20. Spiritual history and addiction are linked

By Tom O'Connell

Looking through spiritual history, the link between addiction and spirituality is obvious. Buddha, about 2500 years ago, said, "Cease desire" and "Extinguish craving." The goal? Enlightenment. Likewise, Jesus said we could not serve God and material things: "If a kingdom is divided against itself, the kingdom cannot stand." Addicts are divided spirits.

Jesus also said, "You will come to know the truth and the truth will set you free." One truth he proposed was that the kingdom of God is "within." Instead of addictive pursuits, the answer for the human spirit lies within the heart, the location described by Jesus as "the secret place" where God lives in each of us.

St. Paul said, "Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" He also said, "All things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." When we're addicted, we trade our spiritual power for human bondage.

St. Augustine, in the 5th century, confessed his addictions publicly: "My invisible enemy walked roughshod over me and seduced me because I was very willing to be seduced." Augustine, the sex addict, also said, "Give me chastity, O God...but not yet." And he was an overeater. "There was no rest for me," he said, saying in simple language what all addicts know only too well.

Francis of Assisi, about 800 years ago, was tormented by addictive craving. But he transcended it, turned his back on materialism, and said, "We should find no pleasure or delight in anything except in our Creator...nothing must come between us and God."

William James, known to many as the father of modern psychology, lived a century ago, and wrote a book called "Varieties of Religious Experience." This book was given to Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson to help him understand the powerful  spiritual awakening he had in his hospital room during treatment for his alcoholism.

Wilson, a humble man, benefited from a mystical chain of events leading to his dramatic spiritual awakening. It all began with psychologist Carl Jung in Switzerland when an American named Rowland went to him for an alcoholism cure in 1931. Thinking he had recovered, he went home...and relapsed.

When he returned, Jung said that unless he had a spiritual conversion his case was hopeless. Rowland found his answer in the Christian Oxford Groups with their practice of self-survey, confession, restitution, and service. He converted a man named Ebby, who later converted Bill Wilson. That led to Bill Wilson's seeing "the light." Soon after, AA began in 1935, and has been going strong ever since.

William James, a genius, said all religions have two items in common: 1) An uneasiness; and 2) Its solution. "Un-ease" is similar to "dis-ease." James said the human condition involves a "divided self"...a "struggle"..."the change of the personal centre"...and "the surrender of the lower self." Then a "Helping Power" enters the picture, and the person has a "sense of union with it." AA's term "Higher Power" reflects that thinking

Historically, alcoholics and other addicts have tried doctors, clergy, therapists, and self-will, with little success. Why? AA's Bill Wilson described the "typical alcoholic" as "narcissistic, egocentric." With important spiritual insight, he also said, "Without some degree of humility, no alcoholic can stay sober."

Humility, which can be described as the willingness to yield our own willfulness to the will of God,  is a bridge to spiritual growth. By humbly soliciting the help of a "Higher Power" and trying to conform to what appears to be God's will, the recovering addict moves from being self-destructively divided and tormented to the far happier status of wholeness, health, and personal integrity.

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