Addiction is not a new idea. People have long sought to change their feelings and attitudes towards addictive behaviors impacting certain parts of their life, though quitting an addiction is a challenging prospect. Chances are nobody expects to find themselves in such a situation, and many people suffering from addiction often wonder why they cannot quit. When these people get into recovery, many experience powerful emotions of guilt, resentment, anger, and frustration, which is why the focus on spirituality in treating addictions has become a popular idea lately. May insists that aside from treatment, it is important for recovering addicts to start regaining their lost spirit so as to be able to distinguish between right and wrong like before and realize the willpower to beat their addictions. Many addictions are caused, to a certain extent, by a spiritual crisis, and as such, it is important to find a way to help recovering addicts reconnect with a higher power and end their suffering caused by their failure to live based on a direction from this existential power. This essay intends to discuss how a spiritual crisis can be part of the recovery process using May’s concept of the ‘dark night’ in recovery to show that this period can be a time of deep reflection and change to help in the recovery process.
When a person recovering from addiction experiences different emotions like pain, frustration, and anger, they are said to be going through a spiritual crisis. It is never easy to recover from addiction because it changes the sufferer’s mind. These changes make it impossible to resist the impulse to indulge in our addictions with time. May (2007) notes that addicts are typically taken away from their comfort zones, and although this change is generally painful, its rewards are worth any challenges an addict can go through in recovery. In particular, a spiritual crisis becomes tough on people recovering from addiction since, in the process of reflection and contemplation, those things that previously made life meaningful and purposeful no longer make sense, creating a crisis that can transition into a medical one or transition an individual into a new phase of recovery. This spiritual crisis can be typically defined as an identity crisis whereby a person goes through an experience of dramatic change in the system of meaning, or it can also be seen as a ‘spiritual emergency’ or ‘dark night’ (May, 2007). An identity shift happens due to a changed state of consciousness in which an addict continuously questions their former beliefs. For example, if an addict previously held the belief that bad things happen to bad individuals, this belief can be shaken to the core during the period of the dark night as they try to figure out how and why this is true or not. Basically, a spiritual crisis pushes an addict into a place where they have to find meaning in their life, which is a highly uncomfortable prospect, but a beneficial one. A spiritual crisis can be seen as positive and negative depending on the outcome of the recovery process.
According to May, the ‘dark night’ does not necessarily mean that it is a period to suffer or lose hope, but one where deep transition and meaning can be found amidst mysteries or when things become cloudy. For him, the dark is what gives spiritual life its depth, breadth, and wholeness. In the past, a spiritual crisis could have been seen as a mental illness by those in the medical profession, but this view has shifted as we continue to discover the relationship between the altered state of the mind and addiction. However, it is worth remembering that a spiritual crisis is when the recovering individual enters a stage of confusion and emerges with a deeper spiritual relationship. While much of the focus has been on the benefits of going through a spiritual crisis to find meaning in life and reconnect with a higher power, we cannot forget that this crisis is dangerous for people recovering from addictions. May (2007) notes that in one of her cases involving a female patient, she noticed that even though her patients made an effort to reconnect with God and achieve a sense of purpose, she ‘gradually and for no reason began to experience anxiety regarding her recovery’ (223). In the end, May points out that the patient accepted her recovery to be a matter of life and death and, in doing so, created a much deeper relationship with God by allowing Him to lead. Basically, during the dark night, if a person no longer perceives their life to have any special meaning, they may not see the need to end their addiction, and some might use this spiritual crisis to justify their relapse. If a person fails to make it through the dark night without seeing new meaning in their life, the recovery process will feel unsatisfactory. However, May insists that not every challenge on the road to recovery is a ‘dark night experience,’ and it is important for friends and sponsors to realize that even when matters seem bleak, they might actually be going right.
Therefore, a spiritual crisis is a part of the path to a happy and fulfilling life free of addictions and, to a large extent, an imperative experience on the road to enlightenment. As May (2007) alludes when talking about the ‘dark night,’ it is important for addicts to go through this transition as they might emerge on the other end having a better relationship with God. During this spiritual crisis, many try to reconnect with God by going to church or praying more, just like in the case of May’s patient, but it is regaining your spirit that can help an addict define how they wish to practice their faith. While spirituality is an individual practice involving achieving a state of peace and meaning, religion is a specific set of standardized beliefs practiced by a group or community. When we think that going to church will help in the recovery process, May (2007) points out that deep spiritual experiences enlighten us to the invisible hand of God, which always keeps us safe and ensures we do not stumble.
Conclusively, a spiritual crisis is a highly uncomfortable prospect, but it is highly beneficial depending on the outcome. Addicts who go through this dark night get the opportunity to reexamine their lives and find out what is important, including reexamining their faith and relationship with God. It also encourages people to dispose of negative beliefs and opinions and progress on their spiritual path. In the end, it is only through redefining our existence and relationship with a higher being can we truly be set free from the addictions that beset us.
References
May, G. G. (2007). Addiction and grace: Love and spirituality in the healing of addictions. New York, NY: Harper Collins
write