A faith filled perspective of life’s paradox.
To understand Sober living and addiction and the paradoxes that the two extremes offer, consider that there are always, always at least two paths or highways you can take. One sobriety in our work. The other addiction and compulsion. One has a present and future. The other does not. There is always a way out, and in turn there is also always a way in. Sober living and addiction are so closely woven, yet so very opposite in their nature. One leads to death (or prisons, or institutions, the other leads to life). If you deal with addiction long enough, you will see that there are no grey areas. These two paths become more and more clear the longer the drug or alcohol addiction, or any obsession for that matter, continues. A favorite poet of mine, Robert Frost, wrote a stunning piece after which I aptly named this chapter, that explains the philosophy so well.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and – I took the road less travelled by
And that has made all the difference.
Now consider this. The road to finding your true nature through sober living and addiction is, at its beginning, probably going to be uncomfortably narrow and covered in a thicket of uncertainty. But know and be inspired by the doubtless fact that this is the road you must travel towards to find your true purpose, towards a rare glance at truth and reality and to discovering and participating in a bona fide relationship with God, the One who holds the only key to your interminable happiness, peace and enlightenment. The Good news is he really wants to give the key to you.
Choosing which path to take through sober living and addiction is arguably consistent of the meaning of life itself! When interpreting this we could just as well say that what has been put before us is a paradox comprised of conundrums of inconsistency filled with choices that lead us to our ultimate destination. This could be either pole of the sober living and addiction plethora. Deuteronomy 30:18 is all about choice. Will I believe what God says and live on His terms or will I live on my own terms? When God says that what intentionally lays ahead of us is choice, we better believe it. Both good and bad, both sober living and addiction, each leading to their own destinations. One so entirely different from the other; one a blessing and one a curse. He perhaps wants us to accept and acknowledge this fact, yet concentrate somewhat on achieving the meaning of why it’s all there in the first place. So that we can, as creatures of free will, make the very choice that God Himself made. The one of uncompromising life that surrounds us so abundantly on this earthly rock of dynamism.
The very first of us human beings had to answer the same question you and I are being asked today with sober living and addiction. We can choose right? At leats when we are clean enough to think properly. So, do we try and sample that same elixir with the false promises of what we can only presume is supreme God like bliss, or do we simply be still, let go as the 12 steps of AA tell us and know and trust that He is God and leave it to the Almighty? As we know so well, the ego would have crunched its lower self into that apple without a second thought as it expected to become god. But the spirit that dwells within would probably have stopped to reconsider that indulgence, that it was duly forewarned would cause chaos. It would not have wanted to be God like the serpent, Adam or Eve, it would have rather consulted God, as you are still asked to do today.
How often do we bite into that forbidden fruit each day in sober living and addiction as we hope to shift our circumstances for the better, and yet knowingly or sometimes in ignorant bliss, conditions end up worse than they were to begin with. The affair, which leads to bitter divorce of an entire family unit, the anger that leads to the cruel cursing of another and the intoxicating heave of just one more drink that leads to tragedy. We know the truth in heart and mind, yet act like Adam and Eve in an unsuccessful attempt to whip up circumstances the way we want them to play out. The paradox, which we can actually laugh at is that what ego has to offer is ‘fruitless’. Learn to act with spirit at every turn, never doubting the eventual flattening out of the route it will take you on. Practice makes perfect, so one day you will perfectly practice choosing ‘life’ at every turn with every thought and action. If we can just briefly hold off on allowing the first reaction of our egos to make our choices, the always willing spirit will slip perfectly into place. One road or choice might not seem like much, but string together a network of them and the distance from A to B will be shorter, flatter and without obstacle.
WHY PARADOX IN THE FIRST PLACE?
Why was there a dazzling tree of knowledge and life planted in front of Adam and Eve, yet marked as forbidden fruit? Why was Moses led on a lifetime journey to the promised land, only to never lay eyes on it, and why did the Messiah, after all He had done correctly, say that God had forsaken Him on the cross?
These are tough questions to answer as most questions about reality, and sober living and addiction are. Without a doubt we will all cross avenues with the same strange conundrums that we need to bridge. Random events of inequitable situations often occur, no matter how strong our faith is. The righteous die on their way back from church, innocent children are lost senselessly and evil often seems to triumph in wealth, fame and glory. Perhaps that was the case the serpent made that day. He offered the control God had, the control God said was forbidden. Paradox is a great test of the human heart. There is always the wide path through sober living and addiction that most follow when it is presented to us, and then another path. Not quite an opposite but rather a challenge of wrenching insight and mystery that we know will lead to better things. There is however plenty in our flesh that suggests we rather take the quick, broad route. Although it might not give the same results, we are not sure, thus we are fearful; and besides this the broad path looks so much easier to handle from afar.
Often these are questions we choose to shy away from answering because the possible conclusions seem as irrational as the questions themselves. Our minds tell us that merely contemplating such things could lead us to a place of doubt, hopelessness and despair. But, I have a different idea that begs for even these impossible questions to have an answer at least sought after. The pursuit of Truth is still the only viable pursuit of happiness. If you have ever read Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament it is certain that many generations before us have contemplated the same set of principles, and have sought meaning in human life that lies waste at noonday, as we are sent like lambs to the slaughter, day in and day out, century after century. We are taught not to be discouraged yet we are certain of tribulation and adversity. In the end we go back to the beginning where we are given the choice of life and death, of believing in either no-sense where the idea of God is nonsense or alternatively a higher meaning where only God makes sense.
Bombarded with this same choice at every turn, it is little wonder why so many are called but so few are chosen in the final analysis. Nevertheless it’s the business of paradox that we are dealing with here, and when we find the answer to its very presence it is perhaps our faith and very lives that will benefit from the revelation. Thus, the contemplation of these paradoxes is unarguably difficult work indeed, but to come closer to discovering the answer is where we will find that elusive peace and understanding. A reward that is not dissimilar to taking a bite of the forbidden apple, and the fruits it promises of eternal life and knowledge. This said, perhaps tough to read for some, yet there is light at the end of the paradoxical tunnel. Bright light in fact. If you have not turned away in fear thus far, the truth of Gods purposes will certainly set you free. It is those among us who are likes seeds planted firmly in the ground, that the weeds of doubt cannot uproot who will find the answers they so diligently seek. Fear is sent to pluck out your resolution to discover its opposite – Love, and it is foremost from love, that we find all other great eternal treasures; peace, true happiness, joy, abundance and bliss.
Resolve never to shy away from the light again, when fear creeps in to steal the seeds that God, others and you so conscientiously plant. In the true spirit of paradox, we need to realize that truth, light and understanding are as scary and intimidating as their opposites. Remember the amazing words of St Francis of Assisi, who so long ago began to understand the principles of paradox and bring them into effect in his life as well as the lives of others around him. He defined the truth about what paradoxical scales are and noted:
Where there is hatred, let me so love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.
His understanding of the ultimate paradox, or the contradiction of life’s terms, is beautifully entrenched in the words that followed those, he continued:
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying (to ego) that we are born to eternal life (spirit).
Each line through sober living and addiction is a virtual choice of what God put before us; life and death and every path interwoven into these two choices. Absolutely beautiful words that personify and action the ego and spirit. Remember that the flesh, ego or the lower self is incapable of giving, pardoning and ultimately it is the existence of it that keeps it from providing to others all the gifts of spirit. It is only our higher self that can comprehend the paradox that to receive we should give. Madness to science, lunacy to economics, absurdity to the secular. The beauty of Gods plan lies in His ways and His ways alone. Our plans are different and this is where we tend to go wrong. But if we can, just for a moment realize that His way is THE way, through faith, hope and love, we can learn to trust, lean and rely on this plan and incorporate it into our lives, and thus the lives of everyone we meet in sober living and addiction realms. We are free to choose. The suggestion is choose sobriety.
For more help with sober living and addiction contact Pathways Plett rehab on 044 533 0330 or 082 442 4779. Alternatively email info@pathwaysplettrehab.co.za