CONNECTION TO ONENESS

Drilling Further Down Into the Root Cause of Addiction

As inspired by readers’ comments

Thank you to all that have read and engaged with:

Your meaningful engagement in the form of several heartfelt and deep comments, particularly the highly touching and thought-provoking contribution by Shaun Thomas Villafana, inspire me to write now.

Mr. Villafana writes:

…sincerely, you are too also so close, but there is a root more universal and one you surely will feel it when you see the dynamic, as you have entirely outlined and proposed and with exact reasoning unto what would be the cure.

There is a video I share, a short 4-minute clip that makes me cry every single time I watch it and I have shared it at least a thousand times to a thousand people, while maybe half of them understood by empathy while half simply couldn’t empathize to understand the dynamic

I experienced an energy shift moments after starting the video. I was crying not long after. Mr. Villafana writes:

The root cause of addiction, is disconnection

My friend Jean Carfantan points out that the surge of energy that raises every follicle in my vessel signals an open portal to the 4D realm and the connection through it to the presence of entities, be them spirits, angels, souls, or deities. That connection keeps me clean.

About 10 days ago I wrote this response-as-a-story to Kira Dawn’s meaningful engagement with the root of this addiction recovery series in the making:

I do not regret going to rehab in 2012, though I started to see years ago why a girlfriend of mine (it takes a damaged person to spot damage sometimes) said that rehab ruined me — it’s along the lines of what you said — but in fact, it put me on the path to who I have discovered that I am because my first breadcrumb on the path to achieving true spirituality was set as a paving stone by Spiritdecoder, who synchronously is a mystical cleric, yet on staff at a quite traditional 12-step-based facility.

Then quoting from my 2013 self-portrait (which covers much more than this — everything from suicide prevention to Mallomars to The Beatles):

I had arrived in PA hoping to find an understanding of God that meshed with my conception. I sought out counseling from a member of the spiritual staff whom I call Mystical Meredith. I explained to her that I had bounced around between agnosticism and the belief that God was akin to the Force from Star Wars — the psychic energy emitted by all living things — and that I believed that some people had the ability to tap into this energy, psychics, and to a lesser extent, me and others who experience the phenomenon of de ja vu. I told Meredith that I believed in the existence of souls because I had spoken to the souls of dearly departed through a psychic, and I asked her how God fits into this — asking her if there was a hierarchy of souls with God at the top?

Before answering me, Meredith asked me why I thought I used substances abusively. I answered that I thought there was an irreconcilable conflict between my conscious and subconscious minds over things I had done, or not done, over the past few years, and I drank and drugged to run away from rather than resolve this conflict.

Meredith explained that the conflict was not between my conscious and subconscious, but between my mind and my soul. Meredith’s conception of God, or the Great All, and how we and our souls fit in, is that when our souls leave the Great All to take human form we contract with the universe to experience certain painful things on Earth that are not spiritual so we can learn what is spiritual (love, kindness, compassion, charity, etc.)

What I did not then continue with from that portrait, I do now, because of Mr. Villafana’s meaningful engagement.

At the end of our conversation I was crying. I thought at the time it was the emotion of having a quest for understanding realized. I believe now it was something a bit different….In Delray I would wake before dawn and go running barefoot on the beach with the moon, Venus and Orion keeping me company, feeling connected to the universe. Realization of connection to the universe — that is why I cried with Meredith.

Truthfully, I do not think my discussion of misalignment between mind and subconscious/soul as the root cause of addiction is really any different than Villafana’s discussion of disconnection. I feel they are two sides of the same coin.

Another reader, Isak Dinesen, also engaged beautifully with me:

Dear Marcus, my deepest sympathy for the profound loss of your beloved Sitara.

She leaves behind the grace of a swan who fell too soon from winter.

“When we hold the memory of another being, like a shell to our ear, we hear both the mystery of all life and the ocean of our own blood”-after Mark Nepo

May we find strength and comfort in love’s enduring presence.

Congratulations on finding clear mindedness, wholeheartedness and freedom.

Trusting you and yours in health, happiness and harmony.

Ms. Dinesen went on to say:

I’m curious about your 6 step program and how it may align with my experiences….I consciously de-coupled from AA a few months into clarity. As a spiritual atheist I ask what cosmic joke would require treatment of my newest medical condition by a higher power in a mouldy church basement? I eventually disengaged from the potentially tail spinning culture of “relapse is part of recovery”. Relapse requires heightened resolve. Each day I chose life over death I claimed agency, shunned victimization and built sobriety from strength to strength. At a certain point I could no longer identify with AA nor they with me.

I do not believe I am supposed to reveal my full program at this time, nor would it be for everyone. I will reveal now this epiphany that I had about 6 weeks after my awakening — The total-abstinence-requirement, as Step 1, is a deep flaw.

The slogan “It works if you work it [so work it you're worth it]” can be demoralizing due to the implication that those who are unable to maintain abstinence simply are not trying hard enough, when the reality is that “success rates are not high with any approach to addiction treatment, even residential or partial hospitalization with medication management, and they are even lower with 12-step alone.” — (Psychiatryadvisor.com)

It’s too scary and/or painful for many, hence the tremendous relapse/failure rate, and then when the relapse happens, the 12-step groups make one go all the way back to step 1. It’s so hard to keep the faith even when one truly believes in a higher power, how do they expect someone to keep enough faith not to fall back on the one thing they are sure about? Let them continue to partake if they want. Even while actively “doing” a step. That alone should increase success rates.

Generally, the program is too damn hard and it does not need to be. They say one needs the gift of desperation, and then they beat the person down even further. Well, no wonder then success rates are so low. They should be showing the person how to build oneself up — not tearing them apart with searing self-reflection without the cushion that got them this far. Steps 4 and 5 are not meant to be done by any human here on earth. That intense, searing look at one’s life is what happens in Heaven after each life cycle during life review (I think that’s where the phrase “and my life passed before my eyes comes from), with the support of one’s ancestors, guides and god. Spiritual cord-cutting would suffice for AA’s purpose.

So in my program abstinence can occur anytime during the program. For me, it was the final step.

[March 5, 2023 edit. I do not believe that abstinence must include all mind-altering substances — just any that the person abuses. Also, moderation can work for some. I’d much rather be around a “wet” person who has gained the sobriety of spirituality than a “dry drunk.”

Destigmatizing addictions would also remove any stigma felt by anyone working a 12-step program and thus make them more acceptable for anyone seeking self-improvement. Every person on earth could benefit from the spiritual wisdom of the steps and every high school curriculum should include discussions about practicing Steps 4, 8, 9, 10, and 12 (all discussed in my Spirituality Redefined). These steps do not discuss substances, do not involve God, and lead to self-awareness which leads to serenity and contentment/happiness. — end of edit]

In Rama I create,

Marcus

I tag those not mentioned above that engaged with my first story as I do not trust the efficacy of Medium’s algorithms. Thank you for your support and your thoughts on this important issue. 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘊., Anthi Psomiadou, Rebecca Romanelli, A Rustic Mind (Manali Desai), rhoda anne young, Jo Ann Harris, Dr Mehmet Yildiz, Esther George, Patrick M. Ohana, Liam Ireland, Christine Sander, Mario López-Goicoechea, White Feather, Fahim Chughtai, Simon Doherty, Dr. Fatima Imam, Anjali Samaraweera, Alexmaids, Krista Mollion, Andrea Juillerat-Olvera, and my friend Holly Kellums