Seeking Spirit Beyond the Bottle

Book excerpt: We live in an addictive society in which compulsiveness has become an art form, and most people have dependencies of some sort. This book was written to help all dependent people learn ways to follow a spiritual path, even if their dependencies might be one of those potentially less severe than alcoholism or drug addiction: such as workaholism, materialism, excessive anxiety, or relationship difficulties. To quote from the author: People these days talk seriously of addictions to television, the Internet, or to acquiring material possessions. These are usually self involved occupations. It’s as though humanity knows somehow that joy is their natural state, but they lack the ability to open enough to experience it. They are seeking comfort and joy in all the wrong places. This memoir tells the story of three generations afflicted with alcoholism and its effects on family and friends. It chronicles the author’s growing up with an alcoholic mother in the middle of the twentieth century, and her own later development of the same illness despite her strong commitment to avoid this. It describes the methods she has used to remain in recovery over twenty seven years, and includes information learned from her twenty plus years of working as an addictions’ counselor, and from her ongoing relationships with an alcoholic spouse and an emotionally disabled son. This book speaks to issues of import to much of humanity, such as abandonment, the need for safely and security in an insecure world, the need to give control back to a spiritual source, the need for forgiveness of self and others, and the primary need to find Spirit within and not without. To quote again from Ms. Sherry’s words: I no longer think of God as dwelling in heaven, wherever that might be. As a child, heaven seemed to be a place above the sky. However, even though I now know more of the facts about our Universe, I still can’t identify a place called heaven. Today I also acknowledge the fact that our Universe may not be the only one that exists. Consequently, I think of Spirit as being a power that exists not only beyond the Universe, but at the same time exists and resides in us all. The author clearly and humanly identifies the eclectic combination of spiritual tools she had put in place in her life. Her message will speak to those with addictions, but also to those who simply wish to avoid dependencies and to change, grow, and evolve.