Schizophrenia, too, as metaphor

We used to see drunks, now we see drinking problems. Are we ready for another new view? What would happen in homes, jails and hospitals if we started treating drug and alcohol abusers as highly evolved spiritual creatures. Like the disguised Princess in the story the Princess and Pea, perhaps these people are the sensitive ones whose "dis-ease" mirrors for all of us the pain we feel when we are emotionally separated from each other and spiritually separated from our Creator.

...We know that if we do battle against drugs and alcohol we are simply attacking the messenger without attending to the message it carries.

What is the message in the metaphor? The message is that alcoholism is a gift . . . to individuals, to society and to the planet. It is a way to get spiritual. The world is becoming aware that political and economic policies have not given us solutions to the ills of the world. The healing must take place in attitude. We must change our minds if we are to change the world. The next evolutionary leap is towards higher consciousness. If we are to survive as a species, we must begin to see our oneness.

The foregoing was written by Jaqueline Castine in 1989. Recovery from Rescuing is dedicated to her children, in one of the most unusual dedications on record:

"At great personal cost and inconvenience to themselves they lovingly, purposefully and persistently dedicated themselves to their roles of chemical dependency and irresponsbility until I learned the lessons they came into my life to teach me. . ."

The Inspiration came from her own mother: "I gave the best 20 years of my life to my family, and it has taken them 20 years to recover from it."