Re: Drug Induced 12-Step Awakenings No. 2: Melody Beattie

March 30, 2000

Irie! Jah guide! Chalice me, mon, chalice me...

stuart32-@... wrote:

> I had been aware that Bill W's spiritual awakening was the product of

> withdrawal medicated by morphine and belladonna, but I was surprised

to

> learn that Melody Beattie, the guru of codependency, recounts that her

> spiritual awakening came while sneaking a marijuana smoke while a

> patient at Willmar State Hospital.

>

> " I lay back on the rolling green lawn and took a hit off the marijuana

> cigarette I had managed to get from someone else in treatment. It

> wasn't my dug of choice. But it was a drug. And I was hoping it would

> do something to change the way I felt--keep me high and not feeling.

> " I inhaled, exhaled, then stared up at the sky. In a moment, the

> clouds seemed to open up. I felt the power of the universe speaking to

> me. I felt, for the first time in my life, the clear presence of God.

> " This Presence saturated my conscience, which up to that moment

> had not been operative. I became aware and I became afraid. Right down

> to the core of my soul, in that movment, I knew I had no right doing

to

> myself what I was doing. I had no right to fill my body with

chemicals.

> " Whether I liked it or nor, God was real.

> " The heavens seemed to open up and turn purple. My consciousness

> was transformed.....

> " That was my spiritual awakening. "

>

> THE CODEPENDENTS GUIDE TO THE TWELVE STEPS, pp. 187-188

>

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