And by alcoholic I mean anyone who drinks alcohol.
I think it is possible that anyone who drinks has an alcohol problem, because alcohol today is problematic.
I started thinking about this when I noticed that none of my Nepali friends drink.
When I asked them why don’t they drink, they said…
Well why DO we drink?
The answer I came up with convinced me not to drink alcohol anymore, and I bet I can convince you too.
There was a time when alcohol was a sacred medicine. Ancient alcohols were made with a mix of many medicinal herbs that tended to be intensely inebriating, psychotropic, and euphoric. It was well known that they open the doors of perception, but once the doors are open the continuous use of the key can be dangerous.
The story of this sacred medicine, like many others, was rewritten by people in power and politics who wanted to control the people. They didn’t want people waking up and rising up… they wanted them passively sleeping on the couch. This is exactly what hops does… hops is an herb that is sedative, estrogenic, and anaphrodisiac. This means it causes drowsiness and diminished sexual desire and function. In Europe, there is a common condition called ‘brewer’s droop’… enough said. Hops used to be only one of the many herbs used in beer making, but it became the main one as a result of the protestant reformation, and it remains the main ingredient today.
As we know, history repeats itself… until we heal it. There are still some wise witches and wizards who make and take alcohol in the traditional way. I myself have forged these herbal medicines in the fire of fermentation. Though now these powerful and potent ‘spirits’ are usually misused and we mostly see their shadow side.
I have wondered why alcohol is legal while other ‘drugs’ aren’t. I can clearly see now that it is because it perpetuates this patriarchal, repressive, irresponsible, ego driven, dominating society. It is a tool to further oppress marginalized people and kick them when they’re down. And it is a tool to keep us all down so we don’t wake up and rise up. And of course you can’t use the master’s tools to dismantle the master’s house.
The medicine of modern alcohol is that of a monster. Its energy is masculine and dominating. It makes us angry, and it tends to make us fight our friends and forget the true enemy. It makes us assholes, as it increases our social entitlement and ego while inhibiting our social skills. It makes us give away our power and lose control of our body, mind and consciousness. It makes us forget. And it makes an excuse for all these effects.
I also think that sobriety is sexy. I would rather be with someone who truly chooses me, who is in control, and who can sustain presence and pleasure rather than an asshole with ‘brewer’s droop’ passed out in puke. I also used to rely on alcohol to have the confidence to be sexual, but I recently realized that there is something so sexy in a sweet, soft, suspenseful shyness… trust me… and try it sometime.
So this answered my question… and left me with more questions…
How can we really be our HIGHest selves?
When we have seen the diamond in ourselves, why do we cling onto the coal?
Why do we always try to avoid witnessing ourselves?
What are we trying to find an excuse for and an escape from?
Why are we so addicted to self destruction?
Why are we drinking their disguised poisons designed to distract and diminish us?
Is the way we treat ourselves connected to the way we treat each other and the earth?
Do we have the power to heal everything connected to us through our own healing?
Is it an act of radical resistance to take care of ourselves?
What are we waiting for?
So this is a love letter to ‘alcoholics’, who actually acknowledge and take accountability for this sickness and are trying to heal it in themselves and thus in the world, who refuse to forget, and who are trying to drink holy water from the well of remembrance… which ironically is what alcohol was originally intended for.
I wrote this poem for those suffering from the ‘war on drugs’, the war on our spirits, and the war on the sacred.
What is this war really fighting for
We all know it’s really a war against the poor
That leaves in its wake
So many lives ruined
So much heartbreak
It’s tragic
Is this a war on drugs or a war on drug addicts
Who are they trying to protect
People from themselves
By leaving them to rot in a jail cell
How can anyone get well in that kind of hell
Who is this war really against
A life sentence for crimes that aren’t violent
For people who need care not confinement
Not to mention that tax payers spend trillions
On injustice for innocents while the real crimes are silenced
While they judge people who inject themselves with poison
Well look what they’re doing to the environment
If everyone got the same sentence
That would be the end of criminal corporations
Many of whom are profiting off of prisons
Ask yourself what’s the greater addiction and affliction
And after more than four decades of prohibition
The U.S. still has the highest rate of drug use and incarceration
And drug criminalization is rooted in discrimination
Power, greed and exploitation
In a consumer culture of destruction, disconnection and devastation
A nation that drugs its population, even its children
This is a special kind of sickness
That breeds hungry ghosts
Trying to fill the emptiness inside of their souls
Addiction is just an adaptation to isolation and pain
It comes from your cage, not from your brain
And the cure for addiction is connection
Is this a war on drugs or a war on medicine
All cultures throughout time have revered
These plant spirits
And their power to heal us
Medicine for our bodies and our minds
That can help us find the divine inside
And resurrect us
Expand our consciousness
And connect us
Expand our evolution
For all that ails us there is a solution
The remedy is revolutionary
So hear these stories and heed the call
Of justice for us all
Now close your eyes and awaken
Is this a war on drugs
Or a war on nature and the sacred
Is this a war on drugs or a war on all of us
#Don’t drink their poison words or water