SPIRITUAL EMPTINESS

As the addictive personality gains more control and addicts lose more of their ability to influence their own thoughts and behavior, there is a spiritual deadening. My definition of spiritual means being connected in a meaningful way to the world around us. The feeling of belonging and being an important part of the world is lost as addiction progresses. The sense of knowing oneself and one’s importance drifts further and further away.

Addiction is very much a spiritual disease. Everybody has the ability to connect with the soul and spirit of others. Because addiction is a direct assault against Self, it’s a direct attack on the spirit or soul of the person suffering from an addiction. A person’s spirit produces life; the goal of addiction is spiritual death.

The longer the addiction goes on, the more spiritually isolated the person becomes. This is the saddest and most frightening aspect of addiction. Sunsets, smiles, laughter, support from others and other things that nourish our spirits come to mean less as acting out becomes more important. Because addiction blocks a person’s ability to effectively connect with his or her own spirit, there is little chance to connect with the spirit of others.  Relationships with others become more superficial as the illness progresses. Addicts stay isolated or turn to the presence of other addicts who offer companionship and little or no fear of confrontation.

As addiction progresses, spiritual deadening deepens. This may be the most dangerous aspect of addiction. For recovery, there must be a recommitment to the nurturing of one’s spirit. The further one moves away from the Self, the harder it is to reestablish a healing relationship. in the beginning of the addictive process, the person grasped the addiction in an attempt to nurture life, spirit, and the Self in the process of chasing perfection. Many recovering addicts firmly grasp the spiritual aspect of recovery because most are extremely grateful to have such a precious gift returned: the Self, a spiritual awareness, and the ability to connect with others in a meaningful, nurturing way. (The Addictive Personality by Craig Nakken)

    The important emphasis and concept that must be addressed over and over is that this litigation pertains primarily to the loss of the alcoholic’s spiritual being,  subject to the disease of alcoholism. The alcoholic is not the “ordinary consumer!” Once the alcoholic steps over the threshold or invisible line of being the ordinary consumer to becoming the alcoholic, that individual loses his/her choice as to whether or not to drink the addictive drug/poison, ethyl alcohol. Therefore losing the title of the ordinary consumer which every lawsuit filed against the alcohol beverage industry depends on for a victory. Each time a manufacturer, vendor or bartender sells their product to an alcoholic, they violate the alcoholic’s Constitutional Bill of Rights. The alcoholic has lost his/her “SPIRITUAL BEING.” To be specific, the alcoholic’s Freedom of Religion has been stolen, and the alcoholic has lost his/her freedom of choice.. The alcoholic’s free exercise of his/her religion is being prohibited by the law Congress has mandated making the drug/poison, ethyl alcohol legal. Therefore, the alcoholic’s Constitutional First Amendment has been violated without consent. The judiciary further crucifies, and makes culpable the alcoholic by using and accusing that the alcoholic is "the ordinary consumer" with "common knowledge of the product he/she is drinking." Thus, aligning the alcoholic, who is a very sick person with the disease of alcoholism, with the "normal individual." Therefore, any complaint brought forward by the alcoholic, not precluding the innocent victim who has been damaged by the beverage alcohol, via the alcoholic, or "normal individual" any right to be awarded the relief deserved on the merits that alcohol was the cause of the plaintiff's complaint.

      “Ordinary consumer”, “ordinary knowledge common to the community”, is not reflective of the alcoholic, the youth of this country, or for that matter, the world at large. There are minors, twelve and under up to the age of eighteen who are blown out alcoholics and have lost all sense of what spiritual being and just being human to interact with our society means to them and their families.

 THE NEED OF SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCE: ( The Science of Mind; page 445/446)

    We need spiritual experience, a first hand knowledge of life and Reality. There is no medium between God and man, nothing between life and living, between heaven and hell, but an idea. But an idea has no real value until it becomes an experience.

In conversation, we assume great knowledge of religion and philosophy, but how much do we really experience? We can know only that which we experience. All great religions have taught truth, but it means nothing to us unless it becomes our truth.

We need spiritual experience. We shall never know peace until we embody it, we shall never know Truth until we become Truth, and we cannot know God unless we sense Him within our own being. The Spirit is ever giving, but we must take. What life does for us must be done through us.

    Spiritual experience is deep, calm and self-assertive; it is the result of actually realizing that Presence which binds all together in one complete Whole. This experience comes in the stillness of the Soul, when the outer voice is quiet, when the tempest of human strife is abated; it is a quickening of the inner man to an eternal reality.

    Spiritual experience is a fact. Spirituality may be defined as an atmosphere of good, the realization of God. It cannot--and does not--borrow its light from another, not matter how great or noble that other may be. It springs from within, coming from that never-failing fountain of life, which quenches every thirst, whose Source is in eternity; the well-spring of self existence. It is a revelation of the self to the self, putting one back on the track of his own self-dependence on Spirit, his own at-one-ment with Reality.

 WHAT IS BEING? (The Science of Being and Art of Living; page 27)

    Underneath the subtlest layer of all that exists in the relative field is the abstract, absolute field of pure Being, which is unmanifested and transcendental. It is neither matter nor energy. It is pure Being, the state of pure existence. This state of pure existence underlies all that exists. Everything is the expression of this pure existence or absolute Being which is the essential constituent of all relative life. The one eternal, unmanifested, absolute Being manifests itself in many forms of lives and existences in creation.

 1. The Inalienable Right

    Nothing is more characteristic of humankind than the natural and inescapable drive toward meaning and belonging, toward making sense of life and finding community in the world. As fundamental and precious as life itself, this "will to meaning" finds expression in ultimate beliefs, whether theistic or non-theistic, transcendent or naturalistic, and these beliefs are most our own when a matter of conviction rather than coercion. They are most our own when, in the words of George Mason, the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, they are "directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence."

    As James Madison expressed it in his Memorial and Remonstrance, "The Religion then of every man must be left to the conviction and conscience of every man; and it is the right of every man to exercise it as these may dictate. This right is in its nature an unalienable right."

    Two hundred years later, despite dramatic changes in life and a marked increase of naturalistic philosophies in some parts of the world and in certain sectors of our society, this right to religious liberty based upon freedom of conscience remains fundamental and inalienable. While particular beliefs may be true or false, better or worse, the right to reach, hold, exercise them freely, or change them, is basic and non-negotiable.

Religious liberty finally depends on neither the favors of the state and its officials nor the vagaries of tyrants or majorities. Religious liberty in a democracy is a right that may not be submitted to vote and depends on the outcome of no election. A society is only as just and free as it is respectful of this right, especially toward the beliefs of its smallest minorities and least popular communities.

    The right to freedom of conscience is premised not upon science, nor upon social utility, nor upon pride of species. Rather, it is premised upon the inviolable dignity of the human person. It is the foundation of, and is integrally related to, all other rights and freedoms secured by the Constitution. This basic civil liberty is clearly acknowledged in the Declaration of Independence and is ineradicable from the long tradition of rights and liberties from which the Revolution sprang. (The Williamsburg Charter: http://www.fac.org)

 The question you must ask yourself with all  sincerity is, “am I a spiritual being?” Or do you just give it lip service without delving into yourself to really know who and what you are, why are you on this planet and of what importance and purpose do you have on earth and to your fellow being? You must also take stock of your elected officials, both state and country. Are they serving you well? Do they have your  best interests at heart? Are the laws currently in force to benefit you and your family? “IS THE TAIL WAGGING THE DOG?” Sound familiar? You know the answer, I don’t have to tell you. If you are reading this book, you’re a concerned citizen and may desire a change. Read on, the plot thickens! You may get angry and dismayed about how our country is being run, for them, not you.