This project was undertaken in response to the claims of Alcoholics Anonymous and its founder Bill Wilson regarding the spiritual etiology of alcohol addiction, and in light of the recent explosive growth of Twelve Step groups. Moving back along the etiological process of addictions I hypothesized that inordinate mood-altering behaviors, the precursor to an addiction, could be understood in a contemporary and clinically relevant manner as symptomatic of spiritual disorder. I also hypothesized that confusion over the meaning of the term "spirituality" resulted in clinical confusion, disarray and ineffective clinical procedures. It was hypothesized that the new field of Formative Spirituality, especially as articulated by Adrian van Kaam, would provide us with the theoretical constructs needed to understand the term "spirituality" in a clinically relevant manner. Armed with this understanding of "spirituality" we would be enabled to understand the Twelve Step claims regarding the etiology of addictions.
Evidence was provided from the most recent and presumably academically sound writings that "spirituality" is not understood in a clear and distinct manner.
We learned from Formative Spirituality that our spirituality is the aspect of our being that concerns awareness of, and response to, the mystery of formation.
Evidence has been gathered indicating the possibility that any mood-altering behavior may be indicative of spiritual disorder. This finding was not anticipated at the beginning of the research.
Directions for clinical praxis were indicated at various points in this study.
This study has thus strengthened the probability of the truth of the following statements. Addictions can be symptomatic of deficient awareness of the mystery and/or difficulties with appreciative abandonment. Addictions can be symptomatic of spiritual disorder.
We all have a spirit just as we all have muscles. Some of us go to the gym to develop our muscles. So too, some of us develop our spirituality. It is our spirit that distinguishes us as human, and is thus the necessary foundation for consonance. Healthy spirituality, as we now know, is marked by appreciative abandonment to the mystery.
Unhealthy spirituality is marked by what van Kaam calls autarchy. For those of us in a Cartesian milieu autarchy is the mistaken perception that the individual is a self-sufficient, isolated subjectivity that is wholly independent from the fullness of the formation field, and thus able to successfully control and manipulate the fullness of the formation field. For those in other traditions, such as the Muslim, autarchy may have different symptoms. Autarchy is the tendency to reduce the fullness of human formation down to one aspect of that experience, thus exalting it. It is an attempt to control reality through a type of selective perception. This attempt to control reality is indicated precisely by the presence of inordinate attempts to alter mood, or as we have discovered, possibly by any attempt to alter mood.
Within the Twelve Steps the distinction between the healthy and unhealthy spirit is articulated by means of the dichotomy between the addicted individual's desire to control reality by controlling mood, and the awareness of powerlessness in the face of the reality that elicits mood. This is contained in the first three steps. The individual is asked to admit his/her powerlessness over reality (and thus the moods it elicits), to acknowledge the possibility of the transcendent mystery (interpreted as a Higher Power or God as we understand him), and express the willingness to abandon the self to that mystery. The use of "Higher Power" and then "God" functions as a process of hermeneutic change. So important is this process that the "newbie" or "pigeon" will ideally spend a year on just the first three steps. Once this foundation is firmly established the individual then moves on to the remaining steps. Steps Four through Twelve have the effect of then reordering the formation field upon the foundations provided by the first three steps. The first three steps will also be re-worked periodically throughout the Twelve Stepper's life as he or she strives to "practice these principles in all our affairs". A proper working of the Steps will result in a mood of serenity.
For the Muslim, the dichotomy between the healthy and unhealthy spirit is articulated by means of the command of God to submit to His will. The very word "islam" means "submission". That is, submission to the will of Allah as it is revealed in the Qur'an. A "muslim" is someone who is in submission to God's will regardless of the tradition to which he or she belongs. Indeed, this act of submission is natural to the human being so that Abraham, who was neither Jew, Christian nor Muslim (in the sense of being part of these traditions or systems of belief) is held up as the example par excellence of the hanif-- the one who transcends social conditioning and thus becomes muslim because it is the natural, inherently human thing to do. As expressed in the Qur'an, and as part of the understanding of al tawhid, the Muslim accepts that it is God who determines whether the individual will experience laughter or tears, riches or poverty, success or failure. To fight against this and attempt to control it, as in the manner of the addict, is to engage in shirk. A proper islam will result in the mood of taqwa.
Formation theory displays that issues of spirituality come down to the issue of the meaning of our formation. Addictive disorders become a threat when our experiences are painful, and thus potentially meaningless or imbued with a negative meaning. Like all animals, we seek to avoid pain. As distinctively human, this pain can center in pole(s) of the formation field. And yet, unlike other animals, humans are able to not only withstand pain, not only accept the presence of pain, but embrace it if it is meaningful to us. At the most simple level we call this the capacity for delayed gratification. At its most complex we witness the sacrifice of life and limb for the sake of various ideologies and symbolic meanings. Pain implies a threat to the form potency of any living form, but the human is able to transform this threat into a triumph of form potency by means of the spirit.
Precisely because human formation is ongoing there is always a degree of pain and threat-- of formation anxiety-- in human experience. The quest for consonance continues throughout life. It is never achieved, only approximated. The human, as spiritual, is always engaged in transcendence to a greater or lesser degree, and thus is in formation anxiety to a greater or lesser degree. This transcendence is a creative endeavor. In addition, the apprehension of the mystery qua mystery is necessarily, and by definition, anxiety provoking. This implies that a degree of pain, suffering, and threat of dissolution is inherent and natural to the human being and is even a sign of health. The addict seeks to avoid and control this reality by means of the mood-altering behavior. This becomes self-defeating. The use of the behavior serves to produce even more threats to form potency which the addict is unable to integrate into a meaningful framework, thus further encouraging the mood-altering behavior. The spiritually healthy person transcends and minimizes this pain and anxiety by means of a hermeneutic of the mystery-as-benevolent, which can lead to an appreciative abandonment to the mystery.
From the perspective afforded by our understanding of spirituality we can say that the addict is unable or unwilling to tolerate and integrate a necessary degree of formation anxiety because it is meaningless, or means only the presence of a threat to the addict. The addict is unable to transcend through reinterpretation.
Transcendence is largely through symbols, that is, meanings. The addict is lacking the flexibility and creative imagination needed to transcend by means of metaphor and analogy which would set the foundation for behavior change. For instance, the use of cocaine may have symbolized wealth, a jet-set image, as well as pleasure. As the individual becomes addicted he/she may become poverty-stricken and lacking in glamour. The coke itself may be producing psychosis and paranoia rather than pleasure. From the perspective of spirituality the addict is unable to transcend the reality because of an inability or an unwillingness to reinterpret the coke as now deformative and dissonant. This reality, which the addict cannot control in the usual mood-altering way, becomes an aspect of the formation field that is now a given. It is part of the preformation the addict brings to formation and as such the addict is powerless over it. In a continued attempt at control the reality of deformation and dissonance is blocked off from apprehension in an autarchic manner. The addict thus breaks apart the fullness of the formation field, halting the dialogue necessary for transcendence and consonance. The addict-as-formation-field becomes a system closed in upon itself, rather than an open dialogical system.
Thus, we can say that to the degree that there is ease of transcendence there is an absence of addictive potential, and that the prevention of, and recovery from addictive disorders requires the skills that allow and encourage the imaginative apprehension of meaning, and thus transcendence, out of the fullness of the dialogue that is the formation field.
Our negative moods and the difficult occurrences in our lives produce what formation theory would identify as an apprehension of dissonance. Our use of various behaviors that make us feel good can be seen as an attempt to restore consonance across the poles of self-as-field. The problem arises when these behaviors begin to produce not consonance, but increased dissonance across the formation field.
This project, within its function as a prolegomenon, has utilized the work of Byrne, van Kaam, Twelve Step programs, and the Muslim tradition in a mutually explicative manner. Though we center our discussion within the field of addictions, our exploration presents implications beyond the narrow scope of this project. The use of an orthodox religious tradition, a unique program of behavior change, and the attempts to establish a science of spirituality should leave one with an ability to respond to the question "what is spirituality?" as well as a sense of direction for clinical praxis and testing based upon that response. Indeed, our analysis displays commonalties between the Twelve Steps and the religious tradition that are validated by van Kaam's constructs, and could be seen as predicted by his theories. It is these commonalties that have clinical merit and can lead to clinical testing. Some of these are:
1. Simultaneity, balance and completeness of the formation field. Clinicians need to assess through which pole of the field the client predominately operates and which poles may be under-utilized, as well as the degree to which the poles are viewed as being unrelated or separate realms of life. The treatment goal based upon this assessment is to facilitate and encourage a greater degree of consonance among the poles of the formation field. The Twelve Steps utilize this principle by affecting the target behavior by seemingly indirect means (such as making moral inventories and making amends to those we've hurt). This simultaneity, balance and completeness has been recognized by Twelve Steppers as the "dry drunk" syndrome. The individual may be "dry"-- not engaging in the problem behavior-- but seems as if he or she is "wet" in the other spheres of the formation field. Formative Spirituality addresses this by stressing that the human form "is a dialogue" among the poles. Muslims articulate this simultaneity, balance and completeness by means of al tawhid.
2. Apprehension of, and appreciative abandonment to the mystery. Clinicians need to assess the state of the client's primordial decision and foster appreciative abandonment. Indeed, given the current atrophied state of people's spirituality, the clinician will need to inquire as to whether the client even apprehends the mystery of formation and to what degree fear or trauma prevents appreciative abandonment. Without this basis there will be no behavior change or gains in subjective experiences of serenity. Twelve Steppers may work only the first three steps for their first year, and often return to rework them. The first three steps are precisely oriented towards increasing apprehension of the transcendent mystery as well as encouraging a benevolent interpretation of the mystery. The entire Muslim tradition is based upon the implications of the simple declaration concerning the mystery: la ilaha illa Allah.
3. On-going, creative, and didactic. Clinicians need to assess to what degree the client resists the ongoing flow of formation, and to what degree the client is able to access creative imagination in service of formation. The health of our spirit is marked by the ease of transcendence-- of "going beyond". Addiction is literally "to be bound". Addictions are symptomatic of a resistance to transcendence. Transcendence is, by definition, an imaginative and creative process. Twelve Steppers, for instance, imaginatively utilize their own and others' stories of "where they were, where they are now and how they came to be that way" as a function of "carrying the message". For van Kaam, central to the process of disposition reformation are the "auxiliary sources" of the imaginative use of memory and anticipation. It is by means of imagination that dispositions are able to be reformed and embodied in objective behavior. The Islamic concept of ayat implies this on-going imaginative reflection. The Muslim is commanded by the Qur'an to reflect upon creation in order that he or she may increasingly give and receive form according to Divine Law. Various types of creative expression are symptomatic of a healthy and developed spirit.
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