The Art of Live and Let Live

First, I’ll preface this article to explain that it is not entirely about recovery. This is not an essay, it’s a stream of consciousness. The understanding gleaned from recovery practice simply serves as a model for a very universal idea that has scarce to do with abstaining from alcohol. Warning seemed important that one not dismiss reading this in its entirety, turned off by that “sober soldier” mentality that some think of when they hear “recovery” or Alcoholics Anonymous.

This morning’s Hazelden reading was from Answers in the Heart, Daily Meditations for Men and Women Recovering from Sex Addiction. What caught my eye was, “Starting to set boundaries for ourselves takes time and practice. Because the experience is unfamiliar, we may often find ourselves veering between two extremes—holding back for fear of blurring our boundaries or acting as if we have no boundaries at all.” [April 17, 2021]

Boundaries… what is the true opposite extreme of no boundaries at all? I thought of inflicting one’s desires on others without regard to their boundaries. I guess I understand why the author used “extremes” instead of “opposites” and used “blurring” the line verses no apparent line at all.

Blurred lines- like when I am trying not to cross a friend’s pride by firmly affirming they are out of control and need to drink less. Blurred lines, caused by doubt that they’re an addict, per se, or that addiction really exists in a way that cannot be overcome by simply clearing one’s conscience. It makes me wonder why the first 100 of Alcoholics Anonymous could not “drink like a gentleman” [p.31, Alcoholics Anonymous, 4th Edition] after such an endeavor, unlike what an alcoholic calls a "heavy drinker" who "learns to moderate." What, in an alcoholic's body mechanisms clouds their brains so much when they attempted controlled drinking again? Even after a substantial time sober, some were "off to the races."

This brings me to a collective consciousness idea that I think may be valuable if we are ever going to see life on other planets....if humans will ever survive blowing themselves up with impulsivity. The idea in recovery that if we do not continue to harm, less harm may come to us. It’s not that they hadn’t cleared their own individual consciences and made amends to enough people in their lives to clear their slate entirely. But the fate of introducing conscience-clearing to the masses- especially with the Constitutional ideal of freedom of religion (i.e. being able to choose one’s own understanding of spiritual matters) was so important to the fate of society as a whole, it’s like the Universal Coordinator kept reigning cured alcoholics back into AA to preserve the monumentally divine idea that one cannot remain religious, but rather, one must be tolerant to others’ perspective of spiritual matters.

Could it not be that human consciousness had evolved to the point of recognizing the flaw of conformity to Christianity? We’ve seen the flaw of proselytizing, i.e. the Spanish Inquisition type behavior and Crusades, and the burying of different shaped story lines of divine interpretation, like Native American mythologies and the druids. There has been an awakening in society happening again and again that finally overpowers the overpowering notion that she will only be saved if we all worship only one idea, one storyline.... As complex as the bible may be, it is not the full story of the entire world, especially up till now.

Take Star Trek as an example, whose idea has evolutionary concepts of respect toward other cultures. I wonder what the Vedas ever said about living and letting live, or the Koran, or Buddhism. Is it a wonder to some that India was renowned for so long as a mecca of peaceful coexistence, with so many gods to worship, and yet war not futile (without the concept of “no other god before Me”).

In theory, if overusing resources causes suffering from lack- hunger, religious rights, bodily autonomy (from mass mania Me-Too-ing), first world comforts- did the fundamental idea of comfortable survival introduce war-like mentality for the Indian government to start attacking innocent citizens? As a Christian non-conformist, the darkness of crucifying Jesus comes to mind, and the contribution of unhealthy Abrahamic followers over the years. The contribution the media informs me of too often, the vile and dystopian force of violence against people who believe differently, or for that matter, government violence against its own citizens, since they're the one holding the guns... and with that kind of power, they get to live when overpopulation needs to be solved in their eyes.

This brings me to the strange, and hopefully reversible prophecies. Some Hindus believe in the Kali Yuga, several thousand years of dystopia, of strife on Earth. Revelations and Nostradamus suggest Armageddon marked by monsters and antichrists. Luckily the Mayan calendar suggests, about now, that the patriarchy is over and the Goddess is in charge, now. I'm not sure what the buried Mayan's did right, but, to me, that means human consciousness can undergo a complete transition from old world prophecy to an evolved understanding where more than just the “chosen few” can escape the dystopia of needless suffering (and I'm not calling the feminine superior, rather, this is just a change in the ways we think). All of the spiritual heroes, every guru of benevolence, kindness, or at the very least, (like Pastafarianism) a sense of humor to rise above pain, can now be heeded and respected as equals, maybe even reincarnations of the same idea, bubbling up again and again throughout our timeline.

Here is the tricky part, the humor, the elbow: with humans all interested in peace and harmony, and multiplying, how do we not squander our resources? And so, big agriculture and its flaws bump up against the corporation entity’s fear that people will stop buying from them and grow their own food. A hilariously unnecessary panic ensues, and we hear a rogue, Monsanto-backed politician say we should outlaw people growing their own food, and block subsidies for people who don’t feel like playing with agriculture that way, i.e. smaller farmers (often organic farmers). I am not here to demonize agricultural practice that has indeed put quite the output into the foodstream, but only point out that this power play is ridiculous. Thanks to the placebo effect, growing one’s own food is merely a personal preference based on opportunity and maybe a little appreciation for extra work, or being close to the dirt. Luckily, scientific method seems thorough enough for lab-made fertilizers to sufficiently nourish, as long as the mass media isn’t demonizing that, too. Perhaps I’ll reserve the fight of wind and pesticide preference for another article.

Faith in one’s food to nourish also provides fulfillment, as does faith in medicine, congruent in the new faith that people seem not to regard as a religion: science. But is it not with trial and error that Scriptures and Philosophies and Vedas and such are passed down according to the usefulness to mankind? I wonder what theories and scientific methods will win the hearts and minds of how may, with what allotment of provision for who?

(“No, Who’s on first!”)

Has an astronaut not afforded freeze dried food in space for a long journey? And if this turned out to be insufficient for the duration as physical fuel, could packaging not improve, then plant-growing apparatus be invented, and so on….until we are capable of longer journeys, and more ideas that may or may not be as advanced as Star Trek someday?

In the same way, the human consciousness has been delivering itself from overpopulation and suffering again and again, as technology improves and we learn our limits.

The concept of Harmonic Convergence, introduced in Avatar, says, “When the planets align [every ten thousand years], spiritual energy is greatly amplified, causing the spirit portals at the North and South poles to merge, while an aura of spirit energy envelops the Earth.” Https://avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Harmonic_Convergence#:~:text=Harmonic%20Convergence%20is%20a%20supernatural,spirit%20energy%20envelops%20the%20Earth.

This is an attitude often found in a recovering addict, who has seen and felt “hell on earth” before they are relieved of an attachment so troubling they feel free and hopeful, no matter what life throws at them. This is congruent with the idea made famous by Bob Marley, “every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” The same idea can be found in many recovery groups, all tailored, somehow almost magically to those that find the benefit of them: Recovery Dharma, SMART Recovery, Women in Recovery, to name a few.

Could this be the secret to end needless suffering and advance human consciousness enough to "deserve" to discover life like our own in the Universe? Have we been beating ourselves and each other up all these centuries to understand how not to cross the threshold of pain, the threshold of our resources, the threshold of comfortable existence?

Not everyone has to give up alcohol or drugs to achieve this balance in their lives, but I’m willing to bet that those who are really living in a harmonious balance with their propensity toward euphoric practice- that is to say, those that are capable of moderation- have probably bumped up against a possibly hellish boundary in their lives that prevents them from shooting themselves in the proverbial foot by overdoing something that can lead to “insanity.” Moderation may save us all enough food, enough sanity, enough satire and sated stomachs to “eat, drink and be merry” all the way to our inevitable consequence of life (the end of it). And, moderation can allow a person their boundaries, by not taking so much we cross into another person’s algorithm, where the grass, these days, isn’t actually greener. The old saying goes, “the grass is always greener on the other side”. Stevie Wonder is right, “superstition ain’t the way.” I call silly sayings that do not need to be considered truths, necessarily, "superstitions." But everyone should have the right to believe in one, if it helps.

It’s interesting that marijuana is gaining ground in legality, these days, as it has been notoriously “non-addictive”. Have you ever met a Rastafarian? I could not believe how broadly the ones I met smiled. I did not know a face could even do that. No matter the race of the Rastafarian, their smiles were intense, almost enlightening just by seeing them. And now that a substance Rastafarians use to connect with the divine is becoming legal, will a set of Rastafarian scriptures emerge? Will it marry spiritual ideas and science? I was told the Holy Piby was the Rastafarian bible, but it did not seem complete to me. I wonder how long after Jesus Christ we had the Christian bible in the form we have it today. Even Haile Selassie’s name had evolved over 40 years, from Athliyi, if indeed the Holy Piby is the carrier of Rastafarian origin.

In any case, old world or new world, there are many universal rules of coexistence that I’d like to address. But this article is already 3 pages long, and although I’ll visit this article again and maybe flesh out the ideas so that it isn’t so muddy for some, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron told me I don’t have to go any further this morning. If you want to add your two cents to the book of life on Earth as I know it, join my Facebook page FreeToBEUndoubtedlySure, which will eventually be its own website. I’m just too broke to facilitate it right now. Yes, that was a ploy to get you to tip.

Here's a quote I stole and added my own two cents to, and tacked on to the end of one of my budding rap songs: "How long shall they kill our profits and pretend that there's no hook? If this is just a part of it, how long is the real book? Life is the music, we are the dancer."