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Some of you may have noticed an absence of the weekly round up. Some of you may not. I have. Unsurprisingly. The positive side is that I no longer have notebooks full of esoteric diagrams as I attempt to link up the widely disparate. Makes the coalition look like a walk in the park I can tell you.
I guess that the round ups just became harder and harder and instead of a whimscal whip-round of worthy writings it became a bludgeoning of blogs to fit into boxes. So I had a holiday. But the rub is that I miss writing. I feel disconnected somehow. So I am back, but in a different stylee. A change is as good as a rest etc. etc. Every blog has its day, after all.
So I have thrown away what was becoming a tenuous connection to rounding up blogs anyway! And decided just to ruminate. And this week I am ruminating on what a few of us have started to call ‘Recovery Coincidence’.
You know what I mean. Those things that happen when you are in recovery that seem, well, sort of spooky but in a good way. More ‘Carry On Screaming’ than ‘Nosferatu’.
Now this is strange (a coincidence perhaps?) but I decided to google Recovery Coincidence (RC) and here are some of the results.
The first comes from Kathy L., BellaOnline’s 12 Step Recovery Editor. You can read the whole article but she relates the notion of RC to a plan that her Higher Power had for her that had now come to fruition.
Now this is quite interesting if you think about the concept of karma. According to my pal Wikipedia, karma in Indian religions is the concept of “action” or “deed”. This can be understood as things which initiate the cycle of cause and effect, originate in ancient India and are central to Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies.
Interesting because ‘karma’ is a religious concept in contradistinction to ‘faith’ espoused by Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), which view all human dramas as the will of God as opposed to present and past life actions.
No I had never heard of contradistinction either (but will now use it regularly to show how brainy I am) but it means distinction by contrast; as, “sculpture in contradistinction to painting.” Is onwards a contradistinction to upwards? Not in my world it isn’t!
Back to karma. Now even if you are of the karmic world view there are more distinctions – now there’s a surprise. For example, many Hindus who follow Vedanta (the leading school of Hinduism today) consider Ishvara, a personal supreme God, as playing a role in the delivery of karma.
A good summary of this view of karma is, “God does not make one suffer for no reason nor does he make one happy for no reason. God is very fair and gives you exactly what you deserve.”
Within Sikhism, this life is likened to a field (khet) in which our karma is the seed. We harvest exactly what we sow. No less, no more. This holds everyone responsible for what the person is or is going to be.
According to Buddhanet, in Buddhism karma does not necessarily mean past actions. “It embraces both past and present deeds. Hence in one sense, we are the result of what we were; we will be the result of what we are. In another sense, it should be added, we are not totally the result of what we were; we will not absolutely be the result of what we are.”
I think I understand that a bit. In addition “the present is no doubt the offspring of the past and is the present of the future, but the present is not always a true index of either the past or the future; so complex is the working of karma.” Am working on this one.
In Jainism, karma is referred to as karmic dirt and consists of microscopic particles (pudgala) that pervade the entire universe. Karmas are attracted to the karmic field of a soul due to vibrations created by activities of mind, speech, and body. Hence karmas are the matter surrounding the consciousness of a soul. When these two components, i.e. consciousness and karma, interact, we experience the life we know at present.
The idea of karma was popularised in the Western world through the work of the Theosophical Society. In this view, karma is affiliated with the Neo-Pagan law of return or Threefold Law. The idea that the beneficial or harmful effects that you have on the world will return to you. This may be summed up as, “What goes around comes around.”
Well I must admit that I am now no clearer on the one true path to Recovery Coincidence and I am still struggling with “the present is no doubt the offspring of the past and is the present of the future”. I just know Recovery (Coincidence) is a Reality.
Onwards and contradistinctionly upwards!
Enough said really! Check it out. Navigate to the forums by clicking on the Forums button next to Practitioners. We have a few vacancies available for any of you in Wired In land who would like to become a Forum Moderator. Get in touch with me on .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if this tickles your tastebuds!
Most definitely onwards and upwards!
Hi all – Claudia has contacted Wired In with the following request:
“BBC 3 are currently making a new documentary series about the way that drugs effect the human body, both physically and mentally. Over three episodes we are going to be looking at Britain’s most popular recreational drugs – cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy.
These programmes are based around the science of drugs and will be using state of the art CGI to demonstrate what happens to our bodies when drugs enter our system. Alongside this we are looking to speak to people who have real life experiences with either cannabis, ecstasy or cocaine and are either still using or at one point, were regular users.
We specifically want to talk to people who have suffered several physical or mental side effects from substance abuse, from depression/anxiety from the overuse of stimulants to heart attacks from excessive cocaine use. We are also looking to cannabis users in particular who are currently trying to give up smoking.
It would be great to speak to as many people as possible and if you do know any ex addicts who have interesting stories relating to these drugs it would be brilliant to hear from them, and allow their experiences to help others. All discussions will be confidential.
BBC 3 is specifically aimed at young people from the ages of 16 to 30, and ideally we’d be looking for people of around that age group to take part, as we feel this is more relatable for our audience.”
If you have a story that you want to tell please contact Claudia at, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Onwards and upwards!
So here I am again. Apologies for the lack of a round up last week but I have been having terrible trouble with my dongle. There are many frustrations in life – but none so irritating as a temperamental dongle as I am sure you will agree.
Those of you who have followed my round up will know that I have made many forays into refining my sober world view. As opposed to my alcoholic world view which mainly involved viewing things through beer googles. For those of you who may not have worn these, they are very similar to 3D glasses except they make everything one dimensional.
This week I am mainly being a humanist. Why you ask? Well you probably don’t (but being in the driving seat I am going to tell you anyway) and what is this humanism malarky anyway? I mean haven’t we got enough to contend without yet another way to view the world?
Quite possibly yes, but I think there’s a lot in it (humanists around the world are now breathing a sigh of relief having got my approval, obviously!). Basically humanism involves any concern with humans (including human needs, human desires, and human experiences) first and foremost.
Now this sounds right to me as recovery is ultimately a very human thing. A very personal journey with all the contradictory bits and bobs and behaviours that make us human. Sometimes that journey is an actual one, usually involving trains for some reason. More often it is an individual, internal sense of progress.
One thing about Wired In is that we are privileged to be passengers without actually having to purchase a ticket. How good is that? No need to hide in the toilets when conductors come round or pretend to be French. These pages are crammed with journeys, a veritable pic ‘n’ mix of human experience.
I haven’t gone through Hepatitis C treatment and the physical body blow this entails. I haven’t had PTSD, lost and grieved for a child or been a dys-functional junkie. Preferring to be a dys-functional alkie! I don’t suffer from bouts of depression (crushing anxiety being my bag) but I feel like I ‘know’ someone who has. And this has added to my understanding of myself and the world.
And this fits with humanism, which is not a particular philosophical system or a set of doctrines, or even a specific system of beliefs. Instead, humanism is better described as an attitude or perspective on life and humanity which in turn serves to influence actual philosophies and systems of beliefs.
And attitude and perspective is pretty damn important to recovery. Despite our differences in experience, there is much that unites people in recovery. Where we need to do some work is on the attitudes and perspectives of others.
In a world where heroin users are still viewed as the lowest form of life, where once you are an addict you are always an addict (the concept of recovery being about as well known to the general public as I am) and where outing yourself as an addict meets with disapproval, then we have a lot of work to do to change systems of beliefs. We need to talk recovery and walk recovery – in fact we need to SHOUT about the validity of our experience whenever and wherever we can.
We need to get our messages out there in the media and present a bit more of a united front. Controversy has a lot to recommend it but I am not sure it does us that many favours when we talk more about the bits we don’t agree with, more than the vast majority of bits where we do.
And maybe where we struggle is how we, as a recovery movement, see ourselves. Which is where I come back to humanism. Now according to the interweb humanism can be best understood when considered in the context of the attitudes or perspectives it is normally contrasted against.
On the one hand is supernaturalism, descriptive of any belief system which stresses the importance of a supernatural, transcendent domain separate from the natural world in which we life. Quite often this sort of philosophy describes the supernatural as being more “real” or at least more “important” than the natural, and hence as something we should strive for.
Even if it means denying our needs, values, and experiences in the here and now.
On the other hand are types of scientism which take the naturalistic methodology of science so far as to deny genuine importance or, at times, even reality to human feelings, experiences, and values. Humanism is not opposed to naturalistic explanations of life and the universe — on the contrary, humanists see it as the only viable means of developing knowledge of our world.
What humanism does oppose are the dehumansing and depersonalising tendencies of modern science.
Hmmmm. Now this is interesting. What it says to me is that – even if you are the more religious or scientific ends of the spectrum our experiences and feelings matter at least as much. That there is a valid place for them in the debate.
I think you may know where I am going with this but for me it puts a lot of the methadone debate flowering on this site in stark relief. If I were an alien, off the SMASH adverts for example, I would see a bit of a battle between belief and experience.
On the one hand you have ‘facts’ and on the other a seeming divison between these facts and the reality for, and individual experience of, treatment for many people. You can argue the toss until the cows come home – never one not to mix a metaphor should the chance present itself – but isn’t the argument about how much we rate the personal?
Back to the humanists. They say that it is one thing to observe that humans are not valued by the universe at large, but quite another to conclude that therefore humans are not really valuable after all. It is one thing to observe that humans are but a tiny aspect of the universe and even of life on our own planet, but quite another to conclude that humans can have no important role to play in how nature progresses in the future.
And in our tiny speck we are on the brink of change and have a vital role to play in how this progresses. Should there be a recovery election tomorrow would you be sure how people would vote? Would you campaign on a treatment ticket or make some sort of brokeback coalition!?”
I’d vote for Cafe Hub and the Serenity Cafe, LEAP and NU-HI and uchooseit (tho’ I may have to abstain on the latter due to conflict of interest). I’d put my cross next to SMART and peer led and initiatives a fellowship of mutual aid groups and CDTs.
Why? Because I think humanism has a point as it is about having a primary or overriding concern with the needs and abilities of human beings. Any system that doesn’t take into account the bloody ESA, the need to share and validate our experiences with others and to be part of a community even when we don’t want to be is on a bit of a sticky wicket.
We have to acknowledge that we do have a black can society, that old habits die hard and we are in a bit of a mess about how we feel about ourselves.
I find it hard to believe that the answers lie within a pill or a potion.
Onwards and upwards .
The eagle eyed among you may have spotted a mention of a visit to Patient Opinion in a recent Sunday round up, but some of you may have missed it.
Some of you may be wondering what Patient Opinon and Wired In have in common – quite a lot in fact but perhaps the most important common denominator is you, us, our community. And the fact that we do have a fair number of opinions floating about the place.
I think I am right in saying that Wired In is first and foremost a virtual recovery community. We refer to treatment services indirectly – making generalised positive and negative comments – but Wired In is not really the mechanism for getting direct feedback to treatment providers.
I’d like to refer you to the comment Jason Gough made on the “Recovery Elections”: blog :
“Hi everyone,
I have been really enjoying this community blog for sometime now, and have been struck by the many heartfelt stories of recovery and treatment. Personally they have helped me to reframe my recovery in a much more positive light.
The discussions and debates around recovery, treatment and service user involvement are particularly interesting for me in my role as a service user rep and as addiction lead here at Patient Opinion.
For those of you who don’t know Patient Opinion is a not for profit social enterprise who run a national web site which takes feedback from services users, patients and carers about their experiences of treatment. These stories or experiences are then passed on to those who run services or have an interest in how services are run.
It doesn’t stop there because we also encourage those who are listening to respond to the feedback and engage in a dialogue about treatment. We know when service users are given a voice and services are listening; this involvement leads to improved services and better treatment outcomes.
As a rep this has been a really great tool in the box for engaging service users, as I am sure some of you will know the logistics of getting a group together can be quite challenging. Having an opportunity to take part and have your say even if you can’t attend local meetings or don’t feel like filling in a questionnaire is really important.
We really believe in a gift economy and people who offer their experiences of treatment are helping to change services by telling their stories. Through the power of the web we can share these “gifts” with everyone who is interested.
For example stories about someone’s experiences of care in addiction services in their local area can be heard by other services users, managers of that service, commissioners, local MPs, NTA, Care Quality Commission all of whom contribute to improving and maintaining the quality of all our services.
I am sure, I am preaching to the converted a bit here but it’s a really empowering thought that by sharing your experience of treatment so many others will benefit from it and services will be improved as a result of it.
So here comes the ask, please have a look at our site and tell us what you think, and share your story of treatment. What was good and what do you feel should change. Check out the addiction postings that are already there.
If you have anything you would like to know about who is using Patient Opinion or how you or your group may use it please email me .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).”
I can’t encourage you enough to both take a look at the site and to share your stories. If you know people who may be having issues it is a really good direction to point them in. More on this coming soon.
Michaela
Carl C
David Clark
David McCartney
Matthew
Tony A
UK Recovery Walk 2010
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