d: to give an order for intransitive verb1: to bring about order : regulate2 a: to issue orders : command b: to give or place an order
— or•der•able \-ə-bəl\ adjective
— or•der•er \-dər-ər\ noun

~ Life on Life’s Terms ~

Life is a protracted process that begins at birth, endures a lifetime and ends in mortal death. It is all a process where we are born, we live a life and then we die and suffer physical death in the end. No one gets out of here alive. However, the spirit can live on in the memories of those living whose lives we touched along the way. If the human spirit itself is eternal as a God-seed then death is but a cosmic portal that transfers life-energy from one being into another through endless reincarnations.

Simplify the complex and try not to complicate the simple. Even though some will always argue at what point life begins, let us accept as our point of departure that the journey of life begins at the time of the miracle of one’s human birth: our natal birth date. We are first born innocent and ignorant as children not knowing social morals, humane ethics or right from wrong. We are born into a sick sinful world crammed full of social contradictions due to social circumstances outside of our control, but we start out pure, sincere and spotless without sin. Where do you see the sin in an infant child?

Life can be a fascinating long winding journey with sudden twists and odd turns, not a set destination mapped out all before us. Along the way we go through different stages of human development from early childhood, to teenage adolescence and, if we live long enough, we grow into mature adulthood and a ripened old age as Elders. In the life-process many of us get scars, sustain wounds and suffer collateral damage. We undergo many tests, trials and tribulations that can either help build up the fiber of our inner character, making us older and wiser; or leave us broken down and lost out in the wilderness of a wasted life. Without spiritual healing, we end up sick and ill at ease suffering from assorted disorders that cripple and maim leaving us diseased and unfit for enjoying a good life. One such disease is drug addiction or chemical dependency, but there are many forms of addiction.

Functional Definition of Addiction: A chronic relapsing condition characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and abuse and by long-lasting chemical changes in the brain. Addiction is the same irrespective of whether the drug is alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or nicotine. Every addictive substance induces pleasant states or relieves distress. Continued use of the addictive substance induces adaptive changes in the brain that lead to tolerance, physical dependence, uncontrollable craving and, all too often, relapse. Dependence is at such a point that stopping is very difficult and causes severe physical and mental reactions from withdrawal.
Source: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10177

Hard core addiction is ultimately a spiritual disease which can be healed if we are honest, open and willing to be healed by Creator God. We seek the spiritual healing of our souls, must overcome the demon of any denial about the affliction of addiction, should humbly repent of our sins and need to experience a genuine spiritual conversion on the good path of righteousness to help guarantee our wellness. Let us get rid of false fear, let go of the fragile ego and let the divine will of Creator God govern our lives.

Jeremiah 17:14 (NIV) ~ Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.

In the process of our spiritual healing we must put our lives in order so we can live happy, healthy and fruitful lives free of all evil addictions. Life will not always come out the way we want all the time. We must accept life on life’s terms as it comes at us because it is what it is. Roll with the punches. Keep learning, keep growing and keep expanding your cosmic consciousness beyond any selfish individualism. You are a creature of the Creator of the cosmos; strive to be one with the cosmos, not always stressing in opposition to forces far greater than you. Work hard on your daily sobriety, your continued recovery and enlighten you spiritual growth in order to be released from the prisons and disorders of all harmful addictions, including drug addiction, and ultimately strive to achieve true spiritual liberty.

~ Spiritual Origin of Mental Disorders ~

Many so-called mental disorders are ultimately spiritual in origin. We need to remember, recognize and resolve the grief, pain and damage deep down inside our souls that could have first come about during early childhood or other life experiences. With deep prayer, conscious meditation and spiritual discernment from the Holy Spirit we can examine our past in order to clearly understand what happened to us, what made us what we are today and help us determine what kind of humane being we want to be in the future. All genuine knowledge comes from direct experience. Self-knowledge is the root of all knowledge. We must know ourselves in order to better accept, love and understand others. On the cosmic and quantum levels we are all from one source: the Creator. We should live a conscious life as an actor upon life, not merely exist mindlessly subject to passing winds of doctrine, swaying debates and the comings and goings of others living out their own lives.

The existence of the hard core addict is a prime example of a hand-to-mouth existence, not an actual real vibrant living life. It is an out-of-order existence without any balance, harmony and serenity. An addict is an addict is an addict. He suffers from the evil lifestyle of drug addiction yet, as a rule, there are deep inner spiritual conflicts that must be resolved in order for him to live a full life with its rich rewards, riches and responsibilities.

“… I am strongly convinced that the evil principle prevailing in this world leads the unrecognized spiritual need into perdition, if it is not counteracted either by real religious insight or by the protective wall of human community. An ordinary man, not protected by an action from above and isolated in society, cannot resist the power of evil, which is called very aptly the Devil…”
Source: Letter to Bill Wilson from Dr.Carl Jung of January 30, 1961
http://www.thejaywalker.com/pages/jung_ltr.html

No one is doomed and predestined to be a drug addict. The addict himself can convince himself otherwise in order to rationalize his state of being because of his own character defects. Character defects can be summed up in the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth.

Sometimes our own mental blocks prevent us from remembering the true history of our mental disorders that can only be cleared away through inner reflection and spiritual revelation. Memories can be painful. We have to go through the pain to get any gain and face our fears head on, In many ways, present-day society is insane and controlled by a cold callous government with upside down priorities. Many millions suffer in silent agony with mental-spiritual disorders.

“Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people. Even though mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who suffer from a serious mental illness. In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada for ages 15-44. Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. Nearly half (45 percent) of those with any mental disorder meet criteria for 2 or more disorders, with severity strongly related to comorbidity.”
Source:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml

The standard ‘copy, cut and paste’ treatment for the so-called mentally ill is shallow psychoanalysis in a rigid group setting, long-term individual therapy by an expensive professional psychiatrist and/or a regimen of prescription drugs to be faithfully taken like a new religion. These traditional treatment methods merely treat symptoms but mask core issues at the bottom of a given mental disorder and the spiritual origins of disorders. Many times the patient, especially if he is a recovering drug addict, merely switches chemical addictions from illegal drugs to legal pharmaceutical drugs, making the medical-drug industry richer and the patient poorer than ever without any thought of seeking a real cure and spiritual healing instead of self-medicating. Many recovering addicts are written off as incurable and hopeless by those who make huge profits from the sad misery of patients. God forbid the patient actually recovers, gets well and lives a healthy life without being strung out on prescription drugs!

To make matter worse, many naïve people without a real understanding of medical science easily accept artificial labels being thrown over them without questioning the validity of those labels. People cannot be easily explained and identified with surface psychiatric labels like store products on a shelf. Some give up on themselves, settle for a legal certified diagnosis of mental disability and sell out their souls in order to get a steady SSI check. A classic dope fiend move is trying to find the easy lazy way out without any real work required; instead of creating a personal self-help wholistic healing program, raising one’s self-esteem to a new high level, nurturing spiritual growth and developing one’s wholistic health in general.

Many medical professionals have biased opinions against there even being a real cure for addiction, believing in the mantra of ‘once an addict, always an addict’. They flat line clinical analyses about the patient to only the two mental and physical dimensions: the mind and the body. They forget the spiritual essence of the patient, the key role of spiritual healing and exploring alternative wholistic methods of treatment. We are spiritual beings living inside physical bodies that possess a spirit. The healer must treat the entire patient as a whole entity. A wider wholistic treatment template in the triad of the mental, physical and spiritual dimensions is mandatory in order to bring about a real lasting cure for the mind, body and soul. Plus, the patient himself must consciously and passionately participate in his own healing in harmony with the Creator and the help of a spiritual healer.

~ Living Manageable Lives ~

We must put our lives in order, stay straight and seek a wholistic state of general health that nourishes the mind, body and soul as we are complex three-dimensional beings. The mind commands, the body functions and the spirit guides.

Our CASA Step #1 and related Scripture is:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our drug addiction—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Matthew 9:36 “When Jesus saw the multitudes, he had compassion on them, because they were tired and scattered, like sheep which have no shepherd.”

We must learn how to make our lives manageable and keep them manageable without falling down into a chronic relapse pattern away from a real cure. Dying then thinking we are born again when we are still dead in sin with a short time of physical sobriety is no way out.

The healing soul must bring himself under control and learn different management methods to help make his life manageable: time management of his daily schedule and set routines; emotional management that includes anger, depression, anxiety and other emotional states; financial management in order to optimize financial resources and the investigation of other basic practical forms of self-management for making our lives more stable, solvent and manageable.

First of all, we must stay in shape, be willing to work hard and be capable of providing for our own basic survival needs as mature humane beings: nutritional food, proper clothing, decent shelter, medical care and quality education. If we have disabilities we have extra challenges to overcome in order to maximize our potential, but we must never give up on ourselves, sell ourselves short and wallow in selfish self-pity. Each of us has our own level of willpower, measure of faith and dispensation of divine grace.

Beyond the physical, we have real spiritual needs that we must meet so we can become loving humane beings who exhibit tender care, true concern and genuine compassion for all living beings. To raise our self-esteem to a high level we require self-love, self-respect and self-confidence; trusting that we can be independent and take care of ourselves, though we are ultimately interdependent on others in society. We must start all over again, learn to live anew and be re-born.

1 Peter 1:23 (NIV) ~ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

Life is for the living is meant to be lived in good health. Since we are ultimately spiritual beings we should learn to live by a set of spiritual principles that give our lives true meaning, structure and purpose because they incorporate spiritual principles, moral values and humane ethics for living well in society. Thus, many millions of people worldwide participate in one kind of recovery group based upon the 12-Steps Program or another for self-help, depending upon their specific area of concern.

~ CASA Mission Statement ~

CASA (Christians Against Substance Addiction) is a progressive Christian recovery group based upon the original A.A. 12-Steps Program. The spiritual principles and practices of our CASA 12-Steps Program with its related Biblical Scriptures come from the wisdom of the Holy Bible, as did the basis ideas of the original A.A. 12-Steps. We have not forgotten the Christian roots of A.A.; claim Creator God as our Higher Power with faith in God as the foundation for all our spiritual traditions, not an obscure anonymity.
Source:
http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-character-defects-shortcomings-and.html

The beauty of the basic 12-Steps Program is that it helps people to openly admit their real powerlessness over a particular problem, promotes a belief in a Higher Power for help with a solution and humbles us to turn our self-will over to Creator God as we understand Him (Steps One, Two and Three). It encourages us to make an honest moral inventory of ourselves, admit our wrongs to another humane being and God in order to remove our major character defects and shortcomings (Steps Four, Five, Six and Seven), then, instructs us to make a list of person we have harmed and make safe amends to those we have wronged (Steps Eight and Nine). It follows up with continued personal inventory, admitting wrong promptly and improving our conscious contact with God (Steps Ten and Eleven). Finally, it teaches us to carry this Message to those who still suffer and to daily practice these principles after having received a true Spiritual Awakening (Step Twelve).

As A.A. Co-Founder Dr. Bob revealed:
“It wasn’t until 1938 that the teachings and efforts and studies that had been going on were crystallized in the form of the Twelve Steps. I didn’t write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do with the writing of them. . . . We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got them, as I said, as a result of our study of the Good Book.”
Source: The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975, pp. 11-14): http://www.dickb.com/Christian_Endeavor.shtml

It should be clear to anyone with an open mind that these 12-Steps were inspired by the basic spiritual principles embodied in the Holy Bible and in harmony with ancient teachings from many wise masters. It is a basic common sense self-help program for character development, self-empowerment and improving our general relationships that should be practiced by all people who want to get their lives in a sound order and out of chaos and confusion. It is a basic humane program with definite spiritual principles that are applicable and universal for all people!

~ No Magical Quick Fix ~

There is no magical quick fix or cheap easy cure for all the many disorders and diseases that plague humankind. A personal spiritual awakening should be a daily event when we awaken with a clear conscious mind, a healthy body and a serene spirit. Getting strung out on prescription drugs is no medical answer, though if need be they can be utilized during a transition period before one refrains from all external drugs and practices complete abstinence from all mind-altering, mood-altering or intoxicating drugs. The long-term goal is for us all to be sane and sober without the use of ingesting any man-made drugs. Find your true inner self, and get a natural high out of life without any artificial highs or lows.

Beyond long-term chemical dependency, many recovering addicts are afflicted by an array of other mental disorders, such as, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Bipolar Disorder (BD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and other ailments hidden in the inner soul waiting to be released.

Deuteronomy 4:28-30 (New International Version)
28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.

It all has to come from the inside, from the soul of our inner self in communion with the Creator. Sobriety is the starting gate on the road of recovery as we work towards true spiritual liberty from the misery of poverty, from human ignorance, from false beliefs and distractions from the divine.

Matthew 22:36-40 (New International Version)
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The order you seek must first come from within your own soul, then seek solutions outside of yourself. Love, forgive and accept yourself as a Creature of the Creator. Learn from any reliable source you can, explore other alternative treatment methods, utilize all the tools you can acquire and fall deep in love with yourself in harmony with the boundless unconditional love of your Creator.

Job 25:2 (NIV)
“2 Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven.”

Understand and accept yourself just as you are. Make a solid decision to get your life in order in harmony with the Creator and to save your own soul!

c/s
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● Progressive Recovery Today!
http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/

● CASA 12-Steps Program Blog
http://casa-12steps.blogspot.com/

● CASA 12-Steps Program Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CASA-12-Steps-Program/
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On Creating Self-Esteem in Recovery: By Peter S. Lopez

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2009/01/on-creating-self-esteem-in-recovery-by.html

Sunday, January 18, 2009

~Defining Self-Esteem~

esteem~
3 entries found.

1. ¹esteem (noun)
2. ²esteem (transitive verb)
3. self–esteem

Main Entry: ¹es·teem

Pronunciation: \i-ˈstēm\

Function: noun

Date: 14th century

1 archaic : worth , value 2archaic : opinion , judgment 3: the regard in which one is held ; especially : high regard esteem we all feel for her>

Using the above lexical definition, the practice of drug addiction is a manifestation of low or no self-esteem and the drug addict has little or no tangible worth to society, no redeeming value as a humane being and has at most a low opinion of himself with little or no moral sound judgment. Actually, the level of low or no self-esteem was already present in the individual before the drug addiction became a central concern and usually involved the family of origin, early childhood environment, cultural settings and the governing social conditions during the life growth process.

For example, he may have been born into poverty without economic advantages, educational opportunities, challenged by his environment and not even have the boots to lift himself up out of poverty. He is a product of the immediate surroundings of his family, his community and the cultural matrix he was born into prior to achieving consciousness of himself in the world at large.

No sane person makes a logical rational decision to become a diseased drug addict and ruin their lives ending up homeless, in prison or in failed relationships with little or no self-esteem. Thus, the recovering addict involved in a solid 12-Steps Program must make clear, consistent and conscientious efforts at creating, developing and raising true self-esteem.

Strong self-esteem is composed of three essential elements:

1. Self-love
2. Self-respect
3. Self-confidence

People who have pure love and high respect for themselves will have the confidence of capacity to boldly face critical challenges that come before them, find basic solutions to social problems and be able to overcoming obstacles in life because they have high self-esteem. Strong self-esteem is an inside job that is internally generated, self-combustible and consciously worked on by the self-motivated individual. It comes out from within one’s inner self and is not dependent on anyone else or other elements in the social environment. The person with high self-esteem does not require external stimuli, whether it is pain or pleasure, in order to achieve set goals. He has and keeps priorities clear before him. He is positive-minded, practical and progressive. He is ready, willing and able to work hard in order to have his dreams come true in real life. He turns himself on in a natural high and creates his own life energy with an inner faith in his own inner resources, natural talents and learned skills. His love of life and the light of love guides the way, especially in harmony with the divine will of Creator God.

True humility with modesty must be a component of self-esteem. We are not the center of the cosmos; we are but fragile creatures of the great Creator God. We exist in a vast cosmos filled with zillions of galaxies packed up with solar systems, planets, moons and other celestial objects. We are but sparkling specks of dust on an endless beach of countless grains of sand. We should be humble in order to advance, blossom and flourish in our personal lives. Humility is a true inner strength that helps us learn and advance in life, not a weakness. False pride often boasts before a fall. Our true pride is modest, humble and has confidence because of past accomplishments, an appreciation of the gift of the present with its endless potential and an inner vision of the future.

~ Components and Elements of Self-Esteem ~

From: Healthy Self Esteem: By Nathaniel Branden, PhD
http://www.nathanielbranden.com/catalog/articles_essays/healthy_self_esteem.html

Self-esteem has two essential components:

• Self-efficacy: Confidence in the ability to cope with life’s challenges. Self-efficacy leads to a sense of control over one’s life.

• Self-respect: Experience oneself as deserving of happiness, achievement and love.

Self-respect makes possible a sense of community with others. Strengthening self-esteem is not a quick or easy process. We can’t do it directly. Self-esteem is a consequence of following fundamental internal practices that require an ongoing commitment to self-examination. I call these practices the “Six Pillars of Self-Esteem”:

Living consciously: Paying attention to information and feedback about needs and goals … facing facts that might be uncomfortable or threatening … refusing to wander through life in a self-induced mental fog.

Plus: Being here now, staying alert, being aware of awareness, staying focused, using all our common senses and not being easily distracted by dumbness or diverted by passing winds of doctrine. The key is living life in a balanced harmony with your own truth, spiritual principles and personal experiences in mind.

Self-acceptance: Being willing to experience whatever we truly think, feel or do, even if we don’t always like it … facing our mistakes and learning from them.

Plus: Accepting ourselves just as we are, imperfect but making steady progress. Admitting what comes into our consciousness, right or wrong, constantly analyzing ourselves in order to know ourselves better with self-love, self-knowledge and loving forgiveness.

Self-responsibility: Establishing a sense of control over our lives by realizing we are responsible for our choices and actions at every level … the achievement of our goals … our happiness … our values.

Plus: Being accountable to ourselves in all our ways with the response ability to cope with connected reality as it comes up, living life on life’s terms, engaging in honest self-criticism and doing a daily inventory to stay fresh and for real.

Self-assertiveness: The willingness to express appropriately our thoughts, values and feelings … to stand up for ourselves … to speak and act from our deepest convictions.

Plus: Speaking one’s truth out loud and clear no matter what the situation or else not lying, deceiving or exaggerating. Standing up for one’s humane rights and protesting when they are offended as an advocate for one’s self-esteem.

Living purposefully: Setting goals and working to achieve them, rather than living at the mercy of chance and outside forces … developing self-discipline.

Plus: Understanding that to live a life with purpose one should have a purpose in life, setting general goals and establishing specific objectives to achieve those goals with a basic plan of action. One must have direction, discipline and determination to win in the war of life.

Integrity: The integration of our behavior with our ideals, convictions, standards and beliefs … acting in congruence with what we believe is right.

Plus: Being honest with ourselves and others in all our communications, having our spiritual principles and personal practices be in harmony without false hypocrisy or being phony. Being a talking testimony, walking witness and living example for our own self-esteem and helping others raise their own self-esteem primarily through setting a personal example.

~ Love as an Essential Ingredient of Self-Esteem ~

Above all, the recovering addict must be guided by pure love for one’s self, then a pure love for others. If we do not love our inner self on an individual basis we cannot love others as we cannot give what we do not have within us to give. We show our self-love by taking care of our own self. We are busy meeting our own needs by depending on our own individual efforts, by taking care of our wholistic health, including holding onto our sobriety, by working on our spiritual growth with an eye on our own personal liberation as humane beings. We must have care, concern and compassion for others as humane beings, especially our own inner self. Life is sacred and the present is a precious gift from God. Indeed, each of us is a unique creature of the Creator on a grand cosmic level.

Galatians 5:14 (21st Century King James Version)

14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

~ Healing Ourselves by Creating Self-Esteem ~

In many ways, we live in a sick insane world full of global problems such as regional wars, social plagues and assorted diseases. It is certainly dysfunctional. Thus, many people have critical issues in their lives they need to recognize, resolve and work on in order to become balanced creative humane beings. For many reasons people require recovery from the many ills that they have inherited, accumulated or acquired in their lives, not just the recovering addict. In fact, as a rule the recovering addict is more awake and consciously aware of obvious character defects or vices than others who consider themselves to be among the so-called normal or 'normies'. Recovery has universal benefits and global applications.

Our personal self-esteem has been injured by our own bad choices and wrong decisions that proved to be harmful and damaging to us and all our relations.

Many people may not even know on a conscious level that they have serious character defects or vices that can be summed up in the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth. It is our own character defects or vices that are at the root of our assorted addictions, not any imaginary devil. It is up to us to seek a cure and work on our spiritual healing as humane beings in harmony with the Great Creator. For healing people, being in possession of high self-esteem means being fully accountable and responsible for all our thoughts, words and actions as mature humane beings, not being dysfunctional in any way.

Ultimately our progressive recovery can be a lonely existence because in many ways we have to go it alone, learn to understand the personal experiences only we have gone through on an existential level and no one else can do our own personal work of spiritual healing ourselves from deep within. Naturally we do get moral group support, combat individual isolation and get a sense of community by being involved in a 12-Steps recovery group, but ultimately it is up to each of us to work on our own daily sobriety, progressive recovery and spiritual healing on an individual basis. You must clean your own self.

On a wholistic individual level, I am a humane being in the trinity of the mind-body-soul matrix. I am a spiritual being with a thinking mind living inside a physical body. Thus, I need to work on creating self-esteem and healing myself on three levels: the mind, the body and the soul.

~ Tools for Creating Self-esteem ~

For the mind: constantly raising our consciousness; studying relevant literature; doing a daily journal; improving our level of literacy in terms of reading, writing and comprehension; going to constructive open meetings and engaging in relevant discussions; listening to the ideas and opinions of others, even if we disagree with them; taking time out for quiet reflections and private analyzes.

For the body: paying attention to our nutritional needs; when possible getting a basic physical examination; developing a physical-fitness workout program, including yoga and martial arts; taking vitamin supplements and other nutrients; continuing to work on combating all forms of chemical-substance addiction, including tobacco and inessential prescription drugs.

For the soul: taking time out for heartfelt prayer when we speak to the Creator and deep meditation when we listen to the Creator; feeling in harmony with our own inner spirit without internal spiritual conflict; when we can, spending time out with nature away from the hustle and bustle of city scenes and urban noises. Being still in our beingness and at peace in our sane serenity.

~ A Time to Heal ~

During our past indulgence in the many evils of drug addiction and the whole dope fiend subculture of confused chaos, moral depravity and wild wretchedness many of us lost our own inner self-esteem, if we ever had any. We found ourselves without any genuine self-love, personal self-respect and true self-confidence. We will need time to mend our ways, time to heal our wounds and time to build up and create ourselves anew as mature sober-minded functional humane beings that have care, concern and compassion for all sentient living beings, including ourselves. We need time to discover who we really are, what our true purpose in life is and time to dream of what we can be in the future one moment at a time.

On the cosmic and quantum levels we are all one in the heart of the Creator because we are actually creatures of the Divine Creator. Our grief, separation and divorce came in when we forget where we came from and who we are as creatures of the Divine Creator. Remember who you are and become a member of the human family. Love yourself and create your own self-esteem. If it is to come true it is up to you!

c/s

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● Progressive Recovery Today!
http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/

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http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CASA-12-Steps-Program/
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On Being a Christian in Recovery:by Peter S Lopez aka: Peta

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-being-christian-in-recovery-by-peter.html

First Posted: Sunday, November 23, 2008

~ Just One Day at A Time ~

To my recollection, sometime after I came back from Phoenix around 1986, I first went to an A.A. Meeting by the old Beers Book store that was on the corner on 15th and L Streets. The guy there mentioned something about not having another drink the rest of my life. I thought I had gotten mixed up with a crazy cult of some kind. I had a quart of beer right after the meeting. I could see the wisdom of staying sober for a short time, especially when I was broke, but could not grasp the ideal of staying sober the rest of my life without booze! Thus, though I had been a practicing alcoholic for a long time, at least since my late teens, I was not really hip to the idea of being into recovery one day at a time.

Finally, years later around 1995, after being hooked on ‘crank’ for about two years out in Del Paso Heights, I became homeless like so many street addicts and went to Loaves and Fishes for a free lunch. Someone told me about the Salvation Army Emergency Shelter across the street and so I went to go check it out after lunch. I was pleasantly surprised to see that my old Cousin Elias N. was the Food Manager and he got me into Sally’s for the first time. Thus, I went into Sally’s for temporary shelter from the storms of life I had brought about in my life.

The first time I was at Sally’s I was there for only a few days, met a drinking buddy, left and got drunk. A few months later, I ended up there again, lasted a little longer, and then went out, got drunk and stayed with a friend. Sometimes our best friends can be our worst enemies without meaning to be so. Now I have learned to choose my friends wisely, especially if I want to stay sober.

~ Early Involvement with CASA ~

About the third time I went into Sally’s, I stayed longer and began to seriously work a recovery program. I attended A.A. and N.A. Meetings and started checking out a Christian recovery group called CASA. At the time, CASA Meetings were led by a guy named Jack P. I got turned onto the idea of being a Christian in recovery. This early CASA Group, which at the time stood for Christians Against Substance Abuse, was key in my early understanding about the whole problem of substance addiction and seeking a spiritual solution, but it was not all that easy for me to first get involved in the recovery process. There were snags, traps and landmines up ahead. Sometimes we have to fall down a few times before we can get it, stay straight and walk on a spiritual path in life. It takes what it takes.

A couple of weeks after I started going to CASA Meetings led by Jack P. there was one Sunday when there was no CASA Meeting and I got worried. I found out that Jack P. had went out and relapsed on a dope run and was holed up licking his wounds at a nearby three story house on the corner of 15th and D Streets called The Steps House at the time. It was a ‘clean and sober’ place renting out shared rooms for those who wanted to get straight. It eventually faded out because of what I believe were the character defects of the people in charge of it all. Anyway, being nervous in my early recovery, I talked to an ailing Jack P. He suggested that if I was interested in keeping the CASA Group going that I should talk to a Staff Member at Sally’s called Neal M., now at Counselor at Guest House for homeless people with mental health issues. So I went to Neal M. and he gave me the basic CASA 12-Steps they had going at the time, which were the regular A.A. 12-Steps with related Christian scriptures for each step. It has been revised and updated since then and CASA now stands for Christians Against Substance Addiction.

I really felt that God wanted us to stay sober, get involved in the healing process of recovery and work on our spiritual growth using the ancient wisdom of the Word of God contained in the Holy Bible. For the first time in my adult life, I felt free from the enslavement of my own addiction to alcohol and other mind-altering drugs. However, my life was not all of a sudden filled with little butterflies and pretty rainbows. There were still growing pains to go through and endure.

~ Relapse and Continued Recovery ~

I was hired by Salvation Army, moved out into a room by 18th and P Streets, quit my job at Sally’s and went to work at De-tox with VOA. Not the best choice for a recovering addict, especially being around drunks with hangovers and considering my tendency for co-dependency towards others. Long story short, I relapsed, went back to Sally’s as a client and got back on the recovery horse after falling off the wagon. I applied for and was accepted into Mather Community Campus where I lived from August 2000 to July 2002. MCC is a great 2-year HUD transitional housing & employment program for homeless people, most of who are in recovery from one addiction or disorder or another. One day at a time.

While at Mather I kept going back to Sally’s every Sunday to lead CASA Meetings and help others in recovery. However, after I left Mather with over two years clean and sober I was out of a safe supportive environment and with no strong after-care program in place. Predictably I started drinking alcohol again and gradually drifted away from my sober recovery back into my old family plague: alcoholism.

Long story short, I kept drinking, got a couple of jobs as a Care Worker with In-Home Support Services, lost my housing becoming homeless again, then moved back into Sally’s on July 24, 2004 = my new sobriety date.

Now I am employed once again by the Salvation Army as a Caseworker-Counselor and still help lead CASA Meetings. CASA is a hard group to keep going on a regular basis because it is staged in a homeless shelter. Other than a few veterans who pop in once in a while we have no regular membership. Faces change all the time at our CASA Meetings as many clients hope to move on into one kind of temporary transitional housing program or another. Life itself is one long transition. Through thick and thin, no matter what, we should stay sane and sober, continue to work on our recovery program, nurture our spiritual growth and enhance our overall humane development as humane being. At all times we should strive to be sincere and in harmony with basic humane-spiritual principles as spiritual beings living inside physical bodies.

~ A Homeless Addict in Recovery ~

Being a homeless drug addict in recovery from substance addiction and trying to stay out of the whole dope fiend lifestyle is one of the hardest struggles and greatest challenges for one to go through in life, especially trying to be a ‘for real’ Christian believer who has humane compassion for people, not a phony make-believer who is faking it for one kind of selfish reason or another.

For us, being a Christian in recovery means that we have to go through a real deep spiritual awakening that involves a true Christian conversion wherein we accept the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth as our Lord and Savior without reservations. We become a true believer, not a make-believer. We study the Holy Bible as the great book of wisdom for its spiritual principles and closely examine religious spiritual teachings that help us live a good spiritual life free from the errors of mortal sin, including the evil ways of drug addiction.

Basically, recovery is a medical term when one who has been ill gets well from a dis-ease, is at ease in their wellness and is fundamentally recovered while still working on his continued recovery, spiritual growth and wholistic health. A physical shaky sobriety alone with no strong recovery program online is never enough for us. We seek a real cure for the affliction of addiction, not a shaky sobriety always being subject to a sudden slip or severe relapse, but a real genuine wholistic cure.

After one has made a decision to wake up, get straight and achieves a measure of sobriety time, then, one should get consciously involved in the whole healing process of long-term recovery. One works the basic 12-Steps with a guide, sponsor or mentor; daily practices basic humane-spiritual principles; attends group meetings that promote spiritual healing, not only regular recovery meetings, but also other gatherings that foster mental health, spiritual healing and physical fitness; strives to keep in constant communion with the Creator by prayer, meditation and studying the Holy Bible; works on one’s self-esteem and on creating good healthy relationships with others in life. We have been damaged in many ways and must do what we can to repair the damage we have done to ourselves, our families, our communities and our world. We must work on a strong spiritual sobriety, progressive recovery and focus on our wholistic health so that we do not slip into the darkness of drug addiction ever again. Our unique disease is basically spiritual in nature, not only involving chemical-dependency. It is a spiritual disease that makes us spiritually sick.

For us as Christians in recovery we must go far beyond regular sober recovery and undergo a radical transformation of our entire being, a true spiritual conversion into a higher level of cosmic consciousness. We must be conscious of ourselves as creatures of the Creator of the Cosmos, come to know who we truly are as cosmic beings and strive to be one with all other living beings in peace, harmony and understanding.

Proverbs 1:5 ~ 21st Century King James Version
“A wise man will hear and will increase learning, and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsel.”

~ Starting Over ~

We have a whole new life ahead of us that we should live to the fullest, enjoying the benefits of sober recovery, treasuring the fruits of life and above all ~ loving elegantly. Hard-core substance addiction is a form of self-hatred and a kind of suicide because it always ends up with us losing our self-esteem or existing like the living dead in a life not worth living. At all times, we should stay alert and not substitute one harmful addiction with another or replace one harmful obsession with another. If one is not careful one can focus exclusively on so-called recovery on a day-by-day basis, only going to recovery meetings and getting meeting cards signed and completely forget the larger wider long-term goals of greater spiritual growth, emotional maturity and becoming fully functional adults in today’s world.

From As Bill Sees It: Citizens Again ~Letter, 1959
“In A.A. we aim not only for sobriety---we try again to become citizens of the world that we rejected and of the world that once rejected us. This is the ultimate demonstration towards which A.A. work is the first but not the final step.”

Recovery from drug addiction by its very nature is progressive, promotes positive personal change and encourages self-empowerment in our lives. As a key part of our progressive recovery we should be aware of what is going on in the real world, know about current events and global issues, support progressive causes, issues and movements, combat individual isolation before any possible relapse and come to comprehend the vastness of connected reality and our role in it. Be fascinated by life with an active imagination and get involved in life for it is meant for the living, not the dead.

For many of us, decades lost in drug addiction, including alcohol addiction or alcoholism, has resulted in the arrested development of normal adult lives. We have not experienced a normal growth process into adulthood with all its benefits and responsibilities. We often feel that we have wasted so much time and that there is a lot of catching up for us to do in order to really progress in our lives. Easy does it! We did not become strung out over night and we cannot do a magical makeover all in one day. We need to work on developing our natural talents, sharpening our work skills, furthering our education and nurturing our families. There can be a lot of unfinished business we still need to do. Amends to be made to others, arrest warrants to be cleared and bridges to be built.

As soon as possible, we need to get involved in a comprehensive mental-spiritual counseling program, get a full physical exam to find out our physical state of health and explore all the inner spiritual work that needs to be done in order for us to stay on the spiritual path. Remember: we remain triad beings with wholistic work to be done in the mental, physical and spiritual realms of our new lives for our minds, bodies and souls.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ~ 21st Century King James Version
“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

For the Christian in recovery, all of this stuff involves the three stages of sobriety, recovery and liberty. We need to hold onto our sober recovery as we work on being free of all addictions and their harmful evil effects: our character defects, personal shortcomings and inner demons. In the process, we can consciously work on life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

"Let no one deceive another.
Let no one anywhere despise another.
Let no one out of anger or resentment
wish suffering on anyone at all.
Just as a mother with her own life
protects her child, her only child from harm,
so within yourself let grow
a boundless love for all creatures."
~ From Sutta Nipta ~ Discourse on Good Will
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/tipitaka/kn/snp/index.html

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● Progressive Recovery Today!
http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/

● CASA 12-Steps Program Blog
http://casa-12steps.blogspot.com/

● CASA 12-Steps Program Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CASA-12-Steps-Program/
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On Character Defects, Shortcomings and Inner Demons:by Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-character-defects-shortcomings-and.html



Update: February 17, 2009

Main Entry: 1 char•ac•ter
Pronunciation: \ˈker-ik-tər, ˈka-rik-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English caracter, from Latin character mark, distinctive quality, from Greek charaktēr, from charassein to scratch, engrave; perhaps akin to Lithuanian žerti to scratch
Date: 14th century
1 a: a conventionalized graphic device placed on an object as an indication of ownership, origin, or relationship b: a graphic symbol (as a hieroglyph or alphabet letter) used in writing or printing c: a magical or astrological emblem d: alphabet e (1): writing , printing (2): style of writing or printing (3): cipher f: a symbol (as a letter or number) that represents information ; also : a representation of such a character that may be accepted by a computer
2 a: one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual b (1): a feature used to separate distinguishable things into categories ; also : a group or kind so separated {advertising of a very primitive character} (2): the detectable expression of the action of a gene or group of genes (3): the aggregate of distinctive qualities characteristic of a breed, strain, or type {a wine of great character} c: the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation {the character of the American people} d: main or essential nature especially as strongly marked and serving to distinguish {excess sewage gradually changed the character of the lake}
3: position , capacity {his character as a town official}
4: reference 4b
5: reputation {the scandal has damaged his character and image}6: moral excellence and firmness {a man of sound character}
7 a: a person marked by notable or conspicuous traits {quite a character} b: one of the persons of a drama or novel c: the personality or part which an actor recreates {an actress who can create a character convincingly} d: characterization especially in drama or fiction e: person , individual {a suspicious character}
8: a short literary sketch of the qualities of a social type
synonyms see disposition, quality, type
— char•ac•ter•less ,\-ləs\ adjective
— in character
: in accord with a person's usual qualities or traits {behaving in character}
— out of character
: not in accord with a person's usual qualities or traits {his rudeness was completely out of character}
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~ CASA Mission Statement ~

CASA (Christians Against Substance Addiction) is a progressive Christian recovery group based upon the original A.A. 12-Steps Program. The spiritual principles and practices of our CASA 12-Steps Program with its related Biblical Scriptures come from the wisdom of the Holy Bible, as did the basis ideas of the original A.A. 12-Steps. We have not forgotten the Christian roots of A.A.; claim Creator God as our Higher Power with faith in God as the foundation for all our spiritual traditions, not an obscure anonymity.

Romans 12:3 ~ 21st Century King James Version
For I say to every man that is among you, through the grace given unto me, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

We support a wholistic recovery program for spiritual healing to help us identify, treat and ultimately cure the affliction of drug addiction and its related evils. The term ‘wholistic’ is a combination of the words ‘whole’ and ‘holy’. We aim to achieve a true balanced maturity as humane believers, not phony make-believers. With God’s amazing grace, power and wisdom, we can be cured!

~ Introduction ~

In the context of combating substance addiction, it is our personal character defects, shortcomings and inner demons that are major obstacles or roadblocks in the way of our sober recovery and spiritual growth. We need to remove these roadblocks and move forward one day at a time with eyes for the future. History is a guide to action, our past has created our present and a true knowledge of our present situation will help guide us into the future with a clear vision.

If we suffer a relapse it is usually because we have not really eliminated our major character defects, corrected gross shortcomings and/or exorcised our inner demons. It is these fatal factors that take us out, not our indulgence in the original chemical poison alone. Our chemical disease is a primary symptom of a deeper spiritual disease that requires spiritual healing. Ultimately, personal recovery is an inside job of self-healing. Living spiritually and consciously helps us not to fall into any kind of relapse mode.

Psalm 7:15 ~ 21st Century King James Version
“He made a pit and dug it, and has fallen into the ditch which he hath made.”

Relapse, which is basically a medical term, is not a part of our recovery; it is a reflection of our continued spiritual sickness. The obvious outward behavior of ‘dope fiend’ ways exhibits deep mental-spiritual sickness and masks hidden disorders of the inner soul that require spiritual healing. On our spiritual path, we strive to work on our continued progressive recovery, inner spiritual liberty and our humane development as humane beings with care, concern and compassion for all living beings.

~ Personal Inventory ~

As a healing process, true recovery happens in different progressive stages. In early recovery, after a period of sobriety, many recovering addicts lose their way, foul up and self-sabotage because of a fatal flaw in their personal recovery program. Many naïve newcomers in recovery and sometimes even old-timers can suffer a severe relapse back down and out into the darkness of the disease of addiction because of their basic fundamental failure to do a good honest personal inventory. As a guiding rule, when relapse happens it is because we have not done a serious comprehensive personal inventory of our assets and liabilities, including our own personal history. A conscious daily personal inventory is essential and should be a part of our daily routine in order for us to check in with ourselves and safeguard our own continued sober recovery. It helps us stay involved in the protracted healing process of recovery.

CASA Step #4: We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, taking stock of our assets and liabilities.
Romans 8:27 “And he who searches the hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, for the Spirit prays for the saints according to the will of God.”

Many people in recovery dread doing Step #4 because it involves honest self-criticism and calls for a deep self-examination of the truth about ourselves. It can be painful and shameful to expose dark sins we would rather pretend to forget. However, we must remember the lessons of the past in order not to repeat them in the vicious circle of addiction, recovery, relapse and back into active addiction over and over again.

We must conscientiously work the basics of a 12-Steps program, truly repent of our mortal sins and experience a deep spiritual conversion in order to stay on the straight road of recovery without ending up in a dead end. We need to bring our sins out of the darkness into the healing powers of the divine light of truth. We must come to love, know and fully understand ourselves and others. In essence, we have to stay on the spiritual path of inner enlightenment and creative consciousness.

~ Drug Addiction: A Deep Spiritual Sickness ~

Drug addiction is a complete physical, mental and spiritual disease that attacks the entire entity of the human being in the trinity of the three realms of the mind, body and soul. We are three-part beings. The spiritual healing process all revolves around this mind-body-soul trinity and its complex interrelationships. Thus, we must heal ourselves in the three key areas of wholistic health: mental, physical and spiritual health, with a special emphasis on spiritual health.

We need to treat, cure and heal our disease. We do not want to only arrest and control our addiction like it is a growling prisoner-slave within us always capable of escaping and coming out at a moment’s notice. We must treat our disease, not nurse it, but kill its roots within our souls in order to be free of it and truly recover. Once and for all we want to be rid of it and get it out of our lives as we gradually eradicate its harmful effects, results and influences. We desire to become whole, healthy and cured from the evils of drug addiction, not be doomed to forever calling ourselves addicts as clients of and consumers in the multi-billion dollar drug-medical-rehab industries.

Many addicts have a real fear and dread of the horrors and negative effects of the actual physical withdrawal from drug addiction. They stay strung out and sick in order to avoid ‘getting sick’. When a drug addict has made a decision to go straight, get off harmful drugs and work on being sane and sober, he goes through a period of intense detoxification and enters the initial stage of early recovery with PAWS (Post-Acute-Withdrawal-Syndrome) always scratching away. At this tender point it is easy to get caught up again back into being chemically dependent because the body is still infected with the residue of the chemical properties from the original poison, substance or drug of choice. Depending on one’s individual history with drugs, including alcohol, PAWS can last for a few days, a few months, to a few years or more. Old habits die hard. Healing takes quality recovery time, conscientious hard work and personal dedication. Be patient with yourself and others as you persevere and move forward in life sane and sober. We can become born anew!

Once we are serious about our recovery there are still a lot of mental processes involving brain cognition that need to be identified, recognized and transformed, including the ‘stinkin’ thinkin’ that easily gets so many of us back into trouble in the dementia of active addiction.

“Cognition is a mental process of knowing that involves perception, analysis and judgment in consciousness as an active experience of actually knowing as distinct from feeling, willing or sensing. It is how we learn to trust what we know, as it refers to brain science as well as understanding the mind and how it thinks.”
Source: http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-demon-of-denial-in-addiction-by.html

If we are not on guard, we remain fragile and vulnerable to sudden triggers that can result in a sudden slip and end up in relapse. We must learn to consciously control our entire beings in terms of our thoughts, our bodies and our spirits. Recall: the mind commands, the body functions and the spirit guides!

To further complicate matters, there can be a lot of deeply buried internal spiritual conflicts that have not been dug out, examined and resolved by us. These can be subconscious thoughts, repressed feelings kept in storage and maddening motivations we are not fully aware of that can cause us to act against our basic survival interests and threaten our recovery and general success in life.

Usually the root origins of these spiritual conflicts can be traced back to our family of origin in early childhood, our neighborhood environment in adolescent teenage years and these internal conflicts can carry over into our adult relationships. It takes a lot of time, energy and training to reverse long dark decades of conditioned negative thinking processes, bad behavior patterns and false spiritual beliefs.

The spiritual nature of our disease is often hidden by rigid mental health labels and clinical classifications that disguise deeper spiritual sins. Medical doctors routinely prescribe pharmaceutical quick-fixes. Why switch an illegal addiction with a legal one? A spiritual problem requires a spiritual solution.

We strive to keep it simple in our recovery because we have already complicated our lives with drug addiction and other disorders. Indeed, true refinement seeks simplicity, yet modern life with all its complexities is often full of so much chaos and confusion that it clouds our mental-spiritual clarity or consciousness.

In essence, we should concentrate on creating a hard core centered consciousness in our lives and not be easily distracted by the obvious insane, the ignorant or irrelevant matters around us that can take us away from paying attention to what needs to be done for us to gradually heal ourselves of our spiritual sickness. Our clear conscious minds need to fathom the connections, interconnections and complexities of real life in order to come to a true understanding of life, see the big picture and raise our overall cosmic consciousness as creatures of the Creator of the cosmos.

~ Character Defects ~

Main Entry: 1 de•fect
Pronunciation: \ˈdē-ˌfekt, di-ˈ\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Latin defectus lack, from deficere to desert, fail, from de- + facere to do — more at do
Date: 15th century
1 a: an imperfection that impairs worth or utility : shortcoming {the grave defects in our foreign policy} b: an imperfection (as a vacancy or an unlike atom) in a crystal lattice2 [Latin defectus] : a lack of something necessary for completeness, adequacy, or perfection : deficiency {a hearing defect}

CASA Step #6: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these character defects.
I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.”

Character defects are major human factors that can severely harm us and are common to many people whether they are in recovery from an addiction disorder or not. This is a key reason why the spiritual principles, structure and format of a 12-Steps program has great social significance in today’s troubled times. It can help heal all of us and can make great contributions to creating a just, sane and humane society. Honestly working a 12-Steps Program can be helpful to all who desire higher self-esteem, seek self-improvement and true self-empowerment in today’s world so we can consciously determine our own destiny. It can help us all be humble before Creator God, admit any errors in our ways, correct any wrongs we have committed and keep us in conscious communion with our Creator.

Our spiritual healing involves the urgent need for us to be fully conscious of any core character defects in operation within us in order to keep us working on our living sane and sober lives as functional mature humane beings.

CASA Step #6: We were entirely ready to have God remove all these character defects.
I John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.”

Basic character defects are composed of the Seven Deadly Sins that are major vile vices that work against valuable virtues.

Vice	Virtue against which it sins	Brief description of virtue
False Pride	Humility	Seeing ourselves in proper perspective in connected reality, being good at learning and accepting valid criticism
Jealous Envy	Love	Love is pure, kind and empathetic in harmony with others without petty jealousy. Love heals the soul.
Wrath/Anger	Compassion	Being kind to all of humankind with care, concern and compassion, not misguided anger due to inner fears.
Sloth	Zeal	Zeal is the inspired energetic response of the soul to God's commands. Sloth shows a lack of spiritual strength.
Greed	Generosity	Giving to others what we have freely received, expecting nothing in return. Sharing is caring.
Gluttony	Temperance	Temperance accepts the natural limits of pleasures, preserves natural balance and does not overindulge.
Lust	Self control	Self control over our passions keeps us balanced and centered. Selfish sexual lust without borders is a lack of respect for those we love.

Related Link: http://www.whitestonejournal.com/seven_deadly_sins/

The above is not written in stone. These are recommended guidelines to help us in our spiritual growth. There are other human characteristics that can loosely be considered as character defects. Our list could go on and on involving other human character traits. However, we want to focus on the main character defects that cause us suffering, not get frustrated trying to be perfect. Just for today, we just want to stay sober, get well and work on healing ourselves.

We should be careful not to confuse core character defects with common shortcomings for they are not necessarily the same. Accepting constructive criticism and honest self-criticism are essential tools for us to build up an honest recovery program. We need to know the truth about our spiritual sickness and how to treat it as we work on our continued sober recovery, a wholistic cure and our on-going spiritual healing.

~ Shortcomings ~

Main Entry: short•com•ing
Pronunciation: \ˈshȯrt-ˌkə-miŋ, ˌshȯrt-ˈ\
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
: an imperfection or lack that detracts from the whole ; also : the quality or state of being flawed or lacking

CASA Step #7: We humbly asked Him on our knees to remove our shortcomings.
James 4:10 ”Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Shortcomings are minor personality defects that can get in the way of our progressive recovery. If they are combined together they can become heavy burdens that weigh us down and jeopardize our spiritual growth, but they should not be seen in the same category as major character defects. A shortcoming could be as simple as a tendency to always be late for meetings, finding it hard to pay attention or as serious as being a functional illiterate able to function in the work world but not good at reading, writing and general literacy.

When we are humble we are more capable of recognizing our core character defects and basic shortcomings. We can learn nothing new if we arrogantly think we know everything. Humility is the key for us to grow, expand and mature as humane beings. We have a humane right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We can consciously continue to work on our character defects and not let them ruin our lives. However, we have to accept the basic fact that we may always have shortcomings in one area or another as we are imperfect beings subject to change, growth and further evolution.

~ Inner Demons ~

Ephesians 6:11-12 ~ 21st Century King James Version
“11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”

Inner demons are old ghosts that haunt and stalk us with self-doubts, foolish fears and baseless insecurities; all those spirits, attitudes and patterns that get in the way of our spiritual progress without our conscious awareness of them and keep evil alive inside of us. A key goal of spiritual therapy is to reveal the subconscious, bring it up to our conscious awareness and raise cosmic consciousness to a higher level of understanding.

Inner demons can be unconscious small daily routines that we have, little indulgences that can gradually get worse over time if left unchecked. Why walk by a liquor store? Maybe a little beer once in a while won’t hurt. Maybe a little thin line of crank to keep us going won’t matter. What’s a little puff of smoke? Maybe a little lie here and there is OK so long as no one else finds out. Who is going to know? Integrity includes being honest with yourself when you are all alone in communion with Creator God.

These are not the obvious outward demons, such as a false friend trying to get us to indulge in dope fiend activity. These are hidden invisible demons that pop up out of nowhere and work against our efforts at achieving substantial spiritual recovery. In the back of our minds they nag us and can be the old unfinished business of unresolved spiritual issues that retard our spiritual growth and block our forward movement. The Devil works in devious ways, yet many of us lie and deceive ourselves using a perverted twisted logic, rationalizing wrongdoing and justifying counter-productive actions. Our worst enemy can be the enemy within!

~ General Summary ~

Our progressive recovery requires us to eliminate our major character defects, get rid of our major shortcomings and exorcise any inner demons as key components of any relevant recovery program, especially doing a daily personal inventory in a spiritual journal in conscious communion with the Creator. Spiritual healing is an on-going process of becoming one in harmony with the Creator, our inner self and others we love. It brings us peace of mind and inner serenity after we have left behind the past insane madness experienced during our active addiction as ‘dope fiends’, ‘drunks’ or derelicts.

Recognize that drug addiction and many other disorders are spiritual in origin being raised in a sick society. They are forms of spiritual sickness because we are out-of-order in relation to the Creator’s will for us to be good, happy and in harmony with the Creator, other creatures and nature in general. We must treat, cure and heal the inner spirit from within in harmony with the help of the Great Spirit of the Creator.

Psalm 37:23 ~ 21st Century King James Version
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delighteth in his way.”

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● CASA 12-Steps Blog:
http://casa-12steps.blogspot.com/
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● CASA-12-Steps Yahoo Group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CASA-12-Steps-Program/
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● Progressive Recovery Today:
http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/
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+ The CASA Twelve-Steps Program + ~ Short Version
~ Christians Against Substance Addiction ~ ‘The Real Deal’
"And you will know the truth, and that very truth will make you free.” ~~ John 8:32
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Here are the CASA 12-Steps and Scriptures we worked which are recommended as a progressive Christian Recovery Program:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our drug addiction—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Matthew 9:36 “When Jesus saw the multitudes, he had compassion on them, because they were tired and scattered, like sheep which have no shepherd.”
2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
Mark 9:23 “Jesus said to him, If you can believe, everything is possible to him who believes."
3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of Creator God, as we understood Him.
Luke 9:23 “Then he said in the presence of everyone, He who wishes to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross every day and follow me.”
4. We made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves, taking stock of our assets and liabilities.
Romans 8:27 “And he who searches the hearts, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, for the Spirit prays for the saints according to the will of God.”
5. We admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another humane being the exact nature of our wrongs.
James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man is powerful.”
6. We were entirely ready to have God remove all these character defects.
I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness.”
7. We humbly asked Him on our knees to remove our shortcomings.
James 4:10 ”Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will lift you up.”
8. We made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
Matthew 6:14-15 “For if you forgive men their faults, your Father in heaven will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive even your faults.”
9. We made direct amends to such people whenever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
Matthew 5:24 “Leave your offering there before the altar, and first go and make peace with your brother, and then come back and present your offering.”
10. We continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it, while recognizing our continued progressive recovery.
Romans 12:3 ‘‘For I say, through the grace which is given to me, to all of you, not to think of yourselves beyond what you ought to think; but to think soberly, every man according to the measure of faith which God has distributed to him.”
11. We sought through prayer, meditation and study to improve our conscious contact with God, praying only for knowledge of His will for us, and the Power to carry that out.
Mark 12:30 “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your might; this is the first commandment.”
12. We tried to carry this Message to addicts and practice these principles in all our affairs; having had a ‘Spiritual Awakening’ as a result of working these 12-Steps.
Galatians 6:1 "My brethren, if anyone be found at fault, you who are spiritual, restore him in a spirit of meekness; and be careful lest you also be tempted.”
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On Sharing Your Recovery Testimony:by Peter S. Lopez aka: Peta

Sunday, October 12, 2008
http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2008/10/on-sharing-your-recovery-testimony-by.html
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~Recovery Is A Protracted Process~

Real recovery from any negative addiction is a protracted process of spiritual healing that develops in different distinct stages: from early recovery when we first overcome our denial and admit the fact of our drug addiction, learn the basics about progressive recovery and related issues; to the mid-term stage when we are getting into the natural daily routine of being involved in the recovery process by going to meetings, getting a sponsor to help guide us, working the 12-Steps on a daily basis and helping others; to advanced recovery when we have a solid foundation in our recovery, a firm grasp of the fundamentals of living life sane and sober and continue to work hard on our spiritual healing as we promote our general wholistic health.

In general, progressive recovery is a process of positive change, spiritual growth and humane development, not a sudden spiritual awakening when we are all well and wonderful overnight. It takes time, hard work and total commitment to heal the wounds, traumas and disorders caused by our past drug addiction and evil ways, especially in the spiritual realm.

A big part of our inner spiritual healing is sharing our own personal testimony with others in our lives, especially at our recovery group meetings when we discuss our past experiences, present sources of inspiration and hopes for a bright future free from drug addiction and any serious relapses back into our dark deadly disease.

Sometimes recovery can be a terribly lonely affair. On an individual existential level, no one has gone through what you have, seen what you have seen through your own eyes and personally witnessed your own version of the insanity of drug addiction except your own conscious inner self.

“Amazing grace How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind, but now I see."
Source: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/a/m/a/amazing_grace.htm

In our recovery, we need others around us who are working their own recovery program to help us combat any individual isolation that leaves us vulnerable to a relapse; to help keep us strong in the spirit of peaceful serenity, progressive recovery and spiritual liberty; and to help us create a collective community of unity with all those who share our core beliefs, central concerns and spiritual principles. In our efforts to heal ourselves from the affliction of drug addiction and our desire to heal ourselves once and for all, we are not all alone.

“For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow; but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for there is not one to lift him up.”
Ecclesiastes 4:10 ~ Ancient Eastern Text

Thus, we meet together at group meetings when and where we can come together, learn from each other and help each other heal. If one of us slips and falls down into a relapse we help him get back up and carry on in the struggle, not rush to judge and condemn anyone. We learn the most from our own personal mistakes and from witnessing the examples of others battling their own demons and struggling on in their own continued recovery.

~Sharing Is Caring~

Remember that sharing is caring. At group meetings the main way for us to share is to open up and give our own personal testimony about our past history, our present situation and our future vision for our lives. Sharing can become very personal and even painful, but it is important for us to share our testimony in order for us to hang up our hang-ups, get better each day and heal our souls. It is a kind of an open public confession, knowing that we are often as sick as our secrets. None of us should pretend to be perfect. All of us have made bad critical decisions that brought pain, misery and suffering into our lives. As we hear more and more testimonies we can see common themes and threads running through all our stories in the tapestry of life. We come to understand that we all suffer alike and clearly see our common survival interests in helping each other heal.

When somebody shares at a Group Meeting it is important for those who are present to listen up and pay attention, not get distracted by others or our own internal dialogue. Many times we may not want to pay attention to speakers who speak up because some of the subjects that come up make us feel uneasy, uncomfortable and can pop up shameful memories, especially for the one giving his testimony. It is not always easy just to open our minds, our hearts and bare our souls in a room full of other people who may be strangers to us. It takes bold courage to share with others. Nevertheless, it is essential for our own personal spiritual healing for us to share our stories with others. Remember that it is all ultimately between the Creator and us, not them.

A big part of understanding our disease is to understand that it is not merely a chemical dependency issue in terms of being dependent on alcohol, street drugs or prescription drugs, it is ultimately a disease of the soul. The inner soul grieves inside when we do things that harm our inner serenity, our physical body and our mental state of mind. Sharing is a key element in our healing, it helps us to let go of the burden of all the useless baggage we carry around, helps us to dump out the dirty trash we haul around from one spot to another, and helps us to get things off our chest and out into the open so we can get better, brighter and sharper with our recovery tools. Sharing with others helps keep us clean, sane and sober

~Honesty Is the Key~

HOW a recovery program works is to be Honest, Open and Willing to change, to learn and to mature as humane beings who have care, concern and compassion for others. We need to be totally honest with ourselves, admit the whole truth about our lives and own up to the bad critical mistakes we have made in our lives that caused us harm, grief and suffering in order for us to proceed on our spiritual path, work hard on our spiritual healing and achieve spiritual liberty from all the evils of addiction. A lot of recovery involves closely examining our past, how we were raised from our childhood up to the present and being able to identify critical turning points in our lives that led us astray into our addiction.

“All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.”
Isaiah 53:16 ~ 21st Century King James Version

We can blame our environment, our parents or our relationships and point an accusing finger at others, but to be totally honest we must admit the truth and face the fact that we ourselves are the ones who made the bad critical decisions that got us caught up in a whole life-style centered on boozing, doping and partying without really being conscious and mindful of its many negative consequences, including being addicted to a life-threatening disease that is a real killer.

Before one gives an open testimony it is good if he or she has already worked the basic 12-Steps Program with a sponsor or guide, has at least one month of good sobriety time in and is strongly committed to the whole recovery process of spiritual healing.

However, sometimes it can be hard to find someone with the honest courage to even stand out and speak up about their personal recovery struggles. Thus, whoever has the honest open willingness to do so should be allowed to share at a group meeting as long as they are sincere about getting well. We are not here to judge; we are here to help in the spiritual healing of ourselves, others and, indeed, the whole world outside.

“The only work that will ultimately bring any good to any of us is the work of contributing to the healing of the world.”
~ Marianne Williamson
Website: http://www.marianne.com/index.htm

~Group Participation~

When a Group Member has shared his own personal testimony the rational responses and/or emotional reactions from others who are in the Meeting Room can have a profound impact on the one who has shared his testimony with lasting results. We are here to help each other, to learn from each other and not to stupidly judge or condemn anyone. Nevertheless, being able to accept loving caring criticism from others who are into recovery is a part of the whole spiritual healing process. No one has cornered the market on truth. Each of us has our own truth and our own way of looking at life and its core issues. After the personal testimony is given the meeting can open up with a tangible relevant topic and we can open up the meeting for general discussion, questions or comments related to the main topic.

A good meeting is made up of people who are present in the here and now, who pay close attention and who actively participate by sharing their own knowledge, asking relevant questions and help to further develop group consciousness. Merely having a lot of bodies present at a meeting does not necessarily mean it is a good meeting. Some are there just to get their Meeting Cards signed for one program or another. Others are around for their own selfish egocentric gratification, another manifestation of the old ‘dope fiend’ mentality that we need to root out of our consciousness.

“19 Again I say to you, that if two of you are worthy on earth, anything that they would ask will be done for them by My Father who in Heaven.
20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”
Matthew 18:19-20 ~ Ancient Eastern Text (from the Aramaic)

When appropriate to the situation, we should share the gospel or ‘good news’ about our progressive recovery with others in the community, with our family and with our good friends. We were certainly not anonymous in our lost drunken dope fiend days, why should we pretend to be so now when we are involved in the spiritual healing process of our recovery?

Share your own personal testimony with others when it can help, write it all down for your own reflection and come out of the closet of your confusion into the clarity of cosmic consciousness. We are creatures of the Creator of the cosmos. We have a birthright to be here now and when we work at it we can enjoy the blessings of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

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On the Demon of Denial In Addiction:by Peter S. Lopez ~aka Peta

http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2008/09/on-demon-of-denial-in-addiction-by.html

Update: September 9, 2008

~ Introduction ~

For the poor soul lost in the affliction of addiction, the main enemy opponent that prevents him from admitting he or she has a severe problem is the devious demon of denial. Denial is a real, immediate dangerous demon to the demented drug addict, not an imaginary ghost. This demon can kill him or literally get him killed. Demons are real spiritual forces within that operate in the real world that must be exorcised out of us by serious Christians against substance addiction with daily prayer, deep meditation and the hard work of building up a strong progressive recovery program.

“Denial is the refusal to accept reality and to act as if a painful event, thought or feeling did not exist. It is considered one of the most primitive of the defense mechanisms because it is characteristic of very early childhood development.”
Source: Defense Mechanisms http://www.planetpsych.com/zPsychology_101/defense_mechanisms.htm

Keep in mind that effectively combating all forms of drug addiction is a form of spiritual warfare between the forces of good fostering life versus the forces of evil bringing death. It demonstrates the eternal conflict between the truth and the lie.

In progressive recovery, just staying sober one day at a time and having no recovery program is superior to a phony weak program that breaks down into the insanity of relapse over and over. A weak heartless program is doomed to failure from the start and can discourage and destroy the newcomer. Working a temporary sobriety program until one is totally committed to a strong progressive recovery program is better than to fake it until you make it!

John 8:43-45 (King James Version) ~ Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not.

Denial of the truth about being an addict will stop us from seeking a real cure. It keeps us believing in a big lie despite any and all hard evidence to the contrary. How can we know the truth if we believe a lie? How can we solve a problem if we do not recognize it? Many drug addicts lie to themselves, might admit they have a minor drinking or drugging problem, but insist they are not a real addict. They falsely believe they can control and monitor their liquor/drug use, that their habit is not that bad and are sure they can stop anytime they want to stop, as they still continue to indulge in their poison/s. In drug addiction we are dealing with dangerous poisonous chemicals in a form of chemical warfare, not human emotions and feelings alone.

“The denial associated with alcoholism is cunning, baffling, and powerful and affects the patient, helper, and the community.”
Source: Welcome to Alcoholics Anonymous
http://www.alcoholics-anonymous.org/en_information_aa.cfm?PageID=11

The drug addict in denial is bent on self-destruction and denial can take many forms. It can even take the form of hiding in anonymity in our recovery, being ashamed of letting others know we are working on our recovery and thus denying our own personal involvement in recovery! If we were not anonymous in our full-blown addiction, why should we now pretend to be anonymous in our recovery? In progressive recovery, the foundation of all our principles is faith in Creator God, not the feebleness of anonymity. We must always admit the truth or not tell a lie.

~ The Chains of Drug Addiction ~

The chains of drug addiction exhibits a progressive disease that can only get worse over time as more links are added on to further enslave us. It can gradually evolve from harmless fun-filled recreational use at social events and family gatherings, degenerate into serious drug abuse damaging our work lives and destroying our families, then, for the afflicted addict, it can easily result in the many negative consequences of full-blown hard core drug addiction in need of serious outside help or direct intervention.

“Definition of Addiction: A chronic relapsing condition characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and abuse and by long-lasting chemical changes in the brain. Addiction is the same irrespective of whether the drug is alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or nicotine. Every addictive substance induces pleasant states or relieves distress. Continued use of the addictive substance induces adaptive changes in the brain that lead to tolerance, physical dependence, uncontrollable craving and, all too often, relapse.”
Source: Medicine Net.com
http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10177

Depending on the chemical substance use, addiction can creep up on us in days, take a few weeks to hit us or long years before it takes us down. Drug addiction introduces a cruel vicious circle, a chemical chain reaction, a three-dimensional deadly disease that attacks the mind-body-soul of the addict. The entire human being is first hooked line and sinker without conscious awareness! No other disease is so completely devastating!

Comprehensive drug education involves developing a wholistic drug treatment program; reading the basic recovery textbooks; studying about the biology of the human survival system; learning the landscape of the craving brain, plus, two main neurotransmitters: the ‘gotta-have-it’ of dopamine and ‘got-it’ of serotonin. We are engaged in fighting a kind of chemical warfare involving natural brain chemicals and chemicals we ingest or inject into our bodies from our immediate environment. It gets deep and we must dig deep to dig out the roots of our drug addiction. Between here and death, we must break out of the chains of drug addiction.

~ Primary Causes of Denial ~

The three primary causes of denial are:

1. An unconscious ego defense mechanism that protects one’s false self-image;
2. Cross-addiction from one’s original poison-of-choice to another drug; and
3. A product of cognitive failure due to cerebral brain dysfunction.

An addict in hard denial simply does not believe he is really a drug addict. He is divorced from himself and the connected reality around him. We need to overcome the demon of denial about our deadly disease with the higher power of the truth.

We require help from Creator God to heal us, a strong recovery program to cure us and we need to stay involved in the recovery movement all along the way. We need to be honest, open and willing to go to any lengths and endure any sacrifice as we work towards a true healing, not just the temporary abstinence of sobriety

We strive to simplify the complex, not complicate the simple. However, in connected reality, deeper analyses on the vital issues in our lives can get increasingly complex. Thus, our minds need to stay straight in order for us to comprehend basic complexities. A study in one discipline or area of study can lead to other areas of study. We see the flight of the butterfly and end up looking at the stars. We observe natural creatures and begin to understand the creation of the Creator.

~ Denial As A Defense Mechanism ~

The most common form of denial is a reactionary automatic defense mechanism. If we are called a drunk or dope fiend we immediately react with indignation, defend our self without considering the possibility that those labels might actually be true and refuse to openly admit that we are a drug addict. We normally identify ourselves by who we are, what we do, what we believe and our general interests in life. Thus, denial clouds and obscures our true self-concept with a false self-image.

In early addiction, the potential addict in denial may have a decent job, be taking care of business and can appear to function well in society on the outside. However, weekend warriors who party hard can turn into all week long drug users. At first we may limit ourselves to only indulging in our chosen poison after regular working hours, then sometimes before work to steady the nerves or we crank up to keep up the work pace. It is definitely on and running after work when we can let it all hang out. We may rationalize that we are just having fun and not hurting anyone except maybe ourselves.

We might be the life of the party until the whole world around us comes down and collapses! Families and straight friends fade away into the background. Old healthy hobbies are replaced by new harmful habits. Over time life changes us for the worse and daily drug use becomes to take more and more of a central place in the foreground of our lives always demanding our undivided attention. Time schedules, business priorities and personal agendas all orbit around our drug addiction activities. Drug addiction is an extremely patient deadly disease.

1 Peter 5:8 (King James Version) ~ Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

We end up hiding in isolation from others as we partake of our poison in private. We lurk behind closed doors, in bathrooms, in closets. It is the familiar sob-war stories cried and whined at many regular recovery meetings of losing jobs, losing loved ones and losing our own souls. We find we are not the great heroes we once use to be and personal self-esteem is low or lost completely. Recovering addicts often speak of having to ‘hit rock bottom’ before they come to their senses. However, the bottom itself can have a trap door underneath that can drop them further down, even into a solitary prison cage. No matter how bad it gets it can always get worse and often will until we wake up!

What was once just for fun becomes a constant obsession then becomes a real psychiatric illness: the obsessive-impulsive-compulsive disorder of hard-core drug addiction has taken over what is left of our lives. Have we become the ones our parents warned us against!?

“Addiction denial is usually considered in psychodynamic terms, as an unconscious ego defense mechanism. It is held that to fully acknowledge addiction-related problems would be so threatening to the individual's ego that he or she must misconstrue, reinterpret, or even forget the facts of the case. The central feature of this interpretation is that the denial is based on emotional rejection of the truth, rather than a simple failure of insight.”
Source: Addiction Denial and Cognitive Dysfunction
http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/14/1/52

The addict in denial refuses to see the monster he has become despite his past self-image and this denial itself is a key indicator that one is an activated addict, that is, a ‘dope fiend’. He will grossly underestimate how much, how long and how deep he has been using his drug/s and the negative consequences it has had on his whole life, especially his personal health. He will stubbornly overestimate his capacity to control or monitor his drug use or his responsibility to quit while he can without outside help. Many addicts are in strong denial of obvious perceptions, rational conclusions and despite all of the available evidence piling up around them. The dope fiend lost in denial is out in no-man’s land without a true friend or a loving God in his life. The monster weeps alone

Ideally, if the potential addict can arrest his progressive addiction at an early stage before it get worse and then gets seriously involved in a strong progressive recovery program, then many negative consequences can be avoided, including failed lives, permanent brain damage and the dead-end of death.

~ Denial As Cross-Addiction ~

Cross-addiction is when an addict switches from his original drug of choice and becomes addicted to another drug, whether prescribed or not. He still remains chemically dependant. An addict who makes a habit of using any mind-altering drug is engaging in addictive behavior. This is simple logic. It is the objective observable behavior not the subjective inner mentality that determines whether one is still an addict or not. We are what we do, not only what we say. Thus, a recovering addict cannot really claim a general sobriety date while on a mind altering drug because one is simply not staying sober in a strict definition of the word sobriety. He may of recovered from his primary poison of choice, yet he should still be in recovery as he is not fully recovered.

For example, if someone in recovery has bi-polar disorder, is taking a mind-altering drug and following their prescription, they are not guilty of drug abuse, but they are still chemically dependent and addicted to their prescription drug. Take the ‘meds’ away and watch what happens! We must stay involved in the recovery movement, strive to wean ourselves off all medications and work on developing a wholistic healing treatment program involving good nutrition, physical fitness and spiritual growth. In the long run, it is all about our self-esteem, general health and spiritual liberty, not mere sobriety. Sobriety along is never enough. We do not want to be dry drunks in A.A. Meetings or cranky N.A. Members collecting brittle chips that easily crumble.

In the light of new situations, we need to re-think old traditions, define new definitions and stay relevant to a constantly changing world in the new millennium. The A.A. Big Book is not the Holy Bible and the Holy Bible is not the absolute truth. We need to think outside of any book, use our creative minds and grasp the concept of connected reality, that all separate realities are ultimately interconnected and on the quantum level we are all one. No one has the monopoly on truth. You must do what works best for you in your own personal situation, yet stay open to positive suggestions from others who may be more experienced and enlightened than you. Humility helps us to advance our cosmic consciousness, egotism retards our spiritual growth

“The cycle of addiction for all types of drugs - heroin, cocaine, crack, amphetamines, barbiturates, alcohol and cannabis/marijuana is essentially the same and based upon nature and nurture. This comprises three features
1) chemical dependency
2) learned behaviours and habits
3) denial of both need and habit

Although there are important differences in the features of addiction to cocaine, heroin, amphetamine or alcohol, these features are basically differences of form and not one of essence. Furthermore, these differences become less relevant where people are cross-addicted to one or more substances.”
Source: Drugs and Cross-Addiction
http://www.sossobriety.org/crossadiction.htm%20

In progressive recovery, the ultimate goal is total liberty in our lives, not only sobriety. There is a big difference between just nervously staying sober compared to enjoying life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We should desire true liberty from all forms of the affliction of addiction and its many negative consequences, including the misery of poverty, prison and hopelessness. Progressive recovery is an on-going life-process of learning, spiritual growth and healing. It is a one day at a time life-style of living sober and enjoying all the fruits of liberty as humane beings.

~ Denial as Cognitive Failure ~.

Cognition is a mental process of knowing that involves perception, analysis and judgment in consciousness as an active experience of actually knowing as distinct from feeling, willing or sensing. It is how we learn to trust what we know, as it refers to brain science as well as understanding the mind and how it thinks.

“We propose that alcoholic denial is sometimes more of a cognitive failure than an ego defense mechanism. This cognitive failure may consist of diminished capacity for insight, or it may be an inability to integrate readily available information so as to draw an obvious conclusion.”
Source: Addiction Denial and Cognitive Dysfunction
http://neuro.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/14/1/52

The active addict can have actual permanent brain damage whose etiology (origin of disease) can clearly be traced back to long-term drug addiction and the self-destructive life-style of the typical dope fiend, especially in cases of severe fixed denial. Shattered lives, collapsed relationships and near-death experiences fail to penetrate deep into the consciousness of the brain damaged addict in severe fixed denial.

“Denial is tricky stuff. It has many faces and disguises. Its number one symptom is the denial OF its own existence. It keeps good people in everlasting blindness destroying any chance for healthy change. It will fight viciously for its survival all the way to insanity institutionalization and death.”
Source: The Three Stages of Denial
http://www.azureacres.com/addiction-recovery/denial.asp

For the hard-core drug addict, there is no way that he can be a dope fiend for years on end, taking whatever is going to get him ‘high’, numb him out or alter his mind, without there being some brain damage or at least some cognitive failure.

~ The Medical Definition of Addiction ~

The medical definition of addiction has seven criteria. This definition is based on the criteria of the American Psychiatric Association (DSM-IV) and the World Health Organization (ICD-10).(1)

An addiction is any behavior that meets at least three of the seven criteria during the same 12-month period.

1. Tolerance. You can use more and more over time.

2. Withdrawal. When you stop using, you experience at least one of the following symptoms: irritability, anxiety, shakes, sweats, nausea, or vomiting.

3. Difficulty controlling your use. Sometimes you use more or for a longer time than you'd like.

4. Negative consequences. You continue to use even though there are negative consequences to your mood, self-esteem, health, job, or family.

5. Significant time or emotional energy spent. You spend a significant amount of time or thought obtaining, using, concealing, planning, or recovering from your use.

6. Put off or neglected activities. You have given up or reduced social, recreational, work, or household activities because of your use.

7. Desire to cut down. You have repeatedly thought about cutting down or controlling your use, or you have made unsuccessful attempts to cut down or control your use.
Source:
http://www.addictionsandrecovery.org/definition-of-addiction.htm%20
Created: March 11, 2007, Last Modified: February 15, 2008

~ Conclusion ~

Are you now an activated addict, an addict in denial or a recovering addict working on a cure? We must always be aware of the demon of denial of addiction, witness when other people around us are in denial without condemning them, continue to do our own daily personal inventory, try to educate with humane love those who are open to learning and stay aware of evil influences in our own personal progressive recovery program.

Many of us have endured great losses and great sufferings in our lives because of our selfish indulgence in drug addiction. We may not be where we want to be in our lives in terms of material wealth, social standing or eternal happiness, but we are not where we use to be in relation to our past empty miserable lives lost in the dementia of drug addiction.

“For the individual, the first responsibiiity begins with the removal of denial. The importance of this cannot be over-stated. It is the key to beginning the healing process. The subconscious must be made conscious. The admission that a problem exists is entrenched in the philosophy of the twelve-step program.”
Source: The Craving Brain. By Ronald A. Ruden, M.D., Ph.D.
http://www.yafferuden.com/html/the_craving_brain.html

From our sadness, remembering those we have lost to addiction, those lost in devilish dope houses or polluted river campgrounds, those languishing behind cold prison walls and those we have lost to the quiet graveyard or whose remains are in unmarked graves, let there be inner spiritual strength for us to make it through another day sane and sober.

From our sadness there shall be strength for us to come together and make it a better more humane world for all of us where we can live in liberty free from all inner demons, character defects and gross personal shortcomings simply because we have surely been blessed by God’s amazing grace!

Philippians 4:8 ~ Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

c/s

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