Posted: Sunday, February 22, 2009
Main Entry: 1or•der
Pronunciation: \ˈȯr-dər\
Function: verb
Inflected Form(s): or•dered; or•der•ing \ˈȯr-d(ə-)riŋ\
Etymology: Middle English, from ordre, noun
Date: 13th century
transitive verb1: to put in order : arrange2 a: to give an order to : command b: destine , ordain c: to command to go or come to a specified place d: to give an order for intransitive verb1: to bring about order : regulate2 a: to issue orders : command b: to give or place an order
— or•der•able \-ə-bəl\ adjective
— or•der•er \-dər-ər\ noun
~ Life on Life’s Terms ~
Life is a protracted process that begins at birth, endures a lifetime and ends in mortal death. It is all a process where we are born, we live a life and then we die and suffer physical death in the end. No one gets out of here alive. However, the spirit can live on in the memories of those living whose lives we touched along the way. If the human spirit itself is eternal as a God-seed then death is but a cosmic portal that transfers life-energy from one being into another through endless reincarnations.
Simplify the complex and try not to complicate the simple. Even though some will always argue at what point life begins, let us accept as our point of departure that the journey of life begins at the time of the miracle of one’s human birth: our natal birth date. We are first born innocent and ignorant as children not knowing social morals, humane ethics or right from wrong. We are born into a sick sinful world crammed full of social contradictions due to social circumstances outside of our control, but we start out pure, sincere and spotless without sin. Where do you see the sin in an infant child?
Life can be a fascinating long winding journey with sudden twists and odd turns, not a set destination mapped out all before us. Along the way we go through different stages of human development from early childhood, to teenage adolescence and, if we live long enough, we grow into mature adulthood and a ripened old age as Elders. In the life-process many of us get scars, sustain wounds and suffer collateral damage. We undergo many tests, trials and tribulations that can either help build up the fiber of our inner character, making us older and wiser; or leave us broken down and lost out in the wilderness of a wasted life. Without spiritual healing, we end up sick and ill at ease suffering from assorted disorders that cripple and maim leaving us diseased and unfit for enjoying a good life. One such disease is drug addiction or chemical dependency, but there are many forms of addiction.
Functional Definition of Addiction: A chronic relapsing condition characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and abuse and by long-lasting chemical changes in the brain. Addiction is the same irrespective of whether the drug is alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, heroin, marijuana, or nicotine. Every addictive substance induces pleasant states or relieves distress. Continued use of the addictive substance induces adaptive changes in the brain that lead to tolerance, physical dependence, uncontrollable craving and, all too often, relapse. Dependence is at such a point that stopping is very difficult and causes severe physical and mental reactions from withdrawal.
Source: http://www.medterms.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=10177
Hard core addiction is ultimately a spiritual disease which can be healed if we are honest, open and willing to be healed by Creator God. We seek the spiritual healing of our souls, must overcome the demon of any denial about the affliction of addiction, should humbly repent of our sins and need to experience a genuine spiritual conversion on the good path of righteousness to help guarantee our wellness. Let us get rid of false fear, let go of the fragile ego and let the divine will of Creator God govern our lives.
Jeremiah 17:14 (NIV) ~ Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.
In the process of our spiritual healing we must put our lives in order so we can live happy, healthy and fruitful lives free of all evil addictions. Life will not always come out the way we want all the time. We must accept life on life’s terms as it comes at us because it is what it is. Roll with the punches. Keep learning, keep growing and keep expanding your cosmic consciousness beyond any selfish individualism. You are a creature of the Creator of the cosmos; strive to be one with the cosmos, not always stressing in opposition to forces far greater than you. Work hard on your daily sobriety, your continued recovery and enlighten you spiritual growth in order to be released from the prisons and disorders of all harmful addictions, including drug addiction, and ultimately strive to achieve true spiritual liberty.
~ Spiritual Origin of Mental Disorders ~
Many so-called mental disorders are ultimately spiritual in origin. We need to remember, recognize and resolve the grief, pain and damage deep down inside our souls that could have first come about during early childhood or other life experiences. With deep prayer, conscious meditation and spiritual discernment from the Holy Spirit we can examine our past in order to clearly understand what happened to us, what made us what we are today and help us determine what kind of humane being we want to be in the future. All genuine knowledge comes from direct experience. Self-knowledge is the root of all knowledge. We must know ourselves in order to better accept, love and understand others. On the cosmic and quantum levels we are all from one source: the Creator. We should live a conscious life as an actor upon life, not merely exist mindlessly subject to passing winds of doctrine, swaying debates and the comings and goings of others living out their own lives.
The existence of the hard core addict is a prime example of a hand-to-mouth existence, not an actual real vibrant living life. It is an out-of-order existence without any balance, harmony and serenity. An addict is an addict is an addict. He suffers from the evil lifestyle of drug addiction yet, as a rule, there are deep inner spiritual conflicts that must be resolved in order for him to live a full life with its rich rewards, riches and responsibilities.
“… I am strongly convinced that the evil principle prevailing in this world leads the unrecognized spiritual need into perdition, if it is not counteracted either by real religious insight or by the protective wall of human community. An ordinary man, not protected by an action from above and isolated in society, cannot resist the power of evil, which is called very aptly the Devil…”
Source: Letter to Bill Wilson from Dr.Carl Jung of January 30, 1961
http://www.thejaywalker.com/pages/jung_ltr.html
No one is doomed and predestined to be a drug addict. The addict himself can convince himself otherwise in order to rationalize his state of being because of his own character defects. Character defects can be summed up in the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth.
Sometimes our own mental blocks prevent us from remembering the true history of our mental disorders that can only be cleared away through inner reflection and spiritual revelation. Memories can be painful. We have to go through the pain to get any gain and face our fears head on, In many ways, present-day society is insane and controlled by a cold callous government with upside down priorities. Many millions suffer in silent agony with mental-spiritual disorders.
“Mental disorders are common in the United States and internationally. An estimated 26.2 percent of Americans ages 18 and older — about one in four adults — suffer from a diagnosable mental disorder in a given year. When applied to the 2004 U.S. Census residential population estimate for ages 18 and older, this figure translates to 57.7 million people. Even though mental disorders are widespread in the population, the main burden of illness is concentrated in a much smaller proportion — about 6 percent, or 1 in 17 — who suffer from a serious mental illness. In addition, mental disorders are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and Canada for ages 15-44. Many people suffer from more than one mental disorder at a given time. Nearly half (45 percent) of those with any mental disorder meet criteria for 2 or more disorders, with severity strongly related to comorbidity.”
Source:
http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/the-numbers-count-mental-disorders-in-america/index.shtml
The standard ‘copy, cut and paste’ treatment for the so-called mentally ill is shallow psychoanalysis in a rigid group setting, long-term individual therapy by an expensive professional psychiatrist and/or a regimen of prescription drugs to be faithfully taken like a new religion. These traditional treatment methods merely treat symptoms but mask core issues at the bottom of a given mental disorder and the spiritual origins of disorders. Many times the patient, especially if he is a recovering drug addict, merely switches chemical addictions from illegal drugs to legal pharmaceutical drugs, making the medical-drug industry richer and the patient poorer than ever without any thought of seeking a real cure and spiritual healing instead of self-medicating. Many recovering addicts are written off as incurable and hopeless by those who make huge profits from the sad misery of patients. God forbid the patient actually recovers, gets well and lives a healthy life without being strung out on prescription drugs!
To make matter worse, many naïve people without a real understanding of medical science easily accept artificial labels being thrown over them without questioning the validity of those labels. People cannot be easily explained and identified with surface psychiatric labels like store products on a shelf. Some give up on themselves, settle for a legal certified diagnosis of mental disability and sell out their souls in order to get a steady SSI check. A classic dope fiend move is trying to find the easy lazy way out without any real work required; instead of creating a personal self-help wholistic healing program, raising one’s self-esteem to a new high level, nurturing spiritual growth and developing one’s wholistic health in general.
Many medical professionals have biased opinions against there even being a real cure for addiction, believing in the mantra of ‘once an addict, always an addict’. They flat line clinical analyses about the patient to only the two mental and physical dimensions: the mind and the body. They forget the spiritual essence of the patient, the key role of spiritual healing and exploring alternative wholistic methods of treatment. We are spiritual beings living inside physical bodies that possess a spirit. The healer must treat the entire patient as a whole entity. A wider wholistic treatment template in the triad of the mental, physical and spiritual dimensions is mandatory in order to bring about a real lasting cure for the mind, body and soul. Plus, the patient himself must consciously and passionately participate in his own healing in harmony with the Creator and the help of a spiritual healer.
~ Living Manageable Lives ~
We must put our lives in order, stay straight and seek a wholistic state of general health that nourishes the mind, body and soul as we are complex three-dimensional beings. The mind commands, the body functions and the spirit guides.
Our CASA Step #1 and related Scripture is:
1. We admitted we were powerless over our drug addiction—that our lives had become unmanageable.
Matthew 9:36 “When Jesus saw the multitudes, he had compassion on them, because they were tired and scattered, like sheep which have no shepherd.”
We must learn how to make our lives manageable and keep them manageable without falling down into a chronic relapse pattern away from a real cure. Dying then thinking we are born again when we are still dead in sin with a short time of physical sobriety is no way out.
The healing soul must bring himself under control and learn different management methods to help make his life manageable: time management of his daily schedule and set routines; emotional management that includes anger, depression, anxiety and other emotional states; financial management in order to optimize financial resources and the investigation of other basic practical forms of self-management for making our lives more stable, solvent and manageable.
First of all, we must stay in shape, be willing to work hard and be capable of providing for our own basic survival needs as mature humane beings: nutritional food, proper clothing, decent shelter, medical care and quality education. If we have disabilities we have extra challenges to overcome in order to maximize our potential, but we must never give up on ourselves, sell ourselves short and wallow in selfish self-pity. Each of us has our own level of willpower, measure of faith and dispensation of divine grace.
Beyond the physical, we have real spiritual needs that we must meet so we can become loving humane beings who exhibit tender care, true concern and genuine compassion for all living beings. To raise our self-esteem to a high level we require self-love, self-respect and self-confidence; trusting that we can be independent and take care of ourselves, though we are ultimately interdependent on others in society. We must start all over again, learn to live anew and be re-born.
1 Peter 1:23 (NIV) ~ For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
Life is for the living is meant to be lived in good health. Since we are ultimately spiritual beings we should learn to live by a set of spiritual principles that give our lives true meaning, structure and purpose because they incorporate spiritual principles, moral values and humane ethics for living well in society. Thus, many millions of people worldwide participate in one kind of recovery group based upon the 12-Steps Program or another for self-help, depending upon their specific area of concern.
~ CASA Mission Statement ~
CASA (Christians Against Substance Addiction) is a progressive Christian recovery group based upon the original A.A. 12-Steps Program. The spiritual principles and practices of our CASA 12-Steps Program with its related Biblical Scriptures come from the wisdom of the Holy Bible, as did the basis ideas of the original A.A. 12-Steps. We have not forgotten the Christian roots of A.A.; claim Creator God as our Higher Power with faith in God as the foundation for all our spiritual traditions, not an obscure anonymity.
Source:
http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/2008/11/on-character-defects-shortcomings-and.html
The beauty of the basic 12-Steps Program is that it helps people to openly admit their real powerlessness over a particular problem, promotes a belief in a Higher Power for help with a solution and humbles us to turn our self-will over to Creator God as we understand Him (Steps One, Two and Three). It encourages us to make an honest moral inventory of ourselves, admit our wrongs to another humane being and God in order to remove our major character defects and shortcomings (Steps Four, Five, Six and Seven), then, instructs us to make a list of person we have harmed and make safe amends to those we have wronged (Steps Eight and Nine). It follows up with continued personal inventory, admitting wrong promptly and improving our conscious contact with God (Steps Ten and Eleven). Finally, it teaches us to carry this Message to those who still suffer and to daily practice these principles after having received a true Spiritual Awakening (Step Twelve).
As A.A. Co-Founder Dr. Bob revealed:
“It wasn’t until 1938 that the teachings and efforts and studies that had been going on were crystallized in the form of the Twelve Steps. I didn’t write the Twelve Steps. I had nothing to do with the writing of them. . . . We already had the basic ideas, though not in terse and tangible form. We got them, as I said, as a result of our study of the Good Book.”
Source: The Co-Founders of Alcoholics Anonymous: Biographical Sketches Their Last Major Talks. NY: Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc., 1972, 1975, pp. 11-14): http://www.dickb.com/Christian_Endeavor.shtml
It should be clear to anyone with an open mind that these 12-Steps were inspired by the basic spiritual principles embodied in the Holy Bible and in harmony with ancient teachings from many wise masters. It is a basic common sense self-help program for character development, self-empowerment and improving our general relationships that should be practiced by all people who want to get their lives in a sound order and out of chaos and confusion. It is a basic humane program with definite spiritual principles that are applicable and universal for all people!
~ No Magical Quick Fix ~
There is no magical quick fix or cheap easy cure for all the many disorders and diseases that plague humankind. A personal spiritual awakening should be a daily event when we awaken with a clear conscious mind, a healthy body and a serene spirit. Getting strung out on prescription drugs is no medical answer, though if need be they can be utilized during a transition period before one refrains from all external drugs and practices complete abstinence from all mind-altering, mood-altering or intoxicating drugs. The long-term goal is for us all to be sane and sober without the use of ingesting any man-made drugs. Find your true inner self, and get a natural high out of life without any artificial highs or lows.
Beyond long-term chemical dependency, many recovering addicts are afflicted by an array of other mental disorders, such as, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Bipolar Disorder (BD), Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and other ailments hidden in the inner soul waiting to be released.
Deuteronomy 4:28-30 (New International Version)
28 There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell. 29 But if from there you seek the LORD your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. 30 When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and obey him.
It all has to come from the inside, from the soul of our inner self in communion with the Creator. Sobriety is the starting gate on the road of recovery as we work towards true spiritual liberty from the misery of poverty, from human ignorance, from false beliefs and distractions from the divine.
Matthew 22:36-40 (New International Version)
36"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" 37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'[b] 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'[c] 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
The order you seek must first come from within your own soul, then seek solutions outside of yourself. Love, forgive and accept yourself as a Creature of the Creator. Learn from any reliable source you can, explore other alternative treatment methods, utilize all the tools you can acquire and fall deep in love with yourself in harmony with the boundless unconditional love of your Creator.
Job 25:2 (NIV)
“2 Dominion and awe belong to God; he establishes order in the heights of heaven.”
Understand and accept yourself just as you are. Make a solid decision to get your life in order in harmony with the Creator and to save your own soul!
c/s
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● Progressive Recovery Today!
http://prorecovery.blogspot.com/
● CASA 12-Steps Program Blog
http://casa-12steps.blogspot.com/
● CASA 12-Steps Program Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CASA-12-Steps-Program/
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