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C V Raman’s consciousness level is not Ramkrishna Yadav’s. We all have different consciousness levels. Criminals exist at very low levels of consciousness and are driven by hostile emotions. Psychologist and author, Dr David Hawkins, places shame-based emotions at the lowest level of consciousness. People who exist at the level of shame tend to be cruel, brutally cruel. A little higher on the hierarchy of consciousness is guilt. Apathy comes next. And so on, it goes. A vast majority of people, 85% of the entire population, live at these low levels and grapple with very serious psychological problems in life. Too many people are mentally unhealthy, in other words.
Quite
a few of them take shelter in drugs and alcohol. These addicts and potential
addicts are probably better persons than the so-called ‘normal’ people because the
search for a ‘high’ is an indication of a desire for a better existence while
the ‘normal’ people are contended with low levels of existence. Drugs provide
the ‘highs’, no doubt. What are these ‘highs’?
Imagine
you are listening to an orchestra. A technician has filtered out all the lower
tones. You hear only the high notes and deep booms. “The suppression of the low
notes doesn’t create the high ones; it merely reveals them,” Dr Hawkins says.
This is just what the drug or the drink does. It suppresses the low emotions of
shame, guilt, apathy, fear, anger, and so on and accentuates the noble emotions
normally engendered by cooperativeness, acceptance, love, etc.
The
higher-level emotions are far more enchanting than the lower ones. Anyone who
has experienced the intensity of those higher emotions wouldn’t ever want to descend
to the lower ones. As Richard Bach put it in Illusions, if you have
conquered certain heights you won’t descend, you will spread out your wings and
fly.
This
is what all of us want to do: spread our wings and fly. There are many ways by which we can obtain
those wings. in the words of Dr Hawkins, “Such higher states are attained
through the experiences of love and religion, classical music or art, or
through the practice of spiritual disciplines.”
Dr
Hawkins places much stress on spirituality. But one can rise to the higher levels of
consciousness without religion too. Of course, religion and spirituality are different
things and the former can even be a deterrent to the latter. You don’t need
religion for loving fellow beings. In fact, religion can circumscribe one’s
love. And love occupies a very high place in the hierarchy of consciousness
levels.
The addict is usually a romantic
at heart. He is looking for a better world, one in which most
people – if not all – exist at the high levels of consciousness. The addict’s
heart most probably belongs there in the realms of love, understanding,
cooperation, and the like. But like the metaphorical orchestra mentioned above,
life filters out these higher tones for some people. Circumstances are not
always in our favour. And the addict takes the short cut to the ‘highs’.
So
what’s the solution?
The addict has to realise that the short cut is not an answer to his quest at
all. The ‘high’ provided by that short cut is an illusion, a temporary
experience. The lasting experience of the higher levels of consciousness comes
through strenuous hankering after. You have to be an ascetic of sorts in order
to ascend the ladder of consciousness levels. You need to work for it really. The
ecstasy of music comes after years of toil with the crotchets and the
instruments. The artist attains perfection after ruining many a canvas. The
writer has to labour much before the words become verse. And the higher levels
of consciousness lie there – in that music, on that canvas, in the verse…
Addiction is a psychological
disorder that arises out of a person’s discontentment with low
level existence. The person’s soul (spirit or whatever one might call it)
belongs to the higher levels. All our souls do, in fact. But we hoodwink
ourselves with the palliatives of rituals and pilgrimages and melas. The addict
refuses to do that. He is more honest to himself. He just has to be helped to
get on to the highway to the higher levels of existence. And that’s the ideal
way out of the mess. Interestingly, that would be the ideal for everyone who
wishes to have sound mental health.
PS. This post is part of Blogchatter's CauseAChatter
Hari OM
ReplyDelete... as a retired medic and counsellor of those with addiction, there is much here to argue with. Think the blind four in a room trying to describe the elephant by what is immediately available to them. Hawkins has taken one part. Argued with value from that one perspective - but judgemental and too esoteric for most looking to free themselves of any addictive habit.
The matter of addiction requires the total view. Yes, there are some for whom the initial use of mind altering substances is for the 'spiritual' realm - but addictions happen when the substance or habit formed overtakes any sense of such purpose. The substance and habit alone become the focus. There are also other major reasons for the escapism provided by any addiction (which may not be substance based but behavioural and societal)... and then there are those for whom, where substances are concerned, it is purely physical. Their biochemistry affects them such that interactions take place and they cannot withdraw without assistance.
That we need to reach out and provide that assistance is most definitely true. But it must be done without pontificating or specifying any singular path. For example, the 12-step programs offer great benefit to some, but not to all. Other methodologies are required.
For those who are indeed spiritually adrift, the argument above may well prove sound. There are many for whom this could not be the approach, at least, not until they have worked through physical aspects of their addiction. The only time any addict is 'honest with him/herself' is when they finally ask for help to move away from their addiction.
I appreciate this was not intended as a medical post - but caution must be taken when viewing addictions from a philosophical stance.
Respectfully, YAM xx
Thank you for adding professional input to the post. Dr Hawkins's paradigm appealed to me because I was an addict myself for a brief period of my middle age and this framework fitted me well. I wrote from that personal experience. Moreover, I write as a layman which you rightly understood. [In case you're interested in me as a person, my memoir - Autumn Shadows - is available at Amazon. A few chapters are about my alcoholism too.]
DeleteDear Yamini and Tomichan,
DeletePerhaps, I should've read the comments here before asking my own questions below.
Both your comments here have shed more light on my queries.
Thank you.
Hari OM
DeleteThank you for your openness, Tomichan - I shall look up your memoir, certainly! YAM xx
I've been watching 'The Serpent' on Netflix over the last week or so. It's a biopic of sorts about Charles Sobhraj. "People who exist at the level of shame tend to be cruel, brutally cruel." explains the man's bewildering lack of emotions.
ReplyDeleteBut, that 85% statistic worries me. Is the number really this high?
Once again, your post compels me to examine myself more acutely. And I agree with : 'You need to work for it really.'
My question to you is: How does one break the 'addiction' cycle? Is the decision/strength to give up garnered from within or can outside forces help? Too many real stories and a personal loss point to the frustrating reality of the 'self-destructiveness' that goes hand in glove with addictions.
Addiction is not as simple a problem as it might appear from my post. Human beings are complex entities and addictions arise out of a complex mess of issues. The framework I've taken here is one way of approaching the complexity and I have simplified it for the sake of the blog. After all, blog posts are not written for scholars. Since Yamini is a professional doc, she has a problem here :)
Delete85% is Dr Hawkins's stats. He claims that it is scientifically proved too. We need to understand that properly, however. What it means is that 85% of people struggle with problems related to shame, guilt, grief, fear, etc. I wrote about Hawkins's levels of consciousness earlier: https://matheikal.blogspot.com/2021/05/mental-health-and-happy-life.html
A very informative piece. Found the observation "The addict’s heart most probably belongs there in the realms of love, understanding, cooperation, and the like" very interesting. Being more sensitive and soft hearted, they are perhaps unable to cope with injustices and harsh realities of the world.
ReplyDeleteMost addicts I knew belonged to that illusory utopia and were not ready to accept the harsh realities around.
Delete