The Hidden Challenge in Alcohol and Drug Abuse

 

Alcohol and drugs are essential to my creative process” is a thought, sometimes a confession made, usually privately, by millions of creative people, many of them at the pinnacle of success in their fields. Yet, I have heard very little serious discussion by substance abuse professionals about the profound implications of this phenomenon.

Some say that psychoactive drugs will be with us forever and maybe they will. However, my life improved immensely and was probably saved by my liberating myself from the pleasures, enthusiastic bursts of creativity and agonies of alcohol and smoke.

In fact, our society has declared a “war” on drugs and a sort of “police action” on alcohol. Humorous, isn’t it since far more damage is done in the aggregate by alcohol than by all other drugs combined? As a society we believe that we must solve this catastrophic problem; or at least understand it enough so that we reduce the destructive pressure on our culture. Having come from a family of beautiful people who have been tragically impacted by alcohol and other drugs, I have had an intense interest in how and why this disaster happened to my dearest loves and beyond that to our civilization as a whole. What is the most effective way to heal the damage already done and reduce the problem in the future?

This led me into one of the most fascinating investigations of my life. I delved deeply into all of the conventional wisdom I could find… and I did most of my investigation while continuing to drink and smoke. I was what you call a highly functional substance abuser. In fact, my problem was never diagnosed by a professional or even a friend. I had to come to the realization that I had a substance abuse problem through self study.

Self study which involved a lot of EEG biofeedback and meditation.

In the course of these studies I had what I think is at least a relatively original insight. This insight enabled me to walk away from the substances that had become so integrated with my own intellectual, creative, even spiritual life. This personal discovery made by many millions of others before me was that I must quit all by myself. Another critical aspect of the discovery provided the burning sense of mission required to be successful as well as the realization that I must discover how to do this as though it was being done for the first time ever. The path to success came to me in a number of progressive meditative reveries.

The kind of energy needed to go deeply within the mind (meditation-contemplation) is constantly dissipated by psychoactive drugs. This means that the very energy needed to “make one’s life work”, to get work done, to be innovative and to have the sensitivity to make one’s relationships better is absent. For me, the concept of meditation, profound attention learning…entering deeply into the creative process, became so incredibly alluring that I realized I had to quit because that is the only way to get the energy and sensitivity needed for the next stages of this immense journey.

Although I have discussed this concept with a number of substance abuse colleagues, the response is (with a few exceptions) usually cool and even uneasy as though admitting that alcohol and other drugs can actually stimulate the creative process will unleash the forces of hell.

Yet, I believe that until we recognize the power that alcohol and other drugs has to influence creativity in the normal human being and offer another, superior way to stimulate and lubricate the creative mind we are fighting our war on drugs with water pistols.

More info :  The Hidden Challenge in Alcohol and Drug Abuse