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Essays, Opinion, & Commentary |
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April 1, 2007 On 'Hitting Bottom' Globally: A First-Ever Historical Event by Donald Croft Brickner
There Are Three Probable Futures Ahead of Us Now: More of the Same (Untenable), The End of
the World (Unlikely)
"Hitting bottom," that ruinous activity that alcoholics and drug abusers so regularly (and unintentionally) practice, is no longer unique to conventional addicts -- even if it still equates with simply falling down, and going, splat. No, hitting bottom is part of an actual psychological -- and simultaneously spiritual -- process. In fact, it's both part of that process, and simultaneously a symptom of it, as well. "Process." It's a term that not only will be used a lot to follow, but it's pretty cool as a concept. And this particular process will very probably guide us, literally, into a far more positive and fulfilling future than most of us expect to actually see manifest in our lifetimes. But it's also a little like the punch line to that really old joke: "Watch out for that first step: it's a doozy!" For getting to the beginning of this process will seem very much, to many, like the Beginning of the End of humanity. Those who believe that we're necessarily nearing The End, however, will be … in error. What follows, below, is a prediction that's way outside the mainstream of consensus thinking right now -- and so it's almost never voiced in the usual college texts, newspapers, TV shows, Scriptures, or in casual chats outside by the pool -- and that prediction, such as it is, is this: The process of Hitting Bottom has never before occurred on a global scale -- until now. Several indications of a mass "downward spiraling" of the world's populations behaviorally (which all lead to what's to be the first symptom in this process, Hitting Bottom) grab the headlines on a daily basis: greed, corruption, aggression, prejudice, arrogance, etc., along with the leader of the pack in this New Millennium: blind, relentless pride -- of the Seven Deadly Sins variety. Once you find yourself caught up in that nasty old Downward Spiral -- where just about everywhere you look, things look bad, and everything you do just goes badly -- one can almost be assured, every time, that Hitting Bottom comes next. It's just around the corner for us now, silently and invisibly. But, it's there. We're just not at the "splat" part, yet -- which will likely prove to be illusion, anyway. Permit us to formulate a tenable prophecy: No nation has ever succeeded in continuing to indefinitely promulgate any severely out-of-balance political or cultural agendas -- particularly those in which the interests of that nation's downtrodden residents, or its future residents, are sure to be ignored or consciously/unconsciously betrayed. The United States of America has become one such nation now in world history. Consequently, its future is worse than uncertain: it's about to have its own unbalanced playing field leveled -- and in this particular instance, probably without a shot being fired. "Severely out-of-balance" are significant operative words here. What its residents experience will seem like prophetic end times … at first. One doesn't even need to argue the mechanism in place that would cause such a collapse-of-the-heretofore-unafflicted. Rather, world history shows that no dark agenda ever -- ever -- dances away into a happy sunset. That "dark agenda" here in America (and in other political regions globally) is its unapologetic materialistic hubris, in which the health and safety of its citizens have slipped into second place behind compulsive money-making. Put another way: it's a severe Absence of Humility as it applies to living life in today's material world. And that absence -- coupled with its replacement by rampant and severe Pride, or hubris -- is the engine that will drive this impending collapse. There are two key areas that reflect this imbalance: the economy, and the environment. And it's within both of these symptoms of materialistic abuse that the "playing field" will be leveled -- probably a lot sooner than later. The correction in one of these two arenas will almost necessarily precede the other -- but make no mistake, these two inexcusable and unnecessary imbalances are joined at the hip -- and they are both the result of very poor human decision-making. Further, it's safe to suggest that when one of these symptoms is exposed for what it is, the unmasking of the other is sure to shortly follow. There will be no debates afterwards about any of this, either. All of the "proof" anyone is going to need will be in the pudding. These are "symptoms" of what, then, you might be asking? Already stated: they reflect an almost total global absence of true Humility -- which contrary to popular belief is more than just a "confetti attribute." Human beings simply can't survive without exercising humility. They can't. We're proving this with every misbegotten belief and action that ignores it. And so we return to the subject of "hitting bottom" -- because regardless what our behavioral and experimental psychologists, specifically, believe to the contrary, it's herein counter-argued that addictions, in particular, are not those of a soulless, robotic human body that needs to be "tweaked." Addictions? Yes. That's where we're headed here. Behind almost every "hitting bottom" is an addiction. Too many scientists continue to perpetuate a view of human beings as little more than remarkable robots, replete with "parts" that oftentimes demand being medicated in order to be brought "under control." Thus our behavioralists argue this when it comes to addictions: our human brains have what researchers have determined are "stop and go systems" that prompt -- or, in other words, that are the source of! -- addiction. So, in order to "cure" addiction, the physician (not psychologist, mind you) must "tune down the volume of the 'go' system," as one researcher stated in an AOL special series televised recently -- and so, more often than not, they'll prescribe drugs to counteract the unwieldy, and 100 percent-"physical" addiction. But the problem with trying to achieve a cure with this kind of methodology -- and its own thin "success numbers" tenably might well support this -- is that it tends to underestimate, or flat-out disregard, any other underlying issues or triggers. Recovering alcoholics, say, who regularly attend A.A. meetings know better. And they should -- they're the ones with the addiction. They're the ones who walk the walk. Our addictions have no business being buried with medications, anyway -- which is especially nonsensical when you're dealing with alcoholics and drug abusers -- both of whom, yes, exhibit measurable symptoms that can be treated on a surface level -- but those symptoms are not in actuality the root causes of addictions. Does alcohol create alcoholism? No. Alcohol is just the mechanism that triggers the addiction's symptoms. Even when -- even when -- one undergoes a physical withdrawal after the alcohol (or drugs) are removed. Rather, instead, the actual "cause" of any addiction comes from within the depths of the human psyche -- and it reflects a universal human "hunger" that is screaming out to be fed … but isn't. We'll get around to the source of that hunger momentarily. The creators of A.A.'s Twelve Step Program understood the actual underlying causality responsible for their addiction almost from the very beginning, which dates back to the mid-1930s when Alcoholics Anonymous was first formed. Addiction to alcohol, thus, was the first-ever addiction to be viewed through such a lens as theirs, and it's held up. The discovery A.A.'s founders encountered was this: The human spirit is already ill before one first turns to alcohol -- and it has little to do with genes, which are not themselves the engines that drive the train -- for they, too, particularly when statistically tied to alcohol addiction, are but physically-manifested symptoms. (Seriously -- which came first, the chicken, or the egg?) And while for a time any addict can satiate that unidentified buried hunger by abusing alcohol (or drugs, or food, or gambling, or sex, or money-making), it won't last, or "work," forever, because addiction only produces an imitation solution … Oh, what -- there's no such addiction as Compulsive Money-Making? Well -- yes, there is. Simply because it's yet to be formally identified doesn't mean it doesn't exist. * * * * * The trouble is, the tentacles of compulsive money-making as addiction are now so severely intertwined with virtually every arena of human activity on Earth (and enabled by the idea that practicing capitalism and [compulsive] money-making are identical activities -- which they aren't), there thus is only one means with which to bring this "illness" to the surface: i.e., to name it, claim it, and then begin the very slow recovery from it, without using drugs to bury its true underlying causality: (…Which isn't the "absence of humility," by the way, as strongly suggested previously -- for that itself is but another symptom within the ever-peeling-away onion-like layers of our psyches.) So, then, okay -- what's the actual underlying core "hunger" itself?: It's the universal human need to experience an honest-to-gosh Spiritual Awakening -- and then to live one's life accordingly. I can re-type that, if you wish. What Bill Wilson and "Doctor Bob" came to realize more than 70 years ago (!!), while struggling to piece together a practice that would forever get them "out of their cups," was the creation of the Twelve Step Program -- whose core underlying initiative is stated in the last of its steps (although it's rarely recognized as such, even now -- nor is it even among those who continue to sincerely and honestly practice the program and its principals): A.A's Twelfth Step reads: "Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principals in all our affairs." Too, keep in mind -- there are 11 steps in the recovery process preceding this one. About all that anyone in any of the Twelve Step Programs takes to heart in the Twelfth Step, above (and there's a Twelve Step Program for just about every addiction, by the way … except compulsive money-making!) are the sentiments expressed after the step's first comma: "…we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principals in all our affairs." Those words almost entirely reflect how the Twelfth Step has been historically interpreted and practiced from almost the very beginning: it's believed to be almost exclusively related to "sponsorship" -- wherein "old-timers" "give back" by helping newcomers with practical guidance issues. Thing is, though: what's "this message" in that step referring to? It's not sponsorship. It would be funny were it not so serious an omission -- but either because folks these days tend to shy completely away from the concept of a "God" or a "Higher Power," or are unwilling to accept an all-but universal Twelve Step belief that anyone, from any religion, can effectively practice the program, the initial statement in this Step -- again, the last Step in the Twelve Step process -- is almost entirely ignored which, stated again, is: "Step 12: Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps…" A spiritual awakening! Now, we've not focused on the practice of the Twelve Steps as a "process," nor shall we here -- but anyone intimately involved with the Steps and/or attempts to recover from addictions (or any non-material-symptomatic affliction, say, through psychoanalysis) is sure to be intimately aware of how critical "process," as a concept, actually is. By "process," we mean a series of actions that lead to a desired outcome -- and which can't be sidestepped or short-cutted, and still prove effective. We've now discussed the last step in the Twelve Step Program -- but not Step One, the initial step in the process, which in A.A. goes precisely like this: "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -- that our lives had become unmanageable." A lot of people making such an admission might justifiably suppose their worlds had just come to an end (!) -- at least, figuratively. But in fact, Step One is not the end game -- instead, it's the hugely critical (and therefore critically needed!) first "state of being" to be accepted, and immediately thereafter acted upon, on such a road toward recovery. Further, Step One is the only one of the 12 Steps that's an appraisal, as opposed to an action: Put simply, it's admitting your life really really really really sucks. Now, why is such an admission hugely critical? Because most likely, the individual making this statement (and necessarily meaning it) has for the first time in his or her life made an admission of personal limitation while figuratively (and sometimes literally) looking up at the world from the floor. Such an admission is not only humbling -- i.e., of, or pertaining to humility -- but the individual making it has finally "hit bottom." Get it? Hitting bottom is not the end. It's the beginning! Now, to date, the act of "hitting bottom" has been viewed (and practiced) on an individual basis. But it now appears as if the entire planet is about to be dragged down to "Step One," so to speak, whether everyone is an-as-yet-formally-undiagnosed Compulsive Money-Maker, or not -- because of all of the addictions, this one, with its slipshod and severely-limited world view, has caused so many horrific, and seemingly uncorrectable problems around the world that the only way to correct it is to "hit bottom" en masse! To loosely quote a favored spiritual source, "The problem is not that the world is coming to an end. The problem is that it isn't -- and we're all going to be left to face a lot of issues that are long overdue for our attention." The Twelve Step Program, mentioned in some detail here, is not being promoted as any manner of be-all, end-all means with which to establish a workable corrective and healing process. It's just one that's been too often overlooked (despite many empiricists' hesitant admissions to date that it still manages the best recovery numbers for alcoholics, to name but one brand of addicts). Unfortunately, one suspects the 12 Steps have been so severely abused to date, by both their more recent practitioners and their critics, that it's essentially become impotent. Certainly, the "old school religion" language used by A.A.'s Twelve Step Program is outdated, and is thus off-putting. Its lack of clarity, too, is also something of a problem -- but then it speaks to our emotions, or at least intends to -- where any such recoveries must focus: for it's not possible to function from a strictly intellectual level and to practice humility. (Humility, being the "end game's" next-to-last onion layer protruding after hitting bottom.) The intellect just can't sustain a genuine recovery. We're talking apples and oranges: it's Intellect v. Emotions, and addiction is an emotionally- (and spiritually-) rooted illness. Finally -- so, how is this global "bottoming out" collapse likely to manifest? Very probably in two ways: The first is global warming -- and the denial that human beings are largely responsible for its existence -- which will likely increasingly interfere in our lives, until we all get slapped in the faces so hard we'll no longer be able to pretend it's not out there, or that we were the ones who brought it upon ourselves. Why do we deny our involvement, or its existence? Well, in part, because global warming is a profits-killer. And hubris is the poker face of our denial. The second collapse will be economic -- and one suspects it will be of a covert nature that manages to blindside us, and so establish an all-new precedent regarding the extremes of materialistic blindness. Or, maybe not. There are crop circles all across the globe, and very few people are yet willing to admit they're there -- even if they trip over them. "Hitting bottom" will not be denied, regardless -- even if it means that some may consciously opt to jump off the top of some high ledge in order to achieve it. One thing for sure: once we do hit bottom, blindness and denial will be the first symptoms to get swept away -- and get swept away quickly, by this: Our species' First-Ever Global Addiction.
After his military tour, for which he received an honorable discharge, he pursued his lifelong interest in the study of metaphysics/ontology, and finally received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Maine-Orono in 1992. He later attended graduate studies at the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana and in the M.F.A. creative writing program at Chapman University in Orange, California. He has written an unproduced 3-act play, "Revelations at Mount Rushmore," which remains on file at the Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, California. He is also more than halfway through completing his first novel. Visit his MySpace page at http://www.myspace.com/donaldcroftbrickner
Because The Radical Academy publishes essays and articles on its website does not imply acceptance or approval of the comments or opinions expressed by the author of the material. Nor is the Academy responsible for any misrepresentation of the facts included. It is your job to be a critical reader. Enrich your political & social life with a politics or news magazine... |
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Donald
Croft Brickner has lived in roughly half of the
states in America, working countless jobs in a
variety of occupations. Prior to serving as an
enlisted journalist in the U.S. Navy during the
Vietnam era, he majored in music theory in college
and later received an associate's degree in music
education.
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