I read Thirst for Wholeness: Attachment, Addiction, and the Spiritual Path by Christina Grof almost 20 years ago and I still believe it is worth reading. Here is a short paragraph from her book:
“The day I hit bottom with my alcoholism, I was brought to my knees. I did not do it willfully. I did not intend it to happen. I did not wake up that morning and say to myself, today I’m going to surrender, “Today, I’m going to surrender.” The experience of absolute, sheer powerlessness came barreling into my life and flatten me. I was rendered by a force larger than a part of me that had been hanging on for years. That day in the dim rose-colored room of the chemical dependency treatment center, I let go. As a winter storm how old inside, I let go of the illusion that I was all right, that I was different, that I did not have the same kind of problems as the others around me who were wrestling with their addictions. I let go of the mirage that told me I did not have a drinking problem, even though every aspect of my life was disintegrating.” (p. 115)
I also included the chapter heading below to see if this book is something you are interesting in reading.
Chapter Headings Include:
- Introduction
- The Thirst for Wholeness
- The Craving Behind Addiction
- The Self and Wholeness
- Walking in the Desert
- Alienation, Abuse, and the Human Experience
- How do we Survive?
- The Dark Night of Addiction
- Surrendering and Being Surrendered
- Addiction and Attachment
- Healing and the path to the self
- The Promise of Healing and Spiritual Maturity
- Recovery, Rediscovery, and the Spiritual Path
- The Challenges and Pitfalls of the Path
- Acceptance and Forgiveness
- The Divine Experience of Being Human
- References
