BC is inevitable over time.What we are addicted to is not a substance but the experience of our true Self, a state of inner peace and love for all life.
The classic movie Lost Horizon shows this journey of awakening to a higher level of consciousness and the subsequent drive to seek it no matter what. Ronald Coleman plays the hero, Robert Conway, who survives a plane crash in the Himalayas and ends up in a beautiful valley called Shangri-La (a state of timelessness and unconditional lovingness that calibrates at about 600). When Conway returns to his ordinary life in England (a life that calibrates around 200), he experiences success, but he cannot find any satisfaction compared to that deep peace he experienced in Shangri-La. This creates the desire to return to that state of inner consciousness at any cost. He risks his life to find the portal by which he can return to Shangri-La (which the movie depicts as a place, but which we know is actually within consciousness itself).
This is why the alcoholic drinks, the addict takes drugs, or any of us indulge in the other ways we have found to “feel better.” We are trying to shift our level of consciousness from low to high. When we are paralyzed by Fear (cal. 100), it is a great discovery that we can pop a pill or down a drink and immediately experience our own inner Joy (cal. 540), feel happy and free, and even become the life of the party. In doing whatever we can to “get high,” we are simply trying to find the portal to that inner Shangri-La.
When we are truthful about what we want to experience, what is it? It is not the substance or anything external to us. Those are only the mechanisms that temporarily block the lower emotions and allow us to experience our own innate Higher Self, which is what we are really after. In fact, most people go through the day looking for pleasure, or at least some way to alter their inner state of consciousness. Drugs and alcohol are a quick fix, for in seconds we can be in a state of mellow and bliss.
In the beginning, it works. If that were not true, no one would do it. But the relief is only for a moment or so. We operate on memory, so it takes a while to realize it is not working. But, over time, because it is an artificially induced experience of happiness, it has created an equal and opposite indebtedness. The universe knows when it has been cheated. The pain or discomfort or restlessness was merely postponed, not resolved. The anxiety or grief or resentment just got put away for a moment, to be reckoned with later. Using artificial means to ascend the Map of Consciousness does not work. We transcend the lower levels by having the courage to face them and work through them, and then our energy field becomes a carrier wave for others longing to break free.
Here is the crucial point: never be ashamed of seeking that higher state of consciousness, and never be ashamed of the various methods used in trying to experience it. The goal that we are seeking through drugs and alcohol is nothing to be ashamed of. The entire spiritual world is seeking that higher state of consciousness. It is the greatest aspiration we are capable of—to experience the Higher Self and highest levels of consciousness—and according to certain religions, it takes numerous lifetimes even to reach that desire, which is a spiritual awakening to go beyond the material world.
Addiction is a path of spiritual awakening. For other people it happens through another kind of powerlessness—losing a child or other loved one, a terminal diagnosis, being plunged into the depths of despair. The Higher Self is clever and will throw us over the precise cliff needed to awaken us. Out of sheer hopelessness, we come to surrender, and out of surrender comes humility and we go right back to the high state we thought we had lost forever, only now without the drug, so it is more stable and truly liberating. Because the ego has weakened, when we sit down to meditate or pray, and (whether an atheist or not, makes no difference) we ask to reach something higher, it happens. When we hit bottom, the ego cracks, and this allows access to that same space that we used to reach through alcohol and drugs, although now it is infinitely better because there is no negative effect. We learn that what we sought with drugs or alcohol was always within. Without striving for it, it is revealed. By clearing away the negativities, suddenly the beauty of everything shines forth.
Now we can understand what happens in the drug or alcohol experience. This powerfully attractive, joyful energy field, the energy field of life itself, is like the sun that is always shining. The lower energy fields are like the clouds that block the experience of that inner sun. A drug or alcohol blocks off the experience of the lower energy fields and allows the experience of a higher energy field. If we could block off all the energy fields below level 560, we would experience what is left, which is the energy field of Ecstasy. There is even a designer drug called Ecstasy created specifically to block off the experience of the energy fields below 560. With the drug experience, something has pharmacologically blocked off the lower energy fields and allowed the unobstructed experience of a higher one. Thus, at the end of the day, the person who is full of fear, grief, regret, and anxiety stops in for two martinis, and suddenly temporarily jumps over the lower energy fields and moves up to the energy level of about 500, which can be called “mellow.”
Mellow is that energy field where we feel love for everybody and are willing to forgive them. We are generous and easygoing, and all the kids love us when we are in that state; we take toys home for the children and flowers for our spouse. This high-energy state is sought in the drug experience because it blocks off the lower energy levels. As said before, these are addicting experiences, because once having experienced the state, the mind wants to return to it.
When we ask the person who has had an alcohol or addiction problem to look at what they are seeking, to look at the experience that has become habitual and to which they want to return over and over again no matter what the price, we find that they are seeking an inner state of consciousness. In reality, they do not even care about the drug itself. The drug is only the mechanics, the only way they know to access that state at the time. It is a certain way of experiencing their own beingness, and it is a pleasurable, highly energized state. This is what they seek, and if a drug does not block off the lower energy fields, thereby preventing them from experiencing that inner state of blissfulness, it is no longer used or valued. We can see that the addiction is not to drugs or alcohol, per se, but to the higher level of consciousness itself.
Certain psychological explanations of addiction try to present it as though the person is addicted to alcohol or drugs because they are running away from the lower experience of fear or depression. There are some excellent medicines that eliminate the anxiety or depression but do not result in addiction, as there is no “high.” Therefore, the alleviation of depression, anxiety, fear, or anger is well handled pharmacologically by traditional medicines that are not considered addictive substances because they do not block off the energy fields at a sufficient level to allow people to experience the higher state.
We can see that the person is addicted to the energy field within, to that higher state of consciousness, which creates the desire to return to it. That person is willing to pay the price because the mind begins to demand a return to that experience, no matter what the cost. The willingness to pay increases with time so that finally, in the end, it will ask for the body itself: “If you keep on drinking like that, you are going to be dead within weeks or months.” You know what the person does about that? He goes across the street to the bartender, his old pal Joe, orders a martini, and says, “Guess what the doctor told me today?” At that point, the bartender hands him a drink for the good old times, and they kiss the body good-bye. We see the price that people are willing to pay for the addiction to this state of consciousness.
It mystifies people who have not accessed that level of consciousness through a drug experience. The addict or alcoholic is willing to sacrifice everything in order to return to this energy field that we call Peace or Bliss—the inner Shangri-La. Lost Horizon tells us the story of the motive of addiction by showing the willingness to sacrifice all life for a certain state of consciousness.
Addiction is merely a false start to experiencing the truth, because it does not work. Thus, the reason for giving up the alcohol, drugs, or other addiction is not because it is “wrong” but because it does not work anymore. It does not work, because through drugs and alcohol comes the progressive loss of inner self-respect, along with the adversities and negativities of the lower energy fields. It is the beginning of experiencing very negative events in one’s life: loss of relationships, status, finances, physical health, fulfillment of potential, and functioning of bodily organs, all of which signifies the downhill course brought about by the denial of the truth. The denial of the truth from level 200 on down is due to putting the power outside of oneself. In addiction, the person has given away the source of their happiness and meaning in life by projecting it onto the outer world and giving that power to some substance outside themselves.
The drug in and of itself has no power at all to create the higher experiences. Over several decades of working in the field of addiction and recovery, we clinically tested the research questions with hundreds of people in lecture audiences, and in classes for people who were right in the middle of handling their addictive problem. Using the diagnostic method of discerning truth from falsehood via muscle-testing, we tested the proposition: “The drug has the power to create this higher experience.” Universally, 100 percent of the people went weak with that statement, proving that it is a lie. The drug has no power whatsoever. Then we presented them with an opposite proposition: “The drug blocks off the energy fields that are coming from the ego self and allows me to experience the joyfulness of that which is my real Self.” Instantly, everybody in the class went strong, indicating that the statement is true. (The research is reported in Healing and Recovery, as well as the audio and video lecture “Consciousness and Addiction.”)
The truth we verified is that the drug has no power whatsoever to create these experiences, but it does have the pharmacological capacity to block off the negative energy fields, allowing a person to at least get into the ballpark. The substance-induced experience is not the real state of Bliss experienced by the person who has earned it through their own progressive spiritual work. The energy is close to the truth of one’s own being. Now how do we utilize this knowledge in understanding recovery from addictions?
The beginning steps of recovery, ironically, often look like failure. Attempts to break the habit lead to discouragement at the failure to do so, a nameless terror, and perhaps hospitalization and paranoia. Going off the sedatives creates fear. Going off the uppers leads to depression. Apathy and grief arise as soon as the drug is taken away, because there is hopelessness in the face of never being able to experience those incredible states again. When going off the substance does not work, there are attempts to increase the amounts of alcohol and drugs, cover up the growing dependence due to shame and guilt, which further spread the negativity to every area of life—work, reputation, finances, relationships, and personal care. There may be visits to recovery meetings, “just to check it out” or by court order, but the scene provides no hope (“My case is different—it works for them but not for me”) or triggers pride and denial (“I don’t have anything in common with those losers!”).
The person is not ready until they hit their “bottom,” which varies from person to person but has a common process within consciousness. Life confronts them with an inner agony or outer tragedy that finally brings them to the first step, as phrased in the Twelve Steps, which is to tell the truth that they are “powerless over” the substance and their life has become “unmanageable.”
Stating the truth about something turns the negatives to the positives. At the level of Courage (200), a person begins the journey of consciousness and self-empowerment. Unexpectedly, the courage to tell the truth brings in all the help that is needed. This is something not known to the person afraid to face the truth. As soon as they have the courage to face the truth, which is to say yes to the energy of life itself, then life says yes to them and provides the way forward. But truth requires humility and letting go of denial, and many addicts actually die rather than make this step.
The drivenness to reach the ultimate state is something that we validate in the addict and alcoholic. The person is addicted to that experience of their own inner higher state of consciousness, and they have demonstrated enormous drive to reach the highest states, putting their life on the line and giving up everything for it. The goal is valid and noble. It is simply a matter of changing the technique and realizing that the inner state of peace does not have to be sought; it is always within, just like the sun is always present, but the ego acts like a cloud. When the clouds are removed, the sun shines forth. Recovery is that process of removing the clouds of despair, guilt, shame, fear, anger, pride—transcending all the lower energy fields by facing them and letting go of them.
When a person seeks treatment for an addiction, they are usually at the bottom of the Map of Consciousness, filled with self-hatred, regret, and despondency. The energy field of Apathy (50), with its hopelessness and despair, is one in which the person cannot help themselves. Hopeless means just that. For example, the president of a county bar association for attorneys literally died of starvation while living alone in a rooming house. He was addicted to a combination of Valium and alcohol. He never picked up the phone to call anybody for help. A person of that caliber has many friends, all of whom would have dropped everything to help him, but he felt there was no point in making the phone call because there was no hope. That hopelessness of one’s condition often expresses itself as “You may well recover from this, but my case is hopeless.”
In the level of Apathy, God is dead for the person, and all we can do is pour energy into them. The process going on within consciousness is that of the loss of energy. The person is de-energized, blank, and totally dispirited. The answer is to pour energy into that person through concern, lovingness, physical presence, nutrition, and every other possible way to move them up to the next energy field of Grief.
Grief (75) has to do with the past, and when the person comes out of a blank, shocklike state, they begin to cry and regret the loss that all the addiction has cost them. There is regret, along with a feeling of self-pity and sorrow for the fact that they are in a rehabilitation facility or wherever their addiction has landed them. They are sad about life and their addiction and feel completely abandoned by God.
At this level there is regret about the past, so we move the person’s energy field up to the next level, which is Fear (100). At this point, the person begins to fear the addiction, aided by worry and anxiety. Fear has to do with the future. The person is no longer in an inflated state of denial; on the contrary, they are deflated. The world looks frightening, and they may feel that God is punishing them for their past sins. They misinterpret the addiction as a punishment and fear more punishment and further loss in the future. We see how the energy of each level, if they work with it, can move them up to the energy of the next. The person transcends the Fear of the addiction by desiring something better (Desire, at 125). Once they tire of being a victim of wanting and craving, they move up to Anger.
Anger (150) has a lot more energy than Fear or Desire, and so the energy of Anger can be very useful—not the form of anger itself but the energy of anger in which they become angry over their predicament in life and being the victim. This anger can be used in a constructive way as a turning point away from defeatism. Pride (175) moves them out of hopelessness and into doing something “as a matter of pride” by taking action and beginning to move up into caring for themselves and their position, and this then is the move toward the next energy field of Courage (200).
Courage to tell the truth is the crucial step in recovery. We see the powerful effect of the first of the Twelve Steps in Alcoholics Anonymous—the admission that one is powerless over alcohol or drugs—which now allows for the capacity to face, cope, handle, and be appropriate. It represents reempowerment. The world is then seen as an opportunity, and for the first time, there is the benefit of an open mind, and the truth now has a way to enter the mind. Pride (175) can be utilized to move the person up into Courage (200) and to look at the facts. Doing so provides encouragement to move up to the next position, Neutrality (250), that of letting go of resisting the facts and being released from that resistance in order to begin to view the world as an “okay” place.
This inner release allows the person to experience inner freedom to explore, expand, and then move up to the Willingness (310) to say yes to life’s opportunities, join in the exploration, and agree to align with it. At Willingness, the person thus develops the capacity to see the whole recovery process in a world that is friendly, and they view Alcoholics Anonymous and other recovery programs as promising and hopeful. They feel optimistic that, yes, they will recover.
Acceptance (350) is a very powerful energy field where they realize the inner power to make these decisions. Confidence, a feeling of adequacy, and transformation occur through experiencing that the world is harmonious. On the one hand, life has presented the person with a problem, but on the other hand, it has also provided the answer. A merciful God provides the solutions, so although they may have an addiction, there are hundreds of thousands of people around who have found the answers and are only too willing to be helpful. The person moves up to Reason (400), and energy is poured into education to understand the science of addiction and its impact on mental health, incorporating many medical resources and useful philosophies into one’s self-understanding.
With the letting go of the intellect’s focus on acquiring knowledge, the person begins to value their beingness, and an energy field of lovingness (500) emerges, which is in a completely different paradigm of spirituality, gratitude, and coming from the heart. The person has committed to an energy field that is healing by joining one of the 12-step groups, whose energy is innately healing. (AA calibrates at 540.) The person’s willingness to align with it and to accept the healing is essential. Through that willingness then comes acceptance of the real necessity to be in an energy field that is nurturing, supportive, understanding, and unconditionally loving. In that field, people know they are in a safe space and that staying in it ensures their sobriety and thus survival. With that experience come the Joy and the beginning of experiencing an inner serenity and seeing the perfection and oneness of the energy field of which the person is now an integral part.
As was said, the lower energy fields are like the clouds that block the sun—the “sunlight of the spirit,” as it is called in AA. That sun is always shining; it is simply a matter of removing the clouds that block it, and the Twelve Steps are a process of removal.
The Twelve Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous have been applied to every human problem, to wondrous effect. It can be very beneficial to apply these very same steps to overcoming addiction to anything. One can, for example, substitute the word ego for alcohol in step 1. In this chapter, we apply the Twelve Steps to the Map of Consciousness and show a typical process of recovery.
◆ The 1st step of the 12-step program is the willingness to admit the truth that one is powerless over alcohol or drugs and that alcohol or drugs are making one’s life unmanageable.
◆ The 2nd step, then, becomes very significant in that the “restoring us to sanity” is by a power greater than oneself. Thereby does the ego surrender to God (the small ego self surrenders to the power of the Higher Self). We look on the Map and see that the higher energy fields of Love, Joy, and Peace start at about 500 and run all the way up to 600. Those energy fields are like a powerful electromagnet pulling the person back into wanting to reexperience those high states within consciousness. The drug or alcohol gave them a temporary experience of those higher energies. Therefore, in order for them to handle it, something with equal power to the drug or alcohol experience will be needed to replace it. The group energy field of AA (cal. 540), and other 12-step groups, provides an energy field that keeps the person magnetized to the experience of their Higher Self in its truest form. In fact, some people in recovery refer to their AA group as their Higher Power (for example, GOD stands for “Group of Drunks”). The 2nd step is really the intuitive knowing that something greater than the ego or the limited small self is going to be needed to handle the attraction of such a powerful energy field.
◆ The 3rd step is the decision that comes out of that, which is the surrendering and willingness to turn one’s life over to God, “as one understands Him.” Out of willingness itself, the God of one’s own understanding is already a friend—a promising, merciful, and responsive God. The willingness to be trusting sources the element of faith, so the 3rd step of deep surrender really moves one into alignment with the energy field of 540 and above. The rest of the Twelve Steps now make sense from the viewpoint of the levels of consciousness. When a person aligns with the powerful attractor field of 540, the ABC of Unconditional Love, then healing on the external level of ABC is inevitable over time.
◆ The 4th step says to honestly look within oneself to discover any defects of character and to take a fearless moral inventory, which entails the willingness to look at and own all that was negative in one’s life and the impact it had.
◆ Then follows the 5th step, a very healing step by which to admit to oneself, to God, and to another human being the exact nature of one’s wrongs. Those who make this step relieve the impact of pain on themselves by trusting their deepest secrets with another person, such as a 12-step sponsor. What they had been ashamed of loses its voltage when they speak it out loud. A person can suffer for 20 years over a single incident, their self-esteem destroyed, and then when it is shared, it becomes a “so what.” Sharing it changes the energy field by removing the negative charge from it. Taking off the negativity has not changed the history, but the way it is held has changed, making inoperative that which previously had the capacity to corrode and destroy.
Bill Wilson, the co-founder of AA, used to say that the correct attitude about the past is a “decent regret,” which is quite different from self-hatred, shame, or wallowing in guilt. Instead, one then comes from the heart. AA is the language of the heart, which heals with its humor, acceptance, lightness, and willingness to heal the past.
◆ The healing, then, proceeds out of step 5 and is expressed in restitution in steps 6–9, which are really the reparative steps. In those steps, the person takes responsibility to actually do something in the world to repair any damage that is repairable and to mend whatever fences can be mended so it is not just a mental intellectual exercise. To the best of one’s ability, one goes back into the world and tries to repair the damages that have been done to the degree that they are repairable. The healing then becomes real in one’s life and relieves the guilt about what one has done in the past.
◆ Step 10 says that taking responsibility for the content of one’s own consciousness and having the willingness to clean it up becomes a way of life on a daily basis. The daily inventory makes note of what was lacking in integrity, where one could have done better, and where one could have been more loving. Step 10 is owning responsibility for the process of spiritual progress and committing to it as a way of life.
◆ Step 11 is interesting because it says if one has thoroughly done steps 1–10, one will reconnect with something that was sought in the first place through drugs and alcohol. It says that prayer and meditation will “increase conscious contact” with the God of one’s own understanding, “asking only for knowledge of His will and the power to carry it out.”
Notably, step 11 does not say “begin”; it says “increase,” and presumes that conscious contact has already happened. It occurs through internal surrender and honest commitment to lovingness as a lifestyle. One connects with God through the heart because that which is Divine, that which is God, and that which is Love are all the same thing. By commitment to lovingness as a lifestyle, as a way of being in the world to the best of one’s ability, one reconnects with some rock-like, joyful inner experience that is similar to what one sought through alcohol and drugs in the first place.
◆ Step 12 reveals what the whole addictive process is about and what its nature is in the field of consciousness. Step 12 says that “having had a spiritual awakening as a result of these steps,” which affirms that becoming conscious is a result of the entire addictive experience. Those who have followed the process with integrity and dedication now have the capacity to “carry this message” to others and express it in every area of their lives.
The 12th step says that the whole purpose of the addictive process was to awaken them and move them up from one level of consciousness to another; to go from being asleep and unaware to being awake, conscious, and aware; to move from being unconscious, irresponsible, and the helpless victim to owning themselves as being spiritually responsible for the happiness and success within their life. This precludes putting the source of happiness outside of themselves. Instead, they realize that the source of happiness is the same as the source of life and comes from responsibly owning oneself as a spiritually aware person.
Addictions are progressively fatal diseases, and the only way to recover from them is to become progressively spiritually aware and more conscious. Life itself depends on becoming conscious via major self-confrontation with something that each person’s Higher Self has chosen that will force them to grow, because there is no turning back. The only options are to surrender their will to God (that which is Higher than the ego), or go insane and die. There is no reprogramming of the brain cells once they are programmed. Once someone is into the addictive process, they are on a tightrope and there is no turning back. There is only confrontation with owning the truth about oneself. Recovery depends on accepting that process, moving joyfully into it, and being grateful.
The energy field of the 12-step groups is Unconditional Love (540). The way out of the pit is to be concerned about someone else. We get higher with every act of love, every loving intention, and our willingness to forgive self and others. Unconditional Love is not an emotional up-and-down feeling that depends on someone else and what they do or don’t do. Love does not come from someone else into us. Love is an inner decision we make about a state of consciousness that we want to choose all the time. From that level, people cannot do anything to make us stop loving them.
People in recovery discover that Love is communicable, and they experience it by osmosis—that is, hanging out with people who are loving. Around and through the physical body is an energy body that vibrates with the frequency level of that energy. The higher the vibration, the greater the power. The vibrations at the higher levels of consciousness on the Map of Consciousness have much more power than the vibrations at the levels below 200. It is not necessary to believe in God. All that is necessary is to sit in a room with people sending out the healing energy, and one will pick up the energy of Love. By analogy, if we sit in the sun, we cannot help but be warmed!
It is a common experience to walk into a 12-step meeting feeling depressed or “down” about myriad problems and then walk out at a higher level, without even having mentioned the problems. The group’s energy field of Unconditional Love lifts us into a space of “I don’t even know why I was upset.” We discover that the facts of life mean nothing. It is only how we feel about them that gives them our experience of life, and how we feel about the facts depends on what our perspective is, which is determined by our level of consciousness. Thus every problem is eliminated by changing the perspective—that is, shifting to a higher level of consciousness. We do not have to fix problems; we evolve beyond them.
The great advantage of joining groups that are loving is that we are sitting next to people who carry evolved thought forms. The technique for getting out of apathy, depression, and other negativities is to choose to be with others who have resolved the problem with which we struggle. This is one of the great powers of self-help groups. When we are in a negative state, we have given a lot of energy to negative thought forms, and the positive thought forms are weak. Those who are in a higher vibration are free of the energy from their negative thoughts and have energized positive thought forms. Merely to be in their presence is beneficial. In some 12-step groups, this is called “hanging out with the winners.” The benefit here is on the psychic level of consciousness, and there is a transfer of positive energy and relighting of our own latent positive thought forms. It’s also called “getting it by osmosis.”
Thoughts have a certain electromagnetic energy form. When we sit in the presence of people who have solved the life problems that we are confronting, their inner accomplishment influences us nonverbally so that our lower-level energy is replaced by a higher thought form. That higher thought form sees the problem as a golden opportunity. What we saw as a loss before the meeting, now we see as a gain because of that nonverbal transmission. The facts have not changed, but how we view the situation has changed because our level of consciousness shifted. The shift occurred not because of the words spoken but by being in the presence of the aura of loving people whose energy field carries the higher wisdom. Simply put, we are either positively or negatively influenced by the company we keep. It is unlikely that we will overcome a problem if we choose to be in the company of others who have our same problem.
Love comes from an abundance of energy that we can share with others. When our own inner negativity is addressed, then we have an abundance of love, and we can begin to share it with others. When our energy is tied up with negative emotions, there is not much we can share with others. In fact, they do not exist for us, because we are totally focused on ourselves. It is only when we are full and overflowing that we can begin to share with others. The way to feel good quickly is to get within the aura of somebody who is loving. Sit close to them, hug them, sleep with them, put your arms around them, be with them. To be in the aura of a loving being is to be raised automatically, and we will see everything differently. Eventually, we become that same channel of helpful grace to others.
Now it is understandable why speakers at 12-step meetings say they are grateful that they are alcoholics or addicts. To the newcomer, this indeed sounds like madness. Grateful? How could they be grateful for becoming addicted or an alcoholic? Because that disease and suffering forced them to grow and become conscious. It forced them to become aware and therefore grateful for the process. At first, they resented and resisted it, but then they accepted and agreed with it. They began to love, and to experience joy, and finally achieved that state called Serenity, which was their prayer at nearly every meeting:
God, Grant us the Serenity to accept
the things we cannot change,
the Courage to change the things we can,
and the Wisdom to know the difference.
In their gratitude, there is an inner knowingness that this was their destiny—the way of doing it and the way that was chosen—which results in the awareness that they never could have reached this great understanding by any other way. Some of us just have to experience it this way. The ego has to hit bottom in order to surrender and find God. For those who have hit bottom and surrendered, great gratitude comes about, along with a greater understanding of the nature of consciousness itself. We have traveled the entire Map of Consciousness, from Shame to Peace, and now we can confirm from our own lived experience: those who surrender to God receive the gifts of God.