The Missing Link of Addiction

[Rev. Renee Bledsoe]

I saw a post on Facebook about all the many uses for Cannabis. It was quite interesting more than anything to see the comments, of which there were many. People were polarized. I realized that I had a unique viewpoint. I saw that they were all missing the point. Distracted by right and wrong, the real message of addiction wasn't being heard by any of them. As I see it, the issue is not if plants like cannabis, or tobacco for that matter, are useful. The issue is that we must acknowledge they may just be too powerful to be used in unsacred or disrespectful ways.

The problems arise when we think we can control everything. The truth is that there are some things that are just simply beyond our meager control. It becomes hazardous when we do not truly acknowledge the power of these plants. Ultimately, the real faux pas happens when we try to remind ourselves of who we really are in ways that make us forget who we truly are, because then we are distracted from the real task of getting to know ourselves!

It is ironic that anyone can think that it is far-fetched to acknowledge the pull that plants and the earth have on us, yet ingest these self-same plants in an unconscious way, desecrating their own bodies in the process and discounting the power of these plants and the intrinsic need of the human spirit to connect to the earth in consciousness.  What is far-fetched and will keep us engaged in the addictive process is our denial of what the body/spirit/soul truly wants. Like a rat in a labyrinth, we must find our way to the center and find out who and what we really are.  Let us not get caught up in duality. It is very important not to keep focusing on what is "wrong", and to turn our attention to what is "right". These propensities and cravings are giving us deep insight and clues about something important: What we really DO NEED!

I believe that when we disconnect from the land and from the essence of the creator, as many of us have done during this leg of our human spiritual evolutionary journey, we will continue to unconsciously seek out ways to re-connect. We can say that we turn to drugs and alcohol because of our woundedness, inhibitions, anxiety, stress and peer pressure, and while that is true on one level of reality, it is not the whole picture. If you keep looking and go beyond even sobriety, the end/beginning of this human story takes us back/advances us to our longing to connect to our mother, the earth and our father, the Sun. We have connected to them in our heads long enough. If prayer and meditation is not taking you to the land, if it is not helping you to connect more fully to the human experience, keep at it. Our creator is not some unknowable force. Now it is time to develop the eyes to experience in the physical what is here and has always been here.

Alcoholic beverages are made from the earth, herbs, barley, hops, juniper, fruits, etc. and filled with the "spirits" of the earth. Tobacco the same. When these sacred substances are utilized in this way, we deny our true connection to them (and the earth) and we over do it. Of course we over do it, because we're not getting what we really want. We can never get enough, because we do not recognize the gifts of our deep, deep connection. We have scales over our eyes. We are carrying around oxygen tanks in a world filled with air and withered with thirst in oceans of water. We are longing for altered states of awareness and mystical union with the divine and can't even begin to articulate this need. 


People can become sober. The 12 Steps has shown us that. But can they become fully human, limitless beings of light who are deeply tapped into the earth, the cosmos and their own soul? We must keep going...there is more...much more....Sobriety is the beginning, it is not the end. For there is no end to the journey. The snake eats its tale. And right now we are in the period of our evolution that is about to come to a measure of wholeness, as a whole, that we have heretofore not seen. Our soul's are catching up with us, stalking us into the Great Mystery of our own lives. It's time to start really engaging with our journey, with each other, the earth and Spirit.


by. Rev. Renee Bledsoe 
For more information visit www.AddictionAlchemy.com 
May repost with full attribution.