HOPE MONTH: DAY 8: “Totally without hope one cannot live. To live without hope is to cease to live. Hell is hopelessness. It is no accident that above the entrance to Dante’s hell is the inscription: “Leave behind all hope, you who enter here.” ― Jürgen Moltmann
So true! We lose hope in our addiction. There is no hope that anything will change or get any better. This is an interesting dynamic, because it is the same belief that occurs in young people.
When we are in our early to late teens, we develop the concept that time and change will occur. In the natural process of learning and shaping of the brain in a teen, there is the phenomena of accepting that everything changes with time. It does not exist in the young brain prior to this time.
That is why younger children do not understand what “wait” or “later” mean. There is no understanding of this concept. It develops, in a normal life, as the brain begins to conceive and grasp and understand about space and time continuums.
So, this explains fully why teens are so convinced that they will NEVER feel like this again or that they will ALWAYS be in love with this or that person. The drama of their ego seems very real. They cannot conceive that they will heal over time. This explains the absolute phenomena of teenage suicide and their invulnerability or reckless behaviors. There is also no concept of danger yet.
Learning about consequences and behavior is a normal part of our development as humans. Addicts are usually drinking and drugging through this phase of development, so are prone to remain immature in these areas long after they should have learned to connect those dots.
Is it any surprise then, that we are drama kings and queens long after our teen years? Or that we are prone to suicide mentality long after it is a realistic option? Or that we get caught in ego for many years after we need to believe what it is saying to us? Nope!
The human brain is hard-wired for survival. The only time we become completely hopeless is when we are living in complete denial of our true nature.
It is not possible for this thinking to survive when we are spiritually balanced. We become so enamored of the voice(s) of the Screaming Purple Monkey(s) that we are hypnotized. Tara Brach calls it “trance.” It keeps us completely isolated from Spirit, from Power, from anything that might speak of solution. Welcome to the human ego, run rampant and immature through the lives of addicts.
Ego is not a construct of drugs or alcohol or any other process or substance of addiction. It is the construct of what is termed “Self Will.”
They are one and the same, and the greatest gift of our humanity. Why a gift? Because working around these constructs and finding Spirit or the Power of the Universe is the journey we are here to take.
That is why we are hard-wired for survival. At the very last second, Universal Power or Spirit will step in and win. It is the way it works.
There is nothing created in this or any other Universe that is so beautiful or in error. I love this stuff, it’s incredible miraculousness is so amazing it takes my breath away! And then gives it right back. Woohoo!
Dolphin Hug 