The relationship between the spiritual malady and alcoholism

I contend that alcoholism is an emotional disorder which results in chemical dependency on the substance of alcohol. However in order to treat it we have to first contend with the symptomatic manifestation of this disorder, chronic alcohol use, as it is the most life threatening aspect of this disorder when we present our selves at AA. Sins I believe are the poisoned fruit of fear, often helped along in alcoholics by false pride, shame and guilt. These defects are related to me being an alcoholic, they are intrinsic to my condition. I sin so naturally, effortlessly and usually without even trying.

  • So we have two main ailments, distressed based wanting which results in the same negative emotions as being in a shame- based fear of rejection.
  • On a basic level, judgments about our surroundings help us survive.
  • The “spiritual malady” of the Oxford group seems enhanced in me, I believe I sin more than normal people because of my emotional immaturity and reactivity.
  • In that case, the words “God” and “prayer” have much more to do with an attitude and posture of humility.

It allows a person an opportunity not only to escape addiction but to have a life they never thought possible. This https://ecosoberhouse.com/ sin disease had very real psychological, emotional and physical and physiological effect on the mind and body.

Why Trusting God is (Most Likely) the Most Brilliant Thing You Could Ever Do

This means those things that are not solid- such as our thoughts, our beliefs, our emotions- are what is spiritual. When we say that alcoholism or drug addiction is ‘a spiritual malady’, it means that our disease in centered in these things . I want to make clear to members that these thoughts are not definitive treatise on the subjects.

  • To conclude that others were wrong was as far as most of us ever got.
  • Why is it that when an alcoholic is dishonest or engages in some other type of poor behavior, we hear people refer to it as alcoholic behavior?
  • Exposing abuse under the guise of BDSM & related reflections on self-recovery.
  • I had a connection with the world I could not generate myself, when sober.

You might be asking, why do I even care about this? Because alcoholics and drug addicts already get looked down upon by much of society with undeserved stigma. It doesn’t matter the cause when we use our disease as an excuse for our shortcomings, does it? Yes, to remain in the recovered state, we must continue to work on the spiritual malady. Due to the nature of frequent episodes of powerlessness over our behavior, attached to addiction and alcoholism, we often acted in a way we would never act in sobriety.

Lakehouse Recovery Center

Perhaps they seem in conflict with providing competent medical care. I look at the past fleetingly sometimes to help others but I never stare at it too long. Otherwise we have not really completely treated our alcoholism. We have a sea change in how we think and feel about ourselves and the world around us. It is almost miraculous, the sudden transformative effect it can have on us.

Many people are initially turned off to the idea of the program because they believe it preaches religion and God, and many addicts and alcoholics have no desire to pursue a religious answer. But the beauty of the 12-steps is that they are spiritually based as opposed to religious. What that means is that all that is required is the belief in a power greater than yourself. There is no church you must attend or strict practices you must adhere to in organized worship of said higher power, it is a completely individual and personal experience.

Alcoholics Anonymous

We have the chance to be free from the sick version of our real self, the self that has been in bondage, in addiction. We often take them to grave sooner rather than later unless we decide to be open and share our secrets with another person. I am talking about trusting someone in recovery. Who has been where you have been, felt spiritual malady how you have felt. AA saved my life and I can never put into words the gratitude I have for AA. I cannot express how happy it has allowed my wife, family and friends to become. Hence his first day of sobriety is taken as the first day of AA, although the AA organisation as we know it today took longer to come in to being.

  • He “had to” react with arrogance, dismissiveness, impatience and intolerance, because his shame, which is a fear based emotion, made him fearful of his own recovery and fear makes one strangely dishonest , This is my experience.
  • As Bill Wilson noted, we seem to get distressed when we don’t get what we want or feel people or trying to take away what we have.
  • Does the alcoholic get to use the excuse “I’m an alcoholic, my friend is just a thief?
  • This allows me to do a quick inventory of my negative emotions and a prayer to God to have them removed.
  • Honesty is the heart of recovery and I am being honest.
  • Desiring stuff seems at the root of my fear based stuff – the exquisite torture of desire which soon loses it’s so-called relish and just becomes torturous.