For the evolved human being, the term metaphysics is likely familiar and perhaps, on some level, integrated into your life. While many work hard at self-empowerment and harnessing greater awareness about the world around us, it’s difficult to avoid negativity.  Even if you haven’t knowingly been exposed to metaphysics, it’s a constant aspect of daily life. While it can be an amazing and positive life force, metaphysics and addiction often go toe-to-toe.

What Is Metaphysics?

In a sense. metaphysics bridges spirituality and philosophy.  Where idealism flows into realism. Consider the thought that each person exists as a part of something much bigger in the Universe. As such, individual thought, projection, desires, dreams, and future casting affect others and can alter destiny, and sometimes, free will. Sounds unimaginable?

For people who only believe in the tangible, metaphysics can be an overreach. But then again, if you only believe in materialism, spirituality as a whole and religion may also be out of your realm of comfort.

This is where metaphysics are not only the basis for what’s wrong with human behavior, but the foundation of how the ills of society can be made right.

How Metaphysics Impact Human Behavior

By adopting the ideation of metaphysics, and further applying this belief into how it engages consciousness, you’ll soon realize how it has the power to direct this energy for good, and bad. You may have heard of people who do energy work, or know of individuals who are deemed as psychic. These are people, just like you and others, who have the ability to use the energy that we are each made of and access it through metaphysics.

Again, metaphysics is not something that is an external force only accessible by special people: it is there for anyone ready, willing and able to be open to it and become aware through higher consciousness.

Awareness Is the Key

Once a person embraces the metaphysical realm, life shifts existentially. It can be awe-inspiring. Imagine being exposed to personal truth but with 100 layers to define it. Metaphysics allows us to question who we are, why we’re here, how we affect others, and more importantly, provides the tools needed to ebb and flow with life circumstances.

Though metaphysics is a universal truth, not everyone is privy to its existence or willing to accept it.

Trauma and Generational Predisposition

Ask a behavioral health counselor or holistic therapist about trauma (sexual, physical, and emotional). They will likely tell you how it adversely changes the way a person will perceive the world, and themselves. Metaphysics gives traumatic events a longer life.

In a recent study, The Atlantic reports that trauma experienced by a person can be passed down through the generations. For example, consider the Jewish people with lineage from Europe during World War II. The horrible atrocities they endured under Nazi Germany and its occupation across most of Europe as well as the holocaust and time spent in the death camps.

The magnitude of living with this kind of fear and torture for years no doubt altered the human experience within families. According to researchers, trauma and the effects of stress can instill epigenetic changes or the ability to effectively turn certain genes on or off.

This could help explain why some cultures or peoples have higher risk for certain diseases or other health conditions. For example, sickle cell disease in the African American population, or anxiety disorder in the Ashkenazi Jewish population.

The Cause and Effect of Metaphysics and Drug Addiction

We all have moments, sometimes days, where it seems as though we can’t pull ourselves together emotionally. Perhaps it can be described as knowing something is off but we’re unable to pinpoint exactly what it is, much less the source of our discontent.

Many people feel a heightened level of restlessness. Whether it’s due to current life circumstances, the onslaught of disturbing media impressions, unresolved first-hand trauma or negative energy that’s been carried forward from generations past, or a personal disconnect with oneself that drives poor life choices and ultimately, poorer outcomes. Drug and alcohol addiction are the manifestation of this reality.

Consider the Law of Attraction.  What you put out to the world in thought, vision, words, and expectation is what will come back to you.

Now, add the aspects of:

• trauma,
• poor decision-making,
• risky environment,
• needy behaviors,
• lack of self-worth, and

This is the perfect cocktail for brewing substance addiction.

Spiritual Void and the Need to Belong

Infamous founder of analytical psychology, psychiatrist, and philosopher Carl Jung, in an open letter to Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill Wilson, stated that “…craving for alcohol was the equivalent of … the spiritual thirst of our being for wholeness, expressed … as the union with God.”

He further explained to Wilson that when an individual does not recognize or avoids a personal need for spiritual connection, evil through alcohol use will invade one’s psyche. Moreover, Jung believed that the only way to overcome alcoholism was to reengage with “religious insight”. But God, the idea of God, or one’s idea of deity is represented differently in people, depending on heritage, practice and belief. Nonetheless, the absence of spiritual connection or belief in something greater than self can elicit grave consequences.

Today, more and more people are hard-wired for experiencing happiness through instant gratification. We continue to look for external sources of fulfillment instead of turning within. From our incessant preoccupation with how others perceive us and why, to the personal insignificance we give ourselves, finding internal balance and connecting with others on a much more beneficial level is crucial to universal consciousness and global livelihood.

Without reigning in metaphysics to addiction treatment and recovery, the risk of continued self-absorption is real and with it, drug and alcohol relapse.

Abandonment and Trauma Feed Addiction and Negative Thought

Relationships and day-to-day living often come with disappointment, expectations that fall short, and falling victim to another’s ill-will or mal intent. Whether parents, siblings, or other people close to us leave our lives or cause emotional pain and heartbreak, feelings of abandonment can take hold and dictate the way we view our world. Should you be a recipient of this or experience undue trauma, the mind, heart and soul can reposition personal expectations of others and self, downgrading one’s belief in what is deserved.

Even if we are accepting of less than, our need for validation remains unmet. We continue on in search of filling this void through dependency in something else. For some, this means unhealthy and toxic relationships, or addictions that we seemingly can control such as anorexia or bulimia, or those we cannot—sex, gambling, drugs, or alcohol.

Addiction is a tangible fixation that replaces a God-like or pleasurable encounter. The more one acquires it, the more the need; yet, it remains insatiable because nothing can replace the authenticity of a true spiritual alignment.

Fear of Facing Personal Truth

The human brain and its inner-workings are magnificent. After instances of personal trauma, the mind can effectively compartmentalize those memories as a measure of self-protection. Over time, however; the truth about what happened in our lifetime can come into the present through minute recollections, dreams or the development of mental illness, such as schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder.

While this may be the result in some but not all, people will often seek ways to mask their personal pain instead of facing it. Why?

At first glance, it’s easier to keep hidden that which hurts our heart, than to deal with it. Recalling the damage done in our lives brings the past to the present, forcing us to relive those dark painful places of our personal history. Without the emotional strength and will to accept, forgive, and move on, we remain stuck in an abyss of detachment and distrust.

Drug and Alcohol Addiction Hides Pain and Removes Our Light

Avoiding personal truth lives in good company with substance addiction. The more a person drinks or uses cocaine, heroin, benzodiazepines, or pain meds, reality can be skewed to whatever is more comfortable. The illusion is better than the pain.

But with drug addiction and alcoholism, the need to self-medicate to remove the pain and the onset of pain eventually blur into one. As the user sinks deeper into despair, the natural ability for universal awareness, spiritual connectivity and inner light dims, until soul death knocks at the door.

12-Steps and Metaphysical Theory Run Parallel

Those already versed in metaphysics may think that a 12-step program is counterintuitive to healing and the philosophy behind Universal thought. But there are similarities, especially when considering how many addiction treatment facilities apply the tenets of the 12 Steps.

With cultural tides changing to welcome more spirituality and less of the divide often caused by differing opinions and beliefs within Judeo-Christian doctrines, 12-step teachings may have originated in Christianity but can be applied towards all practices of spiritual enlightenment.

In fact, metaphysics are present in many religious beliefs: the ascension of Jesus on Easter, the Kabbalah teachings in Judaism, Islamic Metaphysics, the Three Marks of Existence in Buddhism, and the Vedanta in Hinduism.

Applying Metaphysics during Addiction Recovery

Drug abuse and alcohol dependency are a life-altering symptom of a much deeper issue that plagues the human spirit. While the layers of addiction may have taken years to cultivate, without treatment, their presence isn’t irreversible.

Many holistic therapies provide a direct connect to the soul. While clinical therapies help a person recover from old emotional wounds and learn productive coping skills, alternative therapies allow a broadening of the mind-soul connection.

A Community of One

Group therapy and shared recreational experiences during addiction treatment and throughout recovery provide real-time engagement with others. While there may be many participants, metaphysics are at play as the mutual point of reference – recovery – and overcoming feelings of isolation and abandonment are replaced by a sense of community and belonging.

By understanding how we are all truly connected, we can bring about change within ourselves and others for the better. There’s an undeniable intuitiveness in the human spirit that is hard to diminish, once ignited. By embracing our ability to use metaphysics, we heighten our sixth sense and can use it for good.

Mindfulness

Quieting the mind allows us to open up spiritual awareness. After alcohol and drug detox, the body and the brain are more receptive to new thoughts, teachings and healthier ways of being. Through mindfulness, there’s a simultaneous phenomenon. We release negative energy while taking in positive flow. Yoga, energy healing, meditation, art and music therapy provide healing while fine-tuning self-awareness.

Positivity without Limits

Once we adopt positivity as being more than a choice but a personal life force, anything is possible. Having the courage to remove disserving habits, those in addiction recovery can now get past self-imposed boundaries and expand their horizons. True personal growth happens when you are able to become comfortable with the uncomfortable and move through it.

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