Spirits and the Spirit
I once knew an addiction and substance abuse counselor, and educator. Jeff VanVonderen became well known in the field through his books, seminars, and television work. He teaches about three categories concerning addictive substance use, abuse, and addiction. His definition of abuse caught my attention. He said abuse of something is anything, without which you do not think you can be yourself. I thought at the time, “Oh my! I guess that means that, since I don’t think I am myself without a couple of cups of coffee in the morning, I am abusing caffeine.” And that might not be the only thing. There are things, processes, and substances without which we just don’t think we can be ourselves. And Jeff might say that such behavior constitutes abuse.
With mood-altering substances such as alcohol, of course, there is an extra powerful dynamic. It’s not unheard of that a person would go to a gathering and just did not feel like themselves until they had had one or two drinks. VanVonderen also teaches compellingly on the category further in the cycle: addiction. He clarifies that people drink because they choose to drink. People often add all kinds of reasons for drinking, but it all comes down to our volition. People drink because they choose to drink. Nearly all people have stress, some have difficulties at work or home, some need to relax, “take the edge off,” but not all of them drink. Only the ones who choose to drink.
VanVonderen makes a critical further clarification: You drink if you choose to, or because you cannot choose not to drink. The condition of addiction is in play when one can no longer choose not to drink. There are physiological, psychological, spiritual, and possibly genetic factors involved when a person can no longer choose not to use. There is powerlessness in play. “I could quit any time,” one declares, or “I don’t need to quit, I don’t have a problem.” Twelve-step groups, such as the original, AA, know about the first steps in recovery, which read:
1) We admitted we were powerless over alcohol -
that our lives had become unmanageable.
2) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore
us to sanity.
There are very pithy wisdoms from the AA community. A friend told me, “Well, we learn that it is not so much the alcohol that is the problem, it is the ‘ism”. She knew that in a “feeling-disease” like alcoholism, there is an underlying dynamic: feelings are being medicated. The substance (or other process/behavior) is being used, abused, or addictively depended upon to cope with the other stuff.
I have been thinking about all of this because Sunday we will come to a passage from Ephesians with this advising from Saint Paul:
Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery; but be filled with the Spirit, as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 5:18-20)
Notice, this is not an anti-drinking injunction. It is a teacher coaching us away from drunkenness, and toward a life-giving relationship with God through the Spirit. Loading up with wine or harder spirits over and over involves the stomach, liver, and brain. It leads to troubles with judgment, relationships, and responsibilities. By contrast, he claims that willing ourselves filled with the Holy Spirit leads to joy, a singing heart, and harmonious relation to the one who brought all life into being. “Be filled,” he says. It is our choice. Drinking songs are one thing, but “making melody to the Lord” in our hearts – that is how we truly want to be filled. Filling up on one always leaves us emptier and emptier. Filling up on the Other satisfies and fulfills.