Recently I was pondering on why I hate alcohol. I realised there were personal, societal and religious reasons for this hate and that they all stemmed from how much I love people and how much I hate the damage alcohol causes to individuals, families, organisations and society itself.
Personal
I hate alcohol because:
- When I used to drink alcohol, I turned into a completely different person – and I hated that person. I became loud, silly, often argumentative and sometimes even sexist.
- When I used to drink alcohol, I hated how I lost control of myself and gave in to having sex with men I hardly knew. I was even raped while I was under the influence of alcohol.
- Now that I no longer drink alcohol I hate the effect I can see, smell and feel that alcohol has on others. They become different people entirely and, although sometimes it can be funny watching others being as silly as I used to be, in reality it is not funny at all – it is very sad.
- I hate how alcohol detrimentally affects my relationship with my husband, whom I adore. I find it hard to be with him as he is not his normal gentle, tender self when he drinks alcohol. This affects my connection with him.
I love my alcohol free life now. It feels very different when I attend events – yes, even parties – where there is no alcohol. I had a gathering recently without alcohol and it was so joy-full being able to talk to people without the influence and interference of alcohol – everyone simply stayed themselves and so we had true and meaningful conversations and loving connections. Everyone said how much they had enjoyed it.
Similarly, with other gatherings or when I am with people where there is no alcohol present I have observed a much deeper level of conversation and discussions and everyone seems so much at ease with themselves and each other. I am therefore able to connect with people at a much deeper level and I love feeling their essence (who they truly are inside) and how we are all equal in our essence. Everything appears so simple and loving and time seems to slow down somehow.
Societal
I hate alcohol because:
- Alcohol is a big factor in why men and women are in prison, especially for violence charges. It is estimated that about 80-90% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs or is committed to feed an addiction (1).
- Alcohol is a huge contributor to road accidents and the consequent clogging up of our hospitals and the endangering of others’ lives, including those of our medical personnel.
- Alcohol fuels domestic violence, which is largely against women and children – domestic violence is escalating in New Zealand, which has the worst rate of family and intimate-partner violence in the world, even though it is estimated 80% of incidents are not reported (2).
- Alcohol causes arguments, brawls and altercations, between friends, family members and strangers.
- Alcohol can be a big factor in marriage split-ups. It can cause financial strain and can lead to violence, bullying and neglect.
- Alcohol related issues cost the country one heck of a lot of money – would this money not be more wisely spent on health, education and reducing poverty?
- Alcohol causes many health issues including liver disease, heart disease and some cancers. The recent May 2018 expert report released by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research on the link between diet, nutrition, physical activity and cancer found that there was strong evidence linking alcoholic drinks to an increased risk of breast, colorectal, stomach, mouth, pharynx, larynx and oesophageal cancers (3). As such, not only do these health issues cause much pain, grief and stress to sufferers and their families, and their employees/employers, they are also a huge strain on our health system.
Imagine what our society would be like if we didn’t have alcohol?
Many families would have more money to spend on essentials such as food, power, clothes and rent, which could improve their quality of life. Not as many school children would go to school hungry or be poorly dressed for the cold weather. We would have way less people in prison, which would not only mean more money in the national and regional budgets available for health, education and reducing poverty, but would also mean way less men, women and children detrimentally affected by being in prison. Not as many women and children would be injured, maimed or killed through beating and not as many people would be subject to psychological, emotional and verbal abuse. We would feel safer in our homes and on our streets. Our emergency medical staff would not be subjected to abuse by drunk people in hospital emergency departments, and our health budget would not need to include the huge amounts set aside to treat alcohol-related illnesses and diseases. Our police would not be put in as much danger, nor would they have to deal daily with drunken people or with domestic violence – one call every five minutes in New Zealand (2).
Without alcohol we would have more chance of returning to being who we truly are, living to our potential and with solid purpose in our lives. Our relationships could improve immensely without the influence of alcohol because they would be based on truth and love, without the damage caused by alcohol. We may even be more kind and loving to all we meet and our organisations would be more caring as a result.
In short, our societies would be far more loving, kinder, equal and inclusive of all, and our lives far more joyful.
Religious
I hate alcohol because:
- Drinking wine as part of communion in many churches is a bastardisation of the life and teachings of Yeshua (Jesus). After Yeshua commenced his teachings he would not have drunk any substance that was poisonous for his body. He loved himself and all of humanity too much.
- Drinking wine as part of communion in many churches is a bastardisation of the Last Supper, which symbolised the letting go of food and drink which does not honour and support our bodies.
- Because some institutionalised religions sanction drinking and some sects even manufacture alcohol, it normalises and enables the drinking of alcohol by their congregations.
Now I’m not perfect, so sometimes some reaction creeps in when I think about alcohol. But mostly I hate alcohol because I love humanity so much and I hate to see and feel the huge harm caused by alcohol.
You often hear the old “moderation in all things” argument as an excuse to keep drinking alcohol, i.e. “I only have one or two drinks a day – where is the harm in that?” The harm is that alcohol, a substance that is poisonous to the human body and to societies, becomes ‘normal.’ Children see their parents and other adults drink alcohol, so they drink it when they grow up. Indeed, many people believe they cannot ‘celebrate’ major milestones without it and so there is often a lot of pressure on everyone to drink to “help them celebrate.” So many end up drinking alcohol, not because they want to or because they like the taste (remember your first taste of alcohol? Yuk!): more so to ‘be social’ or to ‘fit in’ or to be “one of the boys.”
But… would you give a baby even a ‘moderate’ amount of alcohol? If not, why not? Let’s be absolutely honest: we all know deep down that alcohol is harming us and harming our societies.
Is it not time that we de-normalised the drinking of alcohol? There will come a time when the harm caused by alcohol will no longer be sustainable. A future without any alcohol is coming – how about we bring that time forward?
By Anonymous
References:
- co.nz. (2018). Qualified addiction counsellors not wanted in NZ prisons | Pundit. [online] Available at: https://www.pundit.co.nz/content/qualified-addiction-counsellors-not-wanted-in-nz-prisons [Accessed 10 Aug. 2018].
- Leask, A. (2016). Family violence incidents increasing. [online] NZ Herald. Available at: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11674698 [Accessed 10 Aug. 2018].
- org. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.wcrf.org/sites/default/files/Summary-third-expert-report.pdf [Accessed 10 Aug. 2018].
Further Reading:
The Abuse of Alcohol – The True Harm
Giving up Alcohol
Shopper Dockets & Alcohol Abuse – Is There Such A Thing As Responsible Service Of Alcohol?
I hate alcohol but it hasn’t always been that way. Although in my younger days I was quite a moderate drinker I did have times when I didn’t know when to stop and found myself dancing on the table a few times (!) waking up feeling awful and taking a whole day to get over it. I expect many of us have experienced that one! I used it as a crutch when I become single, giving me confidence but more often than not, getting me into trouble and doing things I later regretted. I used alcohol to fill the emptiness not realising how much it was poisoning my body. I guess that’s what we’re doing, using alcohol to numb and distract ourselves from feeling ourselves and what’s going on in the world. I guess alcohol will still be around until we wake up to ourselves and deal with our hurts.
I met up with a work colleague recently for supper and I noticed they were not themselves from being a very sweet and gentle man who adores his wife and children, loves to work on his allotment at the weekends growing and tending to his veggies. His whole persona had changed he was very loud, aggressive in his manner and swore a lot. This change in personality was due to alcohol I guessed he had been drinking alcohol all afternoon and when in a hot country the alcohol seems to have a greater effect on our bodies a little goes a long way. It definitely changes how we are and how we respond to our environment. I wonder why alcohol makes people so aggressive and lose control of their senses?
I’ve experience that too Mary, people changing their ‘persona’ before my very eyes. I guess it’s because we’re missing something, but we have forgotten what that something is! Alcohol can affect us in many ways, for example gin was renowned for making people depressed, and I believe that in the early 1900’s it was known as mothers ruin! Never again will I touch alcohol as I can see the damage that can be done and I’m not sure I have the answer to your question Mary but could it be that alcohol allows that part of us, that part that isn’t our true self, to play with us and doesn’t care how it goes about it or the affects it has on others.
Finding a replacement for our lost way of living has been such a Joy and considering that we are all searching for the same thing then as has been nominated drugs of every description should be eliminated from our societies.
I was chatting to a builder recently saying that I had recently been to a party where there was no alcohol and what fun we had all had. They were quite surprised but then said they had decided to stop drinking for 30 days and we agreed that alcohol was like a drug but as yet unclassified and that it was hugely damaging to our bodies. We know all this but we still continue to consume it so my question has to be why? Why is it we are so unintelligent when it comes to alcohol?
I feel we DO know the affect that alcohol will have on us, but choose to ignore it, and if that were the case it would mean that we are super intelligent, but choosing to ignore the truth. We use alcohol as a coping mechanism, a way of self-medicating.
I hate alcohol for what it did to me personally, I also hate alcohol for what we have allowed it to do to our society.
I agree Anonymous, I bought a Soup maker recently and was unpacking the contents of the box when a card fell out of the box. I assumed it was the guarantee, so put it to one side and carried on unpacking. When I looked at the card it was not the guarantee card but a redeemable 50.00 gift voucher for wine as a thank you for buying the manufactures product!
This showed me that alcohol is now such an accepted part of our society and a much needed crutch to support us to get through the day. It’s as common place now as buying a bar of chocolate.
If there wasn’t a call for alcohol, alcohol wouldn’t exist. We’re using it to numb ourselves so until we stop drinking alcohol and dealing with what needs to be dealt with, the call for alcohol will be there.
In hospitality theres a thing called ‘bottomless brunch’, where I worked it was £20 for 2 hours of as much as you could drink alcohol and thats what people came for, to get absolutely plastered. Often there were a lot of birthday parties that came for this drink offer. I remember being in a lot of reaction at first when I started but quickly realised that me reacting and judging people was just as harmful if not more so than what the alcohol would be doing. Judgment is a silent attack you can’t physically see but energetically it’s happening.
Spot on Leigh. Just hold them in steadiness and love and they will feel it by your reflection. Much more powerful.
We have normalized alcohol and do not want to see the damage and harm it is having on the young and old alike. None of the statistics seem to have any effect at all. We are totally blind because we want the relief it gives us of not dealing with life.
Our way of communication get lost and transformed when we drink and we also eliminate our ability to appreciate our essences and the same Loving nature that is in everyone so we are blinded to ours and everyone else’s ability to be connected to our Souls.
What you have written Greg resonates with me, Alcohol is a source of sugar and we use all sorts of sugars to race our bodies so they cannot connect to our loving nature which resides naturally within us all. If we are disconnected to ourselves then we are disconnected to everyone.
Absolutely Mary, sugar should be on the list of drugs that need to be eliminated from our society.
Drinking alcohol, which is a poison in the body, often leads to accepting other poisonous and damaging substances. Self-care and well-being laced with alcohol do not go together.
Interestingly I was with a group of friends having lunch and it was the men who were drinking nonalcoholic drinks and the women who were drinking wine. I was blown away to observe men in a group discussing Football happily with a nonalcoholic drink in their hand. It seems that one of the men was competing in an ironman run and so hadn’t drunk alcohol for quite some time so all the men in his friendship group stopped too. This shows me that it only takes one person to bring about a change.
That’s interesting Mary, especially as we only usually associate teenagers as having peer pressure and start drinking or smoking to please others but here we have grown adults choosing to take notice of just one person.
I hate alcohol because it is used as an excuse – an excuse to sleep with someone you wouldn’t have – an excuse to argue and shout at someone – so many excuses -so much harm.
Sure alcohol is used as an excuse but most of us don’t need an excuse to behave badly, it’s just what we do.
As a society we are full of excuses, however surely we are all responsible for the choices we make. Before we decide to sleep with someone a choice is made then there’s the action.
It feels to me that what you are alluding to Annoymous is the dropping of moral standards in our society which are very low at the moment. Is it possible that when people give up and withdraw from life so that there is a palpable feeling of ‘whatever’ I don’t care attitude then our acceptable standards will drop because no one is prepared to uphold them which leads to a collapse in society and we all suffer the consequences.
I could substitute the word sugar for many of the sentences you have written here, it has the same hooking claws and it serves a similar purpose. Deeply loving humanity can support the process to unravel ‘why’ in the dysfunctional behaviour.
We rarely want to admit the impact of our behaviour when we are under the influence of alcohol and yet statistics are very telling. Therefore it would be worth considering why we need the alcohol, how it serves us, because until we do we will not be able to walk away from its alluring influence.
Oh yes fantastic article exposing the what this ‘harmless’ substance is really.
I’ve seen a fair few articles in the news of younger generations consuming less alcohol than their parents’ generations. Alcohol-free bars and clubs and other places are still considered a bit hipster in London where I live but they are growing. However, as one vice is replaced others the root of why we drank, don’t drink and do something else instead, needs to be looked at honestly.
We had some engineers out recently to sort out a water leak they arrived very early in the morning and as I was the only person up and about I made them some tea. And one of the men asked me out of the blue if I drank alcohol I replied not for years I stopped because I didn’t like feeling so out of sorts the next day as it took me a while to get going. He said he had a similar experience it took him 30 years but he feels so much healthier for stopping he said he hated having meaningless conversations, rambling on about nothing because at the time he could not speak coherently and waking up the next day feeling crap. He also said he hates eating chocolate because he feels bloated and tired after eating it but cannot seem to stop. It was a really interesting conversation to be having so early in the morning I am noticing a trend in people giving up drinking alcohol because they do not like the effects it has on their bodies and how they want to find out if anyone has done the same thing, sort of a pack energy type of thing.
“Alcohol is a big factor in why men and women are in prison, especially for violence charges. It is estimated that about 80-90% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs or is committed to feed an addiction”
I have met amazing people now locked up in prison because of actions they took whilst under the influence of alcohol. As a society it is time to ask the question – is it worth it?
Alcohol is still seen by many as harmless yet this could not be further from the truth.
Yep, I hate alcohol, I saw my dad drunk too many times and my mum annoyed by it, then chose a husband with a drinking problem that he can’t control. His behaviour is altered- argumentative at first, then verbally abusive. It causes so much harm, family issues, broken marriages, anxiety, depression, dementia, impotence etc. alcohol is also on the world health organisation list for a known carcinogen. It’s a shame it’s so socially accepted and abused!
I agree with you that alcohol does so much damage not only to the person drinking it but to everyone else in the vicinity and the after effects are just as unpleasant. I had to walk away from someone who was still very hung over from a late night drinking session as they were very rude and aggressive which was un-called for. So I left them to sober up and when I saw them some hours later it was obvious they couldn’t remember how badly they had behaved. I feel that alcohol and humans just don’t mix it’s a deadly cocktail pun intended.
Alcohol does so much damage, I know as I used to drink loads. I stoped when I realised the harm mentally and physically it was causing. There is no safe amount of alcohol.
I never enjoyed drinking alcohol, so it was not a big part of my life; and I had a loud and clear message to stop drinking in my early forties, if I had one drink I would lose my balance and co-ordination, a very weird feeling, a bit like getting off a big roller coaster ride when younger, so my body clearly told me no alcohol.
Yes, we are crazy human beings, we use our savings to poison ourselves, and at the same time frequently behave in atrocious ways whilst under the influence of alcohol.
Yes, I remember some friends behaviour completely changing into someone whose behaviour I didn’t like, when they drank alcohol ‘When I used to drink alcohol, I turned into a completely different person – and I hated that person. I became loud, silly, often argumentative and sometimes even sexist.’
Awesome article! I also hate alcohol, for many of the same reasons you do. At least 3 generations of my family were afflicted by its detrimental effects. I’ve also watched my beloved friends and partners ‘turn into somebody else’, somebody that’s not who I know, and somebody I don’t want to be with. There’s always a way to heal – we don’t need to check out, anaesthetize ourselves with alcohol to avoid the truth. Truth may be tough love for a while, but in the end it’s the kindest and most loving thing: who we truly are (amazing beings); the truth of our responsibility and how we’ve walked away from it; the truth of the mess of society and the fact that we collectively created it.
Truth is the only way forward and a willingness to discover what is a suitable truth and what is Truth is an investigative program just waiting to be embraced by each and every one of us as we take responsibility for the world we have today, the world we have created.
One of the ten worst parenting tips ever was to put whiskey on teething babies gums.
One of the best decisions in my life was to stop drinking alcohol and my liver has thanked me deeply ever since.
When you combine alcohol with a person the result can have the result of breeding a donkey and a horse… you get a jackass.
I had spent a good portion of this life drinking. I did it responsibly most of the time if that is even possible to make that statement as it is, a perfect example of an oxymoron. When I had to quit drinking to eliminate it as a cause of a medical problem for six months, I found it was just a method to numb myself from life. It was 15 years ago I was asked to choose to stop drinking and never needed to restart.
Giving up alcohol was easy for me because it didn’t agree with me anyway and it wasn’t worth feeling ill for days afterwards. I could never understand how my friends could drink every day but still manage to function. Now I am glad that I couldn’t even though I did try my hardest, the body had the last say.
We dont hate alcohol as much as we avoid dealing with the tension of the disharmony in the world or not living the truth of who we are.
How long did ‘I will never drink again’ last after a killer hangover? Till the next weekend?
This is such an important topic, and one that many people have a responsibility to feel on their terms but also to be open to the energetic presentation of the possibility of what may also be taking place.
I was never a big drinker but still advocated people drinking, it’s not until later in life that I now see the harm people choose when they drink and how our relationships suffer.
The use of alcohol is one of humanity’s symptoms for avoiding feeling all that we do feel. With alcohol (like TV, food, arguments, blame, drugs, sex…) we have a brilliant (awful) tool to numb, cover up and avoid all that we feel. If and when we do feel what we feel, it is the beginning of emerging from behaviours and patterns into the richness and magic of life and all the learning it offers.
It’s true, you become the odd one out. For years I was the designated driver because I was the only one who didn’t mind not drinking but I can tell you it was never fun taking the drunk friends home of an evening. Like a lot of things I didn’t particularly agree with, I did it anyway.
I had worked in prison for many years and still remember the young man that was bounced out of a club for being drunk and disorderly. He stewed on being kicked out and decided to return and have a go at the bouncer that ejected him. The young man took a swing at the doorman that just stepped back quickly to avoid his fist. But, in backing up, he tripped on the curb fell, hit his head and died. The young man was sentenced to pre-meditated murder because he had chosen to return and cause bodily harm. He was 19 at the time. In this incident, how many people and families were affected by just one person drinking?
Gosh, Steve that’s pretty full on, but sadly this kind of thing is not a rare occurrence. Whether it is bouncers on the door, domestic violence or increase in dysfunction, alcohol is clearly not good for us.
I passionality hate alcohol too, after wasting many years of my life drinking and being wasted. I see other young people doing this too and its such a shame, when we each have so much to give drinking alcohol just stumps our evolution.
As much as I liked the taste and so called enjoyed drinking alcohol I had to come to the obvious conclusion that it did not agree with me and my body, based on how I felt after and during drinking it. I also had to come to the conclusion that when I was drinking I was not really being the real me which I did not like either so I decided to stop. I still go out to places where there is drinking and a lot of my friends and family still drink which is up to them and cool with me. I know it is just not for me.
It is interesting that we can convince our mind we like something. But, if we go back to the first time we had alcohol, how did our body’s react? Why are so many drinks laced with something sweet? Mary Poppins said; a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down. What are we medicating with alcohol?
Love the wisdom and responsibility shown here. This approach could be applied to any activity or social pass-time. We could take a moment to reflect and ascertain with honesty what the impact is on ourself as well as on others – is it supportive and inspires us to live the depth of love, openness, joy and responsibility that is our true essence, or does it encourage the opposite? We might well be surprised by some of the answers.
If we knew the multilayered ill effects of alcohol before it was introduced surely, we would not have done so. If it were discovered now, in today’s world, it would not pass our tests for substances safe for human consumption and yet we carry on with it being a huge part of our way of life. Just look at how many isles are dedicated to the sale of alcoholic drinks in a supermarket relative to the total. It’s become big business and a significant source of revenue for some governments due to taxation. It seems that to some there is more at stake than health. The reals reason that there is no change despite this is because there is a very large market for alcohol – society still wants it despite the ill effects because it is used for people to try to cope with life, to take the edge of, to remain numb, to escape and ultimately not be who the truly are.
The US is now slowly decriminalising cannabis because it provides a new stream of taxation. It doesn’t matter that it is not good for our bodies, it is just the new alcohol. Why fight it when we can tax it? Can we also add Vaping to this list that only has one bad thing in it? But, it is too new to have historical evidence of what vaporised vegetable oil does to our lungs which is the carrier for the Nicotine, that is a class A poison and taxed.
Forty years ago the UK prison service began issuing TVs to all inmates to give them something to occupy their time. Doesn’t, watching the TV have the same effects as alcohol with it’s numbing effects? It allows us to escape in our minds the walls that hold our body’s.
There is so much pressure for everyone to drink alcohol – often to make others feel comfortable with a choice they know is not truly supporting their own bodies.
Alcohol has become our Siamese twin that we live with and complicated to remove. Now the world is slowly legalising cannabis, discovering the new tax cash cow it is that outweighs the harm it causes. Instead of fighting it, tax it, this is a win-win for them, but the body loses once again.
You can tell when a substance is ingrained in the fabric of our society when you read that ‘over 90% of adults in the UK drink alcohol.’ It’s going to take some time before people would want to walk away from this one.
If the truth be known and if people were willing to look at the harm caused by the consumption of alcohol, I doubt there would be a man or woman standing who hasn’t witnessed the negative consequences to family relationships, either with their own or others.
It is the normalisation of alcohol consumption that is so devastating to the point you have to explain yourself when you do not drink alcohol… this shows us how wayward we are.
Can we just ask ourselves the question why we normalise, accept and actively encourage the consumption of a known poison?
How often do we normalise not just alcohol but many others ways living in order to remain complacent and in total comfort.
It really is quite crazy how we can think its ok to drink alcohol despite the fact it is a listed poison!
What I Love about alcohol is that it has given me a sense of what it is like to be totally disconnected from my body and now days sugar and overly sweet things have the same affect on me so if I can easily see the virtues of non-drinking, which was relatively simple now this feeling of disconnection is transpiring across many other aspect of my life so it is now up to me to eliminate any thing that disconnects me. You have got to Love that.
To react in life and this includes alcohol is feeding the ill and abusive energy. Alcohol is a poison, abusive, harmful, destroys relationships, contributes to illness and disease, causes mayhem in hospitals on particular dates of the year and so much more but I am here to observe it all and not allow one ounce of reaction in my body… this is love.
For most of my life I buried the emotion of hate within my body. I did not allow myself to hate anything. It was not the thing to do. These days it is so freeing to allow myself to acknowledge and feel the hatred when it arises – it is an essential part of healing and great medicine for the body.
I used to drink alcohol regularly and convinced myself that it was a cool thing to do, and that it gave me confidence. Admitteldy I did feel more confident, but it was false confidence and made me do silly and sometimes wreckless things that definatley weren’t responsible. It is indeed crazy how we have become so accepting of something that is ultimately so harming to so many, whether it is the drinker of alcohol or those who are around drinkers of it.
There is a great deal about how we live that simply does not make logical sense. A while back the ban of alcohol in a part of the world led to many people drinking alternative versions of it and this led to dramatic results including blindness. The type of alcohol normally sold does not create such dramatic ills, but they accompany plenty of ills none the less, some of which have been highlighted in this blog.
Our pride in our intelligence is not quite in keeping with such widespread behaviour that shows the absolute opposite .
Tis the season once again, that the Health Services hate! It is the time of year where emergency rooms normal attendances of 12% to 15% are alcohol related can jump to 70%. Mad Friday, the last Friday before Christmas has come and gone. But, New Year’s Eve is just around the corner. The countdown has started for the end of the year here in the UK with one drunk driver killing two, Friday night.
For me I hate alcohol because of the way it affects relationships with others and how damaging the effects of it can be and are which I find is a result of it being accepted as being normal. So often people who go alcohol free can feel ostracised and cut off when all they are doing is making a loving choice. And what is shows is often when we make loving choices they show others the unloving choices they are making and so rather than change the choices the outward attacks come to try to make the other cave in so then it becomes normal again and the unloving choices are not exposed or questioned by anyone, even if it is unconsciously.
I have come to detest anything that takes us away from the truth of who we all are. And there are a lot of things that do this, in fact our entire world pretty much revolves around and strives on all that exists to take us away from the truth. All of our suffering is as a result of these things and all of our suffering is completely in vain. There would be no need for even one person to cry if we were living the truth of who we all are.
Alcohol has been very much normalised in our society to the point where we have perhaps become blind to what it truly does to us…
Alcohol is a poison and interestingly the human body is not designed to be able to detoxify it properly in fact we lack the enzymes in the liver to be able to convert the alcohol molecule into a non toxic molecule. So the only way we can detoxify alcohol is by converting it first into a molecule that is even more toxic than alcohol and then from that we can convert it into something else that can then be flushed out of the body. Crazy….and even crazier is the fact that we still continue to drink this when science shows what it does to us.
“…. everyone seems so much at ease with themselves and each other. ” yes I have noticed this too and as you say conversations can go deeper withour alcohol – no false bonhomie or small talk.
I have been to so many parties and weddings now where there is no alcohol. The atmosphere is amazing as there is no false jollity fuelled by alcohol. The joy and conviviality has to be experienced to understand that alcohol is so not necessary in social settings in order to have fun.
Very few cases of domestic violence are not associated in some way with alcohol or drugs. And yet alcohol remains legal and many drugs are being normalised and in some countries made legal. This makes no sense in terms of making supportive decisions for our societies.
Alcohol is a known poison, yet we still consume it. This is just one example of many things that we use to medicate ourselves. But what are we medicating ourselves for? What is going on with us that requires us to use a substance that takes us out? We may feel our lives are fine – that all the boxes are ticked and we are ‘happy’ and yet still we have the glass of wine or two…but my question is if we know the damage it does to our brain cells, the guts, the liver and more, then what are we compelled to still continue to use it?
And the fact that we are often introduced to it when younger than the legal age by our parents – as it was when I was young, and our brain cells are still forming. Maybe this happens less these days?
One of my friends recently reminded me of just how horrible the human race can be when drunk, prime examples being those ’18 to 30′ holidays and the ‘Booze Cruise’ trips over to France to buy lots of duty free alcohol, activities that in the past have made me recoil in horror and leave me wondering why we still champion a substance that makes us behave worse than animals?
Go to an A and E at weekend nights. There you see the evidence of the harm alcohol can do.
Alcohol becomes the focus and a priority over connection and people. It’s a drug to which many are addicted.
Well said Ariana – Christmas is a time of much joy and love, but if you are not feeling that then you feel more of the emptiness and loneliness that can drive you to seek medicines or behaviours that can numb you and dull you out. But this always comes with a cost, for when we are not thinking further about the responsibility (or lack of) of our behaviours and choices, then things unfold that only make the situation worse in some way or another. We may if lucky avoid an immediate case of domestic violence or car accident etc, but the onslaught on our own body cannot be avoided though it can be denied or ignored.
As a small child, I was privy to seeing how adults behaved at dinner parties and celebrations which more often than not involved large amounts of alcohol – and I got to see some people vomiting severely after drinking copious amounts of alcohol, behaving in unpleasant ways towards others as well, and most of all I recall the smell – the acrid smell of stale alcohol and old cigarettes that would make my stomach churn. From seeing what it did to so many of the people that I cared about, it was a quick fix for me never really being that keen on alcohol – and this all came about whilst I was not even yet a teenager! When I was 11 years old I spoke to some family members (when they were not drunk anymore) and I shared with them how upsetting it was to see them the way they were when they were drunk and told them the simple truth of how unpleasantly they behaved towards me when in this state. I told them I preferred to hang out with them when they were not drunk. This was actually a very powerful thing to do – for me to express this to them but also for them to get the honest feedback from someone who knew them as normal and also as drunk. And guess what – they actually reduced their drinking significantly after this conversation and never went back to that level of alcohol consumption. Wow – the power of someone expressing something to someone else without judgement or criticism but simply sharing an honesty about how things felt!
If we were to interview the liver or the stomach or the brain around how it feels to have the body consume alcohol, there would be a clear answer of ‘no thank you’…yet the reality is that we over-ride what we know to be the best thing to do, and we do it anyways. So what is it that is really driving the consumption of alcohol, this incessant demand for consuming something that we know will bludgeon us and not acutally support us? There is obviously more to this than we can see straight up – perhaps this need to have alcohol has something to do with the fact that when we bludgeon ourselves, then we dont get to feel the quality or lack of quality that we are living our lives with? Why would you abuse yourself if you felt amazing?
A great question – ‘why would you abuse yourself if you felt amazing?’ This is what needs addressing. When young at parties I felt shy and ‘less than’, so a drink or a cigarette in my hand made me feel more confident – or so I thought. We need to get to the root of why we are attracted to these addictive behaviours that can get out of control in some cases.
The challenge with cutting back on or eliminating alcohol is that there is such a demand for it at this point. And it feels like the demand comes from the fact that many are using alcohol as a medicine to not feel something in their lives. Usually we seek a substance or a medicine to dull out a pain we are feeling – and so it is understandable why this behaviour is so rampant in our society. Hence part of the answer to reducing all the alcohol related violence and car accidents etc lies in our ability to look at life and what is not working for us on a personal level and dealing with that first. And though this is quite simple to approach it is far from easy, especially if we are not convinced that this is an issue.
Many may not want to see the harm alcohol causes let alone deal with it because of the demand for it however there will come a day when we realise alcohol is not the answer. This is not by force or preaching from another but by allowing and giving space for an unfolding and not to have any expectations of what this may look like.
And have we considered how much money is spent each week purchasing alcoholic beverages? It is not uncommon for many to put aside a few hundred dollars each week to spend on alcohol and going out on the weekends for example. Just imagine if this money was actually instead spent on self care for themselves…where would we be as a society then?
It is astonishing the number of activities and vices we go around claiming we ‘enjoy’ or even are ‘good for us’, when you don’t have to look very far to witness how unsupportive they are in truth and at times the trail of devastation they leave behind. At some point we will have to stop and consider what part of us is so committed to live such a lie and what is the gain from such deliberate and systematic self-abuse.
We only every decide to poison our selves because there is an emotion inside us we want to kill, but invariably drinking alcohol or ingesting other substances will never actually do that. When we are empowered to feel, nominate and release the emotions from our bodies that we attempt to smother up with alcohol, our need to dull our senses and poison our bodies vanishes.
Me too Doug. I hate the way we allow our selves to be hood winked into thinking alcohol is okay or even good for us because of our un-resolved emotional needs that leave us believing poisoning our selves is a normal way of life, when in fact it destroys our bodies, drowns out our innate wisdom and bankrupts humanity.
People do struggle when you tell them you don’t drink and can become quite offended by it as if it’s a judgment on them. I used to be one of those people who believed that you couldn’t have a good time unless there was alcohol involved but thankfully those days are far behind me.
I hate that we have created a society in which we apparently need alcohol to relieve ourselves of what is going on. And I hate that we are blind to the fact that alcohol contributes to the mess we are all in and keeps the circle going.
I hate alcohol and what it does to people when they consume it. I understand that everyone has a choice to drink it but I hate the impact it has not just on the person drinking it but on everyone around them. Alcohol is evil and until we reach a place where we can recognise and accept the evil that dwells within alcohol, then alcohol will remain a part of our lives. Alcohol is not the answer to our woes.
Funny you should say this Doug – that excuse-all phrase ‘anything in moderation’ is like the biggest cop out ever and makes no sense. It is surely impossible to justify consuming poison even in moderate amounts.
I came from a big drinking family and having started early stopped drinking alcohol aged 24 when I started my nurse training. It just didn’t make sense to be beginning a career I was really looking forward to and then consuming something that would interfere with my enjoyment of and efficacy in this new job… just for starters think early shifts and being fit to really care for others.
Sometimes people drink so that they are more socially at ease however we do not behave like our authentic selves so really what is the quality of connection we have with others?
‘I realised there were personal, societal and religious reasons for this hate and that they all stemmed from how much I love people and how much I hate the damage alcohol causes to individuals, families, organisations and society itself.’ When we take a step back and look at parts of life like this we can begin to truly get the whole picture of how we have set life up, how it does not work as we have tried to make it be.
Agreed Gill and yet we champion it as everything that it is about, saying it is our own freedom to choose but the effect on society is super widespread.
Well said Doug, there are those things in life which arouse such hate but from that we can feel the deeper love that comes with it for the people affected by that which we hate.
We champion the fact that when we drink we are more relaxed with people and feel more confident but what we fail to realise is that that is not our true self and that getting the confidence we so desperately want is not that hard to come by. Confidence is not about kidding ourselves that we are outgoing and loud, it is about knowing who you are and that you are equipped to deal with anything.
Me too Doug, for the me ‘everything in moderation’ is something that I hate as it is a lie we are sold saying it is ok, when we know full well it is not, yet now we have a justifiable reason and excuse to have it or do something.
I agree Gill, especially when it’s the red grape that’s responsible on account of the reversatrol in it. The alcohol isn’t.
It’s an interesting question, if we wouldn’t give a baby alcohol or something as we know it is harming to our bodies then why would we consume it ourselves?
When we realise just how beautiful we really are, the need to poison our selves via any means melts away. Not only do we need more education on just how harmful alcohol is, we need more education on just how amazing we all are, as when this truth hits home it becomes very obvious what heals us and what harms us.
It is the education of how amazing we are that is needed for, as you say Rowena, once we realise that then ‘the need to poison our selves via any means melts away’.
How can we wake up so many times feeling dreadful and regretting our choices from the night before before we start to admit that alcohol is poison to the body?
It’s crazy isn’t it, we have even come to joke about it as if it’s just part of life.
I love purity. Alcohol and purity does not go together very well. People who drank alcohol are not in their innocence anymore but in a way of being that covers all of this up- gives them a false self confidence or emotional openness, e.g. That’s why I hate alcohol.
The last supper is an interesting study as no one is eating or drinking but everyone is expressing in some way, could it be that expression of any kind is related to being divinely connected, therefore expression is everything when it comes to our evolution!
Many of us who have drunk alcohol have woken up the next morning hating what we did, said or became…and yet we then go and do it all again. Unless we value ourselves then we won’t care if we sell ourselves short.
We need to hate anything that stops us being who we truly are. That’s a very, very long list, but until we start to treasure our true selves then we will not have the purpose to do anything about it.
This time of year (Christmas ) is actually a heavy time for people drinking and as a result there are a lot of disputes within families. It reminds me that alcohol really does not support our bodies or our relationships at all.
As a society until we stop and ask why do we drink, we do we need the crutch, nothing will change.
I’ve always hated alcohol. It took the people I loved and replaced them with beings that said hurtful things and found that funny.
I loved alcohol. It fulfilled a need and I felt the price was worth paying. When the need went, the desire to alcohol went as well and its negative impact was not at all a price worth paying any more.
When people don´t drink, they have to feel the tension of intimacy- how insecure they are with other people and how much they avoid and miss a level of intimacy in their life. It is also interesting what people choose otherwise- when they don´t drink -substitutes like food or sweets are also a perfect medication to numb yourself from that tension.
I hate, how people live in the illusion that alcohol is simply a human pleasure. Because of living in that illusion they are blind to see, what alcohol does energetically to others and themselves. You are actually saying to energies by drinking: come in and rape energetically me and everyone around me. Have you ever felt drained and empty after drinking ?
I find certain conversations quite entertaining when it is apparent how much it offends someone that I don’t drink. But it also teaches me not to hold ideals and beliefs about what’s right and wrong for anyone in any aspect of life or character.
I am only here to reflect what feels true to me, to not waver with it and not to judge what other people do. Deepening observation and the willingness to understand is the key for me to give space to everyone no matter what they are doing.
There is life after alcohol, a great deal of it, to be enjoyed to the hilt with all our faculties switched on and a body full of vitality because it is no longer being poisoned.
I hate alcohol too with the extremely harmful effects it has on humanity as a whole and the unseen damage and suffering it is causing in the world while being tolerated and accepted and celebrated as “normal” part of life that does not come from who we truly are.
“When I used to drink alcohol, I turned into a completely different person”. Ouch, yes I have known this one too – confirmed by the horrible hangover the day after when the body is clearly stating that it has been poisoned and abused.
There are so many cocktails which are served with a burning flame and the idea is you drink it with the flame still going. Why would anyone want to drink a highly flammable toxin, one that is a very effective cleaning agent. It really makes no sense.
It was very clear that one time I went to dinner with some friends and we started to chat and the conversation became deep. Then these friends started drinking it became harder and harder to talk with them, it felt like I had to use a greater effort to speak as there was an energy coming towards me, it was clearly felt. It was draining and exhausting.
“When I used to drink alcohol, I turned into a completely different person”. Been there, got the T-Shirt. How can a substance that is legal and supposedly safe to drink cause such a dramatic shift in personality to the extent that we can become so argumentative, aggressive and violent? If we saw this happen to our children after consuming a drink, would we not ban it from the home?
There are so many things that I hate but all of them come under the one banner and that is that they are purposefully designed to take us away from the truth.
Me too, I love people and I see so much harm come from drinking alcohol. We think it is a treat and we think it makes us feel better and cope with life better but it doesn’t. It is a pernicious band aid with a profound ripple effect. It has taken me a while to be OK to own this as my choice and not feel embarrassed that I have chosen to ‘go against the grain’.
I can remember the first time I tasted alcohol and how intuitively my body rejected it and I did not like the taste. And then as I grew older I consciously over-rode these feelings in order to fit in to the point where I convinced myself I actually liked it, when I never really did. I never liked alcohol but I certainly needed it for a while.
If we all connected to the love that we are alcohol would not have a such a high place in our lives. We would have a use for it on a functional basis like cleaning, medical use, preserving but we wouldn’t feel the need to put it into our bodies.
While it is scientifically proved that alcohol is a poison for the body, the same science can advise the use of it because of some beneficial effects it would have on some illnesses and diseases.
That there is such a huge demand for alcohol shows how devastated people are nowadays as they use it to numb the misery they feel from the choices they have made.
I wonder if the economics work out for us – do we collect enough taxes on the sale of alcohol to cover all the costs of the violence, prison sentences and sickness that arise as a consequence of consuming it?
I hate alcohol because it is a poison in your body. I have always felt this from my own body since a small child.
Alcohol was readily available at home and considered the norm in our family. Wine was drunk at meal times, when friends/relatives came over, at celebrations etc.
It was even considered a health remedy for anaemia and poor blood circulation in a medical journal.
I hate alcohol because of how it changes your personality and behaviour.
I hate alcohol because it causes domestic violence- so much of this is still kept hidden within closed doors
I hate alcohol because it causes car accidents and deaths of roads which could have been avoided.
“The harm is that alcohol, a substance that is poisonous to the human body and to societies, becomes ‘normal.’ Children see their parents and other adults drink alcohol, so they drink it when they grow up”. This is a great point. I grew up watching my parents drink ‘in moderation’ every day and it never crossed my mind that I would not grow up to drink alcohol. It was just what you do when you grow up and therefore actually something to aspire to. This really is a shame as some off the worst events of my life could have been avoided if alcohol was not the norm.
But it is interesting to consider that you are not allowed by your parents to drink any alcohol when you are a child and only when you mature you are inaugurated to the adult life in which you even should drink alcohol, for instance, to be a ‘real’ man.
Admitting that we actively poison ourselves is an important first step. For it helps us start to see that this is by no means limited to what we drink
Alcohol is a very obvious one, though and may cover our awareness of other, seemingly less harmful acts and substances. Once the interest in alcohol is gone, the other items stand out much more. Very true.
‘Alcohol is a big factor in why men and women are in prison, especially for violence charges. It is estimated that about 80-90% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs or is committed to feed an addiction (1)’ This is huge and if true, shows how unwilling we are as a society to get responsible about our choices. As long as we get our individual needs met and our individual drinking patterns satisfactions, we easily can dismiss the fact that we are aiding and abetting a section of society to commit alcohol related crimes.
So true, we look the other way because we, as a society, are unwilling to look at why alcohol is being used in the first place to end up being indicated in the rates of men and women in prison.
The harm alcohol is having on society is devastating from the obvious out plays that happen but what is even more devastating is that we have accepted this as a normal way of being and that this is ok. So when people start to say no to the abuse on every level alcohol delivers it is not something that most want to hear or see. However it is deeply deeply needed. What level of abuse are we prepared to put up with, no one is forcing the alcohol down our throats.
We as a society have normalised Alcohol too much. Especially around Christmas time, the NHS have dedicated team in London to help people who are falling into a coma in the street because of binge drinking.
When I was a baby it was common to give the baby a little brandy or rum in their bottle to make them sleep. We may have moved on from those days (nearly 60 years) but we have not actually gone very far.
When people are under the influence its a roulette wheel – you don’t know who you are going to get, or what kind of mood they will be in. And then the next question of whether they remember anything about it the next day.
Alcohol is one of the most socially accepted and dangerous drugs we have,, I would be interested to know the difference in cost to the NHS, society and otheriwise between alcohol and the various criminalised drugs available. I am not saying criminalised drugs are any better it is just that at least there is an honesty which comes with the harm of crack cocaine for example which seems to be missing with alcohol as we bring alcohol into school settings all the time and yet would everyone be ok if heroin and cocaine were brought into schools, both addictive, both harmful, both poisonous drugs.
I hate alcohol because it is a poison that has been touted to be an essential part of human life and fundamental for having fun. I hate alcohol because it ruins lives, kills people and generates violence and conflict. I hate alcohol because we deviate further from our true nature when we drink it.
It’s important to detail how we hate behaviours and energies to cement our commitment to no longer tolerate and change.
Yes we all know that our health systems are struggling to cope with the rates of illness and disease and we keep talking about finding more money but meanwhile we are ignoring some rather large elephants in the room – alcohol being one of them – that are causing so much completely preventable harm to health.
I remember seeing a presentation on the dangerous drugs of our time, rating them by the deaths they cause. Things like heroin, cocaine etc were nothing compared to the associated death toll from alcohol and cigarettes which were literally in the hundreds of thousands.
Only a few years back you were considered a loser if you didn’t smoke. Today the same applies if you do not drink. Our social norms change all the time, but only on a surface level – who knows what it will be in 20 years time. Either way, whatever social expectation there is of people to “fit in”, the only maker of whether it is something that truly relaxes and helps truly let go of tension will be the body, because if alcohol really helped us unwind, we would not have the severe consequences of over-consumption that we do.
I would say it is already changing, when I speak to teenagers they seem less interested in alcohol than we were and there are groups of friends that don’t drink. My neighbours daughter at age 23ish had an alcohol free wedding. Whereas when I was at school (26 years ago) there was just one girl who didn’t drink and she was very much cast as an outsider for her choices.
We really need to be looking at why we need to unwind and do not have the tools to do this is in a way that is good for our health and wellbeing. We need to look at why we are getting wound up in our days rather than using something like alcohol as a temporary fix.
I know Viktoria how much that has changed, I guess that comes from the fact that we see the consequences of smoking and perhaps when we really see that with drinking the same will apply.
If we consider the enormous harm caused by alcohol (and smoking cigarettes) should we not also consider the fact that we still permit them as legal activities. If we knew what we know today would we introduce them again? So why continue with what is so clearly harmful in so many ways?
This comes back to supply and demand and the fact that we are willing to put up with who we are not. Alcohol is a huge factor in so much abuse – to ourselves and to each other. And I’ve only come to see this now that I have chosen not to drink because of the effects it has on my body.
I hate the fact that it is abnormal not to choose to poison your body, that we have created a society that actually makes it harder to make a stand against the tide and take care of ourselves on the most basic of levels.
Thanks for your reflections in this blog, Anonymous. I love specially this one: “would you give a baby even a ‘moderate’ amount of alcohol? ” When we connect with a baby, we need to feel the delicacy there is in them, as well as in ourselves, and from that space, alcohol is clearly felt for what it is… it’s literally impossible to taste it and not be harmed. We can theorise whaterver we want around alcohol, but the body never lies. By connecting with our sensitivity, again, everything gets revealed.
We can hate alcohol all we like but as long as we have something to give us that relief we are contributing to the same mess.
Yes great point Michael and it is important to see where we might have stopped something we know is not good for us, but may have replaced it with something else.
I love how this article makes it really clear that it is not about judging anybody but to tell the truth about what a toxic substance as alcohol does to ourselves and others. It hurts to see and feel the impact of it.
Anyway should one choose to drink alcohol he or she can never escape the truth within his/ her body- even if he or she tries hard to delay it. We can never escape the absolute fact that we are divine and made of love.
Alcohol is a classified chemical poison ……………..
Alcohol and its harmful effects are definitely to be hated.
I only started to drink, as I liked that I was more seemingly open and shameless. Which indicates how much I was under tension in life, when I needed a drink to become more loosened up. Healing the root causes, why I was in anxiousness and control in life allowed myself to let go of the alcohol adventures, as they got highlighted in being false and simple escapes. Embracing me and my body was way more joyful than any kind of party or dinner night with alcohol since then.
I know the comment of: Alcohol is not good for you but it depends on in which moderation. It gives this excuse of having the constant relief and distraction, as it is not too harming for the body. What if any slight poison we put in our body has already a huge effect on us? Because we seek the relief and retreat of life so much, we are too blind to acknowledge and to admit that fact.
As long as humanity is not open to see and reflect the truth, they will always seek for substances that offers them relief. You can delay as much as you like to feel truth, but you will never escape it. Fact!
When you hear about tragedies from others, alcohol is almost always involved. Why we don’t take the Absolute harm of alcohol more seriously I don’t know.
Alcohol is dangerous on its own and even more potent when mixed with other things, there needs to be greater warnings about the true harm of alcohol.
How is it that we champion a substance that is costing us a fortune in healthcare worldwide – that alone should tell us something.
Alcohol is a useful disinfectant. Is it also accurate to say “why I hate our need for alcohol”?
Call it what we like, alcohol is an enemy of life.
If alcohol were a person we’d put them in prison for consecutive lifetimes for the wilful damage that they have caused.
A great sharing on the truth of alcohol and the reality of how it effects us all so harmfully in the world. When this is seen more and opened up with the truth and love we are being lived more and more things will start to change and a new true way of living will become the normal as the tides begin to change.
Drinking alcohol is one that most experience, not all and for those ones I consider them pretty damn lucky. They way it is so normal in society and considered the way to relax, socialise and be merry is a disguise of the checked out way we are wanting to live our lives. Not being honest about the disappointment and hurt that we are trying to avoid. Lifting the lid on this was the only way I was able to stop drinking and it came from a place of want not have to. Drinking didn’t make sense anymore.
I really love my alcohol free lifestyle as well,I always felt like I was in a trap that I couldn’t get out of when I drank but know I am free to choose and I will always choose not to drink for the benefits of not drinking are endless.
The love/hate interaction. Great to hate but awesome to appreciate the corresponding love. Both fuel each other.
Crazy as it may seem, as a young woman, in ignorance and following others, I abused my body with alcohol. It is a senseless trap, young people believe drinking and getting drunk is ‘cool’ and a marker of adulthood, yet statistics tell a very different story: a deadly substance that takes us away from ourselves, leads us to abuse and kill others and costs health services hundreds of millions of pounds each year. Sad to say nothing has changed, alcohol is still marketed in ways that hide the truth leaving millions addicted to it around the world.
To live an alcohol and nicotine free life, brings us back to our natural selves and reclaims our bodies for nurturing and love.
There is so much to hate about alcohol, so much because there is so much to love when someone is being all of who they are, and when we drink we don’t be all of who we are. If we were not so amazing when we connect to each other on a true level then perhaps alcohol would not be an issue.
It’s great to voice what you hate without reaction and holding back. It helps solidify the truth of just how much you love people.
Social gatherings without alcohol are so much quieter. The din of a room full of people consuming alcohol is deafening. Yes, this is from personal experience of someone that added to the noise
Agreed and in my observation people are not themselves.
The decision to stop drinking alcohol has been one of the most amazing choices of my life and one that I will never go back on. The quality of my health and vitality has flourished. What a massive and very expensive disservice we do our selves by making this highly toxic substance an accepted social norm.
We are affected as a society by alcohol much more than we are ready to admit. Unless we are collectively really willing to see this, it will be almost impossible to change.
The sooner everyone sees alcohol for the poison it actually is the better we will all be.
Alcohol, is the next frontier to cross and we will get there, but right now there is resistance.. The enormous drinks industry, continues to grow and alcohol sales gross the biggest profit in pubs, clubs and restaurants. Society’s attachment to alcohol is still monumental with most people believing it to be central to almost every social event. Breaking the consciousness around alcohol is fundamental if we are to support people to simply connect to themselves and understand they don’t have to use a poisonous substance to take themselves out, they can just be their natural and beautiful selves.
I think most do, if they are being truly honest. So do we in fact need to address the why…?
‘This is such a valuable conversation, we need more conversations like this as we see the alcohol consumption in schools increase.’
This is very true Fiona, we don’t really question what we have accepted as normal, why would we? – it just doesn’t stand out. Yet what’s presented here is the far reaching affects alcohol has on us and our communities at large, it may be a strong article for those that accept alcohol as normal, but it is not natural, this is what this article offers in its wider context.
“When I used to drink alcohol, I turned into a completely different person” Me too and this was deeply shocking. I wonder what we open our selves up to when we poison our bodies with alcohol, because sometimes it used to feel like someone else had taken over my body. It explains why some people can’t remember what they have done when they sober up.
There are two entire isles in most supermarkets in the UK dedicated to the sale of alcoholic drinks such is the demand for alcohol. It’s time we were totally honest and admitted that it is not the drink but the alcohol itself that has us going back for more, then we can begin to understand the why behind that choice.
Agreed Michael, as someone that would regularly drink every night a bottle or two I look back and when honest can say that I felt like my life was missing something and a huge tension or wanting more but not knowing what that more was. I’m sure we all have our own reasons but in the end poison is poison.
I certainly don’t judge anyone for drinking alcohol as I was on it for years and had a lot of great and fun times that I wouldn’t change but when you weigh up all the damage it causes to our health, relationships and the disorder it can cause in our communities it seriously isn’t worth it.
When you say; ‘I hate alcohol because I love humanity so much and I hate to see and feel the huge harm caused by alcohol.’ It puts a whole different spin on the meaning of hate. It takes away the reaction and brings in a sense of purpose as it says no longer are you willing to stand by and watch your fellow brothers fall and destroy themselves.
Alcohol is a crude thug even when it’s dressed up as champagne.
Ditto we think its everything when in fact it takes away the everything we naturally are, that said if we don’t know we are everything or have been able to live in that way – then its the best form of escape that I could find.
I hate alcohol and it is okay to claim that. Alcohol changes the ones we love and invites us to live who we are not – simply said where there is less alcohol there is more love.
There sure is Christine, it is amazing how much it changes people yet how common it is. For me it shows us how unsatisfied and discontent we are with our lives that we need a substance to take the edge of it.
When taking a step back and looking at this topic objectively, seeing vast numbers of the population getting drunk on a Friday or Saturday night (even during the week now), staggering around our towns and cities, vomiting on the street and getting into fights, abusing NHS staff etc… clearly something is wrong somewhere.
I’ve never had a great relationship with alcohol but it did not stop me from trying. What is it about us that is so persistent to fit in?
If we would newly introduce alcohol into the food marked it would not get approved by the food and drug administration bodies that take care of the products that are allowed to be sold in our societies because it is pure poison for our bodies.
While I used to drink alcohol in the past I cannot say that I really liked it. The taste and the after effects where horrible. After a night drinking, I always had regret for the behaviours I went in after a few glasses but the next time I just did it again. You can say that the alcohol or the energy possessed me after me making the initial choice to choose for this way of numbing.
Alcohol exists in our societies because of our rejection of the love we are from, the love of our Soul, of God as otherwise, it would not have a place to exist.
There is a lot of alcohol drunk in the street where I live and broken bottles are a regular sight. There are vehicles, children and dogs out in the road and broken glass is a dangerous hazard. Add to that the disturbance of people shouting noisily, some aggressively, and occasional violence, and you have all the reasons why i too hate alcohol.
Alcoholic drinks are big business and so the company producing them work hard to feed the desire for them however they do not have to do too much as we are already crying out for ways to not be in life, feel the tensions we don’t life and face our own choices which hurt us.
The reason I gave up drinking alcohol was because I could see the pressure it put on relationships, the many lives it affected and the emotional and fiscal cost to the health service. Once I saw how it affected families, the domestic violence and the children who witnessed the abuse, I couldn’t un-see it and it is at that point I realised it no longer held any pleasure for me.
It is so illogical to like alcohol when you consider all the implications. However I used to love it. Then I got honest with myself and realised I loved how it changed how I felt and it was only when I liked how I felt that I stopped needing something to change it.
I am really up for exploring the question about what life would be like for all of us if there was no alcohol. And before we jump into replacing it with another drug, actually considering how much clearer, cleaner and more enriching life would be without all the impacts of alcohol. Very interesting.
I actually think the tide is turning on alcohol, from day dot we have been using and abusing it and abusing each other because of it, but I think at last there maybe a little light at the end of a very, very long tunnel and all we have to do is keep hating it and seeing through it and keep reminding ourselves and others the damage it does to ourselves our families and communities and one day maybe it will just be a thing in our history books.
We can give up alcohol but not always realise that we’re continuing to drink the ‘cool aid’ of emotional drama, individuality and illusion. These are also extremely poisonous.
I totally agree Joseph, it can be easy to not do one thing yet substitute it with something else which looks different on the surface but underneath is the same thing.
“I love my alcohol free life now.” Yep me too. Never thought I would ever see the day when I could live without drinking alcohol, but the quality of vitality and health I experience today as a consequence of not drinking is beyond belief. It has enabled me to see just what a toxic and lethal substance it is, regardless of the type, flavour and quantity.
Our use of alcohol is excessive but nonetheless it is only on a par with our deep unrest. And of course, that is why we use it, in an attempt to quell our inner agitation. And that’s why prohibition does not work, we need to address the unrest in order to address our alcohol consumption.
That’s true Alexis, because if it wasn’t alcohol it would be something else.
I really hate the expression ‘Beer o’clock’.
Alcohol has become synonymous with social events and socialising now. Interesting that the focus of these is around people meeting and connecting with each other but with alcohol present this presents this happening and means that people are not fully connected to themselves so cannot offer this to another.
Has alcohol become our lubricant of life?
When we stop using alcohol as a means of disconnection from ourselves we are still left with the tension and feelings that we could not deal with.
I hate that people feel the need to drink alcohol for all the reasons they may drink it – I did it to fit in, to feel a momentary false sense of invincibility, to experience something that wasn’t the everyday pain of seeing the world in a mess – including the mess that alcohol made it. I’m sure I can pick more reasons as to why I drank it but now I’ve not drunk anything for years and I’m so glad I’ve got no urge to do so. I hate how we’ve set up the world so that people feel the need to have to drink because I know when I felt into the effects of drinking it was horrible beneath any momentary highs.
Why do we continue habits that we know are harming us, others and society in which we live? We label it as something we ‘like’, something we are ‘helps us’ and something we are ‘addicted to’. How come we do not stop and question the fact that we call ourselves the smartest species on the planet, think we are the master of our thoughts and at the same time engage in a behavior that as this article shows is thrashing ourselves, others and impacting our whole world?
17/11/18 Everyday Livingness: It is quite revealing about where we are at as a society when not drinking a poison like alcohol is considered strange!
Great point. I remember when I stopped drinking alcohol at the age of 24, I was put under enormous pressure by a lot of people for quite a while to ‘just have one’ or ‘come on join in’.
“Many families would have more money to spend on essentials such as food, power, clothes and rent, which could improve their quality of life.” Yes thinking about the fact that there are people so lost and in reaction to the world that they buy rather alcohol than nourishing foods and warming their house really makes me aware of the state we are in as humanity.
I hate alcohol because of what it does to people. And this is an emotional hate, a reaction from past experiences. Whereas I feel that perhaps this does not allow for each person who chooses alcohol to have the space to choose freely. Yes, there is great harm that comes from their choice, in terms of the damage that alcohol does to the human body and how it can affect our relationships with each other. But I am learning to recognise that if I then go in and impose my own emotional hurts on to the situation, this could in fact only make things worse, because in my experience it can be very debilitating to have someone judge you for the choices that you make, even when those choices are not so great. For some reason in the judgement it can be much harder to change.
For many years of my life alcohol played a big part in everything I did and every occasion so to be free of that consciousness is an amazing blessing and I don’t think I would have ever gotten out of it without the constant support of all those associated with Universal Medicine.
Yeah hate seems a harsh word but if used in its true context it is the fuel to bring about true change as it is about fully seeing something for the harm it does so tolerating it is no longer possible.
Since quitting drinking any alcohol several years ago, there is more awareness, without judgment, of how alcohol changes people, to their own detriment even after one glass.
What I hate is the fact alcohol, a poison, is legal and available for all to buy even though its harmful effects are well known. A society that accepts this as a norm is is the greater evil.
Alcohol is in effect a poison to the body. Its no wonder that it causes so much disturbance to our mental, emotional and physical state of being.
Alcohol – One of the most devastating substances Humanity has ever invented.
About 2000 BC in Greece, mead was a popular alcoholic drink made of honey and water. With sugar, yeast, water and a bit of time, the byproduct is alcohol. Could it have been a mistake in storing things that we stumbled, onto this magic elixir rather than an invention? But, that has not slowed us down in experimenting with it for a very long time!
Lets toast your good health, a hair of the dog, cheers and drown our sorrows such are the lengths we go to, to make our addictions feel normal and thus not feeling life.
The chemical classification of alcohol is that it is a poison. Does that not say it all?
Yes, doesn’t it! But we often go to poisons to escape ourselves. I know I did. Aren’t all the intoxicants poison to our bodies?
How can something that by its nature, numbs us and we, in turn, say it makes us feel better by feeling less?
Alcohol is so normal, so much a part of the society that we live in, that we allow it inspite of the clear indicators of how unhealthy it is… from the headache the next morning telling us its a poison for our bodies, to the piles of bodies that end up in the morgue from violence, car accidents, poisoning etc. On the one hand its totally ridiculous that this is even legal, and yet its woven deeply into our society – why can’t we see the harm it does?
Alcohol was woven its self into all aspects of our life and every garment we ware. Do we need to return to how we were born and walk naked through life once again?
I guess Steve we do, for when we do we will perhaps wake up to the devastation it and many other things cause society all to avoid dealing with the hurt we feel, whatever that may be.
I hate that hangovers are joked about and there are many so called remedies for them, such as my old preferred one, the hair of the dog, but the best remedy of course is not to drink in the first place.
“A future without any alcohol is coming – how about we bring that time forward?” I have the immense privilege of managing a hospitality establishment that does not permit the consumption of alcohol on site, a strange phenomenon in the leisure industry. And the result – an extremely welcoming, safe and friendly environment for families, couples and solo travellers to relax in and not one iota of trouble in over 11 years of trading. Anyone who enquires about why we have such a policy is simply met with the answer “No Alcohol, No Trouble.” Who can argue with that?
The feeling and quality in a room full of people gathering and connecting with out any alcohol is completely different, the absolute opposite to what it would be like if there was alcohol. Depending on where we are at is which one we prefer. I used to drink, just about daily as working in the hospitality industry pretty hard to get away from. When I started to cut back and then feel the difference not drinking was I made the choice to not drink anymore. I still worked around it and that was fine, well late nights got pretty intense to work around. What I have been able to see is how much alcohol really does have a massive impact on so many levels. More importantly feeling it in my body and the poison that I chose to put in simply didn’t make sense anymore and my body loves me for it.
It is useful to take a moment to reflect on what we hate about various aspects of life we have become resigned to as normal, just like this blog – and then to let ourselves become aware of what it is that we hold as more important to the extent that we carry on with those things.
I feel if we all sat down and allowed ourself to feel how our lives are controlled by alcohol we would be off to a good start of at least being honest about something in life that we have accepted as normal but is not normal at all to the potential that we can naturally live.
Alcohol is a strong poison – it is a good disinfectant and it is very hard to drop when we have a need for it. Once we deal with the need I found it then becomes quite simple whether to stop or whether to continue to drink.
It’s hard to believe now that I used to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine when out with friends. As I became more connected with my body, the need for alcohol diminished and soon after, alcohol actually left me – there was nothing to ‘give up’
What I REALLY hate is that I was so lost that I chose to drink the stuff in the first place. That’s the core of it, the alcohol was just supplying what I was demanding.
I’ve heard many people speak about how alcohol gives them confidence. Confidence to be who?
Which begs the question of what is alcohol really good at and why does society love it and allow it in spite of all the obvious damage it does. Why do we like being someone else so much? What happened to the simplicity of just ‘enjoying ourselves’ and that being more than enough to share with others?
I remember when I used to drink at parties how I’d come away feeling empty and like I hadn’t really spoken to anyone, despite having been there for hours and ‘spoken’ to loads of people for loads of time. What I was missing was the connection – both with myself and with others, which is impossible once alcohol enters the equations since it directly and immediately takes us out from whom we truly are.
I know when I have drunk too much alcohol in the past I would give myself over to all kinds of behaviour that I wouldn’t do when sober. That in itself tells me from experience, let alone the hang over, that drinking alcohol is denaturing and harmful.
We all know the effects of alcohol as growing up most people who drink have vomited and experienced dizzying and disorientated effects of it. Yet we continue to drink because we get something from it. For me it was the social aspect, along with the being able to let go of everything effect – temporary but in the moment worked! But it was never something I really enjoyed and my body would tell me heavily the next day. The question comes how long do we continue to ignore what our body is telling us?
My father (since deceased) for the first 14 years of my life drank nearly every day. He drank with his mates at work and in those days in the army, it was an accepted part of life to drink at work and then continue after work and on the weekends. The one thing that I noticed when he gave up drinking was how our relationship changed; it was as if I had a father for the first time. I could have a decent conversation with him, and there was a depth to him that I had never seen before. I discovered that he had a relationship with God (hardly went to church) and had carried that around with him all of these years. He was emotionally and physically in a lot of pain from the things that he had seen in the army, and he was a deeply sensitive man.
The WHO has stated that ‘alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 diseases and injury conditions.’ The global alcoholic drinks market is expected to reach 1.8 trillion dollars by 2026. That number pales in comparison to what it costs in medical treatments!
Great expression on why you hate alcohol anonymous, it is time more of us spoke up about it all, and there are countless, downsides to alcohol. I wonder how better off the NHS would run without having to deal with all the alcohol related diseases.
Kev it would also be good to explore the supposed ‘upsides’ of alcohol and to see if after an honest discussion we still consider them to be true upsides.
“Alcohol is a big factor in why men and women are in prison, especially for violence charges. It is estimated that about 80-90% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs or is committed to feed an addiction (1).” Humanity and alcohol are not a good mix, as these statistics clearly confirm. If we insist on consuming poison on a regular basis then we cannot be surprised when it poisons our attitudes, behaviours and actions.
Since I have stopped drinking alcohol I have noticed how when I am out with people who are drinking there comes a point when they are not there to connect with in the same way as when they are not drinking.
I’ve seen this also Michael and at times I’ve seen something dark in the eyes of the drinker.
I have witnessed many instances when people adamantly carried on some behaviour for years, claiming that there is nothing wrong with it and that all the talk about a harm was just a ruse. Until they had a baby and all of a sudden they decided to cut out that activity.
Most people deeply care about their babies and are willing to be very responsible in their actions in order to ensure their baby is okay. The fact that this situation is so common, suggests that we DO know the harm in many instances event when we claim to others (and at times to ourselves) that we don’t. What is in question is the level of care and responsibility we are prepared to be living.
It is very exposing of why we need alcohol in our lives socially when you see what it does, it does its job of being the opposite of the love we are and we fight this tooth and nail which seems literally insane when all we want is to be loved and give love. But the bit where we all come unhinged is knowing to be love is to be responsible for every movement and that’s not something most of us want. So until then alcohol is the perfect companion to full and numb us to what we turn out back on.
Interestingly maybe the more sensitive we are to that fact, the more use of it there is.
It is clear to see here (as well as from experience) there is absolutely zero benefit from alcohol. It instead destroys the body, relationships, lives and society. I really appreciate that I no longer drink it.
To hold another as an equal and love them dearly while under the influence of alcohol is very, very beautiful. Nothing ‘should’ ever get in the way of knowing and holding another in the glory and grandness of who they are in essence.
Very true Caroline, no matter what one is choosing we are all deep down love just choosing to live varying levels of it depending on how much hurt we are carrying onto from the past.
What I hate about alcohol is that it is still so socially accepted, it does so much damage to our health, relationships and society and that I was caught up in its consciousness for too many years of my life.
Yes, it is quite strange how the smallest risks are considered unacceptable while the certainty of damage from alcohol only gets questioned at the margins and not universally.
Most alcoholic spirits taste awful and only palatable with mixer drinks and yet we force ourselves to believe we enjoy them, just to fit in with others. I’ve not drunk alcohol for over fifteen years, love the way my body feels and the money saved re-directed to buy nutritious foods to support my body.
In the UK there is renewed push to market beers to younger consumers, making it appear ‘cool’ with claims of being healthier, for example the growing ‘craft’ beer industry and locally made gin products The number of UK gin distilleries has doubled since 2013. However you dress it, it’s still the same poison, the one thing not stated in marketing ads.
I’m on a train watching a man slowly work through a number of tins of beer. Fascinating to observe how his movements change and thus impossible to deny that alcohol affects us and so we have to look deeper at why we are so willing to actively run away from who we are.
It is a real indictment of the pride of our spirit and our arrogant determination to do whatever our thoughts dictate in the moment, that we have a situation when our body can throw up the excess alcohol, can give us clear messages that this behaviour make it debilitated, can have hangovers the next day and we can see so many signs on a social basis that drinking alcohol can be devastating – and yet we just go off and find the next way of ‘coping’ with the symptoms so that we can go off and do it all again.
I’d love to do a survey whereby everyone was asked “did you enjoy your first stats of alcohol?” I’m very sure of what the huge majority would say…and yet we deny what our bodies are so clearly telling us.
I was at an event recently and people were drinking wine and oh my gosh did it stink it was overwhelming how foul the pungency was. But yet when enthralled those can sniff and sip and comment on all the notes in the wine. I know the same is true of smoking the suffocating stench of smoke is undeniable but when you smoke you are oblivious to it. It is fascinating.
And the cost of it!!! Both in the price of the consumption of the stuff but also in the repairing of the damage it has caused, some of which is quantifiable; like hospital and health costs – but much of which is unquantifiable; lives and relationships destroyed.
Alcohol is discombobulating because it interferes with our energetic circuiting that is otherwise naturally sound, on point and harmonious.
I began to hate the effects of alcohol in my first month at uni, it stopped becoming a fun experiment and started to scare me how quickly I could completely loose control of myself and my physical functions. You only have to look at how much alcohol costs the NHS to know something is majorly wrong, we are completely irresponsible with ourselves – and as a result everyone has to pay for it – literally.
When we take it to a global scale and not just to our localised experiences it’s easy to see the enormous damage we are choosing on a mass scale. The question begs to be asked, ‘why do we choose to be so blind to it?’
There are countless downsides to alcohol so one wonders how it ever got so ingrained in most cultures and societies, it just shows us how far away we are from living a natural existence when we ingest a substance that is damaging in so many ways and on so many levels.
Agreed Kev and yet there must be something in so many cultures and societies, if not all, that is pushing us to need this alcohol. It shows clearly that all the cultures and societies that are common across the world are obviously missing something key
Alcohol separates us and cuts us off from truly connecting to people. I found this difficult to accept before I came across Universal Medicine knowing what was happening when people drank alcohol yet didn’t have the understanding that they were choosing to cut themselves off first from connecting to their essence because of a buried hurt they were carrying.
We get into a mind set that alcohol is something we need for our social life but, as many of my alcohol-free friends can testify, our social lives improve because we are able to have deep conversations that come from the heart and a lot of fun – without the awful hangover. We are not loud, we go to bed early and no-one is injured in the process.
I drank quite consistently and at times heavily in my 20’s and 30’s and stopped in my early 40’s. I am appreciating that choice as I do not want to contribute to the mess that alcohol creates. – or more honestly humans create when they choose to drink alcohol.
It’s quite incredible when you think about it that such a destructive substance is not only allowed to run through pretty much every area of our lives but that we actually champion it.
I know Alexis, its amazing how we put up with something that is not loving to cover up the tension of other things being not loving. I did that all the time, was a complete wreck when it came to drinking and was super unproductive.
There is really nothing in our body that wants to drink alcohol. Our body is always honest in communicating: no thank you, not for me and yet we override and convince ourselves that we even like alcohol and the people who don’t drink are boring. It is great that the correlation between disease and alcohol and abuse and alcohol are more out in the world for everybody who wants to take care of their body to have a different choice.
Recently there was a news item saying a third of young people don’t drink, which I think is awesome. So much harm is caused by this drug just like other drugs, actually more so because it is so socially acceptable so it’s impact is greater. I have never regretted stopping drinking just regret not doing that sooner.
How insidious that we have had for so long an activity which most of us can logically reason has harmful effects on us personally and on a society level, sanctioned by man-made religious doctrines and made acceptable because so many people assume if something is included in any religious practice it must have its origin in God’s word!
I remember we had a drug presentation at school, and the most damaging drug was alcohol – its impact has permeated so much of life and that is just the impact that is obvious or measurable. We have allowed this substance to take hold and become normal, but do we ever consider why we need it.
Yet how many people would call it a drug? When I was growing up, it was very definite that my parents and their friends considered there to be a big, thick line between drinking and narcotics. A line that protected their choice to drink.
I agree, deep down we all know that alcohol is not good for us but we deliberately avoid knowing this. This means that a huge number of people in the world are living a lie about alcohol and a society based on lies is not a very healthy one.
What’s more Elizabeth is that once one lie has been told (pretending that alcohol isn’t bad for us) then that is a standard that is then set and then allows so many other lies to be told. For example, if we are abusing our body with alcohol, does it then matter that we are abusing ourselves with other substances and foods?
A world without drinking alcohol would offer the opportunity for everyone to know who they are.
I’ve always felt unsafe around the unpredictability of people who had been drinking and how aggressive some people could get. I recall travelling on the tube when events were on and you would be sharing the carriage with many who were drunk and although some were funny which as you said is actually very sad to see some were unpredictable and intimidating.
The thing is when we are brought up in a culture of drinking alcohol it usually doesn’t enter our heads that it’s bad for us. For me, it was the pure fact that I would get horrible hangovers and feel ill for about three days that would deter me from drinking. Otherwise, I kept on trying to fit in and have a so-called ‘good’ time with friends. So what will it take for humanity to see the truth about alcohol?
Are we living a yo-yo life? Work hard, and party harder becomes our battle cry, with alcohol to fuel the way! Life is a flow and, we choose to live it only in the rapids, that has rocks that are always waiting for us!
You are absolutely right here Gill if we were all connected to our souls we wouldn’t need the fix of alcohol or other things we turn to which there are countless, to try and fill that gap left when we don’t know our true selves.
We are often told to not consume any alcohol when we are pregnant because it can be harmful to the baby. This to me confirms that alcohol is poisonous.
Feeling how much we hate who we become when we accept poison is a crucial firs step. But what comes next is celebrating and loving how great we feel free of it’s influence. It’s this that cements true change.
It’s very telling that there is not one part of me that misses drinking alcohol, in fact whenever I think about not drinking I’m immensely grateful that I am no longer addicted.
If we didn’t have alcohol there would be a substitute. I accept alcohol. There is a place for it and at this time we need it. I also hate it, it destroys but we have to realise that there is always going to be a root cause for the reason we consume alcohol and until that time we are willing and ready to go to the underlying cause, then there will always be a demand for this substance in society.
It’s great to share this honest and real experience – alcohol is glorified on so many levels and yet the truth is it causes such disharmony and it is quietly distructive to our bodies
Everything can be placed in one of two categories, either it takes us away from who we naturally are or it supports us to remain/return to who we naturally are. Alcohol takes our hand and yanks us away from who we naturally are. It’s a very ugly bedfellow.
The harm of alcohol is so pronounced and so well known in society. It is interesting to see that despite the fact, it is still so demanded and consumed in excess by many.
I agree Joshua, the same can be said about cigarette smoking; we are all aware of the dangers and yet we still do it.
In a blog I read recently a line from a wise man was shared:
“No one does drugs or drinks alcohol because they feel good about themselves.”’
For me this says it all, if we would live the love we are and honor the divine beings that we are we would not consider putting anything harming into our bodies. So another question is what are we avoiding and why? Could it be the power of each of us and even bigger of us united in brotherhood?
Children do watch their role models I thought drinking was what you did as you get older…I couldn’t wait for my chance, I was a complete pro..and it was my false friend for many years. However its offering is nothing but pain, disillusion and harm for society, it offers nothing of worth and what does normalising it say about where we are really at…lost in escapist irresponsibility…. confronting maybe but true.
We have created a sense of superiority by becoming a connoisseur of wines, whiskey and the like, which feels to me like just a higher level of sophistication and justification for ingesting a known poison.
The issue is us drinking alcohol more so than the alcohol itself. We would also say I hate petrol if we started drinking it – it is ok in our cars (at present) but not in our human bodies. The question is why do we want to imbibe, snort, smoke and indulge in substances that disconnect us from ourselves and each other and not only do that but as a society champion it and berate others who do not subscribe to that harm?
I reckon it is because the people who do not subscribe to these abusive behaviours are reflecting responsibility and a deeply loving way to society and the reactions are simply a resistance to the loving reflections.
The effect of alcohol in the world is huge and this brings a great clarity and understanding to something the world does not want to see. I have always hated alcohol and drugs since I was young and its effects but simply accepted it as part of the world and now realise how living without in daily life in families and in occasions also is deeply beautiful allowing the realness of who we are to be honoured and treasured and respected to a deeper level of love and commitment to life if we choose it.
If you see a small child around others drinking you will clearly see the harm caused by alcohol.
I’ve often been told that if alcohol was invented now it would not be legalised. Whether that is true or not it does say a lot about the absurdity that we have a drug which is not only legal but celebrated, normal and totally acceptable within society. When we look at the shocking figures of domestic violence that are showing no signs of abating, is it not time to really look at the severity of the harm done by alcohol and do something about it collectively?
It is great to see that the younger generation are waking up to the fact that alcohol is a poison and is the cause of so much illness and disease. In time we my look back and wonder why we ever ingested such a substance.
I haven’t been around alcohol for a while but earlier in the year I went to a 50th birthday party where I was the only one not drinking and there was quite loud music so anyone that talked to me would get in quite close and I couldn’t believe how bad alcohol actually smells on the breaths of people and to think that used to be me on a daily basis. I totally understand why we drink, I did it for years but I also love my life so much more now that I don’t.
It is incredible how we can have aspects of life that most of us know have huge harming repercussions yet we still choose to have them as a major part of our life, to an extent that if someone chooses to refrain from it, they have to justify themselves. Alcohol is a great example.
I chose to be teetotal as a teenager and young adult in my twenties, but in that time, I distinctly remember having 2 experiences when I was at a party and nightclub of feeling drunk. It was really strange. I enjoyed the partying being with friends who were drinking, and on both occasions, I felt all the sensations of being drunk and fell over, there wasn’t even any stumble. One of them I was on a chair and it tipped backwards and the other I was standing upright and fell over on my back. I had no medical condition, no inner ear imbalances, felt well and healthy… but I did feel inebriated… definitely. I remember clearly both times wondering how on earth I could be feeling drunk with not having touched a drop. If energy is not linked to this what other explanation is there? I’d love to know.
Although I would never encourage alcohol consumption, I can see why it is such high demand, with all the stresses and tensions of life being extreme and pushing many to the point where something to take the edge off is the only thing making life bearable anymore. The deeper point to ponder is how or why to we have an entire society set up to fail, in every true sense of measurement?
This is very interesting Doug. Also, I wonder if people have busier lives and not meeting up with friends to go for a drink. The no drink driving policy may also be a contributing factor too.
We have a high rate of alcohol consumption in our society and this is a reflection that people are simply not coping with life. So, the question is, what is it about life that we are not coping with? Life should be a joy but so many of us are not living this for many reasons.
‘There will come a time when the harm caused by alcohol will no longer be sustainable.’ As the people running the UK’s NHS are talking about the medical profession asking people more directly to address their lifestyle causing health issues I think we’re going to have to admit alcohol isn’t the fun, or pleasent way of dealing with life. Added to that the crime related incidents fuelled by alcohol. This time will come perhaps sooner rather than later.
Agreed Karin, what if we were already at that time or what if we didn’t need to go to the extremes of waiting until that time? That said what occurred for me was not trying to stop drinking alcohol but the more care I took for how I was living the less I liked how I felt when i drank and the more productive I felt in life, the less I wanted to waste even an hour not feeling on top of things.
I too got to the point where it took the poison of alcohol and the effects of not just the poison but the absolute draining of our life force to not be ok anymore. It was something I knew I didn’t like all a long, even when I watched my folks it became super clear how it is super harmful. To get to that point of hating it and not wanting that for myself was the best day of my life, well one of many since that point of returning to self-love and respect for who I am.
Perhaps the issue is not alcohol itself but our choice and reasons for drinking it and what it does to us when we do so. Alcohol wiped on a wound or used for cleaning can be a good thing.
The fact that alcohol can be used as a cleaning agent or disinfectant says a lot about its potency and what it must be doing to the body if consumed.
Agreed Nicola, ethanol is merely a substance – as always we choose how to use it.
Great point Nicola, I just realised that I actually hate the energy that drives people to drink alcohol and not the alcohol itself.
Yes, it is a really strange feeling to have a hangover purely by going with colleagues or friends to a pub without drinking alcohol, but it is quite real. It can be avoided but it can also easily happen.
One of the issues is that even societies where alcohol is forbidden or strongly discouraged – people just switch to different drugs.
Mormons are not even allowed to have caffeine. They drink sugary concoctions that go straight to your brain, they are so strong.
Yeah true Christoph, there are many cases where drug abuse increases dramatically when alcohol is forbidden. And if not, then you can see the repression of people and the emotional abuse that runs riot as opposed to substance abuse.
Good question Alison and I would hazard a guess that it’s not so much the alcohol per say that people enjoy but the ‘reprieve’ that it appears to provide in the tension that people feel as a result of the choices that they are making. Make different choices and the tension disappears and when the tension disappears, so does the desire to drink alcohol.
Being someone who has experienced what it is like being caught up in the culture of drinking alcohol I can also state my hate for alcohol and the denaturing effect it has on us. Nothing great ever comes from alcohol consumption and in fact it opens the gateway for evil to enter and abuse to follow as is reflected through the abusive behaviour we witness time and time again and the disintegration of families and relationships due to presence of alcohol. To have legalised a drug that we poison ourselves with and a culture that glamourises it, raises the question what are we missing so much that we need and seek to abuse ourselves and each other in this way?
Indeed Anon when you site these facts about alcohol, it seems so crass that this poison could be laced into an act glorified as holy communion, surely this serves to embed alcohol consumption deep into societies accepted norms.
It’s a super valid point this. Brilliantly said. And what message does that send to young people as well….”if they do it in church, then surely it is OK”. Yet another angle of abuse of the truth.
We have come to accept poison as normal, and think ourselves better if we live with less than the average. But we should be stopping to ask why are we even thinking of harming ourselves in the first place?
Brilliant question Joseph, I reckon not many people are aware that they are harming themselves and the key is awareness which then leads to the questioning and realisations.
What you share is undoubtedly the absolute truth of alcohol. What it more so highlights however is the ginormous unspoken dis-ease that plagued society which has become so normalised we write it off as normal part of human life without questioning whether such a dis-ease within ourselves is actually normal or much less healthy.
My body never liked alcohol but it was part of our social life. Many friends thought I was weird when I gave up drinking alcohol but my body said a big thank you and now it is so normal nobody thinks I’m weird any more.
Remembering how I used to feel when I drank, I now deeply treasure the fact that my life is alcohol free and appreciate myself for making this choice.
I have had the same. The body can speak loudly!
Yes our bodies will always communicate with us over our less wise choices – the question is are we listening? Giving up alcohol is a good start but unless we are ready to honour our bodies we run the risk of finding an alternative way to abuse them.
I too hate alcohol and the impact that it has had on my life and those of so many others. Seeing someone you love change into a monster when they are drunk is scary and knowing that getting their next drink is more important to them than anything else brought home to me just how much damage this poisonous substance can inflict on so many households around the world which is reflected in the statistics that you quote.
I really appreciate and am so glad I no longer drink alcohol. I could feel the damage this was doing to my body when I was drinking but could never stop. Sometimes I would wake up in the morning and my body would feel completely battered after having a night out. It is a poison to the body, full stop. I think we must be the only species on earth that drink poison for the ‘fun’ of it!!!! Yet we are supposed to be the most intelligent species on the planet … erm maybe not ?
There is much to be said and done to denormalise the acceptance of alcohol in our everyday lives. We have become so desensitised to the negative impacts of alcohol, that we do not address the issue right in front of our eyes.
My relationship with alcohol ended abruptly. When I recognized the poison that it was, It left me and I didn’t chase it back. I didn’t even consider that I had given up drinking alcohol. I agree with everything you present here, but I can also easily imagine how me 15 years ago as a heavy drinker would react to this article – agreeing with everything you say up to a point, but going ‘But I am handling it well’ and even getting angry about your hate for the substance because of your love for humanity – arguing that love was something that would let me do whatever I liked, so leave me alone, it’s none of your business. Even when our body is telling us loud and clear, without a clear reference point of another way, it is really hard to wake up from a slumber of our chosen normal, and bring a dose of honesty to see things for what they are, and start making choices from that place, instead of the normal we have long been subscribing to.
A study involving nearly 10,000 young people in the UK found that the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds who say they never drink alcohol rose from 18% in 2005 to 29% in 2015. (1). Over time and with increasing awareness more young people will associate alcohol with its harmful effects and steer away from it, rather than be enticed by peers and grossly misleading and irresponsible marketing.
You have said here that many people feel they cannot celebrate a big milestone without drinking alcohol, and I agree and would say that in addition to this, many people who I know also feel that they cannot end the day with out drinking alcohol. And while we must be careful not to judge, because everyone has the free will to do as they please, it is at least worth raising the conversation, as you have done, about what the real affects of alcohol are.
When I was ready to give up alcohol, I became aware of the obscene way it permeated all aspects of life. It’s everywhere, social and celebratory occasions, in the home, supermarkets and stores, greetings cards now overtly sell alcohol and increasingly toiletries for women and children are named after wines and spirits. Another disturbing trend, ‘child friendly’ pubs where parents routinely take children (and babies) to pubs evenings and weekends.
It is not that long ago a home treatment for children that were teething was to dab some alcohol on their gums knowing it would numb the area. And, we still consumed it knowing what it does to our bodies! What about the assumption that it was something that would naturally be in every home?
When we see and truly allow ourselves to open our eyes to the real devastation of alcohol abuse we can perhaps understand why it is not only a chemical poison but one of the greatest factors in domestic violence the world over.
I grew up in an alcohol free home, as my family were practising Methodists. But as a teenager, this foundation did not hold, and I joined others, drank alcohol and got drunk as a norm. These and my student years were the worst phases for me and can understand how young people get sucked into drinking this dreadful poison. In my thirties, forties and fifties, alcohol was less important and easy for me to stop completely, once I understood how harmful it was.
“Let’s be absolutely honest: we all know deep down that alcohol is harming us and harming our societies.” Yes I agree and therefore I love what you have shared in your awesome blog. It is a fact that alcohol is a poison and fortunately it it our own choice to love our body so much to not poison it.
There are many things in the world that we would be much better off without, all abuse of any kind. There is a reason why we go for any substances that alters our body. I feel it’s important for us to be exposed to the truth of the harm caused but also look at why we choose it or else one poison is replaced by another. Thank you anonymous for sharing the devastating statistics of this poison.
I have to agree with you here on the horrible effect alcohol has on society and people everywhere. With the comment on Yeshua, there is a story of him turning water into wine and other parts of the bible that wine is mentioned. I don’t think that translates into how we could / should live today, but it might explain while people who follow the teachings might drink it.
Why we have created a substance that potentially causes such harm is worth considering… and it is not only alcohol but other drugs foods also. It is not only a matter of simply removing these from our lives but truly having a deeper look at why and what true purpose they are serving?
‘Is it not time that we de-normalised the drinking of alcohol?’ I’d say yes and we are way overdue for this. Everything is pointing to the fact that alcohol is a poison, it causes so much damage to lives but the truth is, if we take away alcohol, I reckon our ill behaviours and choices will simply be shifted to something else. Perhaps we need to look at why we as a society need alcohol and consume it to such an extent when we know it is harmful, so what is really going on?
Such a great article anonymous and when you put all the reasons why alcohol damages our society into the one article, it really does highlight how hideous a substance it is and how crazy it is that we glamorise and hold it up as being a wonderful part of life. As you say, we use it to celebrate and mark pretty much every occasion, without acknowledging that it is undermining us and life even amidst the celebrating. Alcohol is a brute force in diminishing the potential of us as individuals and us as a society, it’s an uncouth bully even when it’s dressed up as champagne.
Our alcohol consumption is a direct reflection of our pain.
A sobering pondering for humanity.
This is a great sharing on how we poison ourselves with beer, spirits and wine. The most pertinent question though to ask is ‘why?’. Why do we choose to harm ourselves in the first place? To explore this is to truly let the genie out of the bottle on the human malaise.
That we are willing to introduce into the body, a substance that is a known poison, is an indication of how far we have strayed from our essence, which is love. If we truly want to alleviate our suffering that has us reaching for alcohol in the first place, we must first come back to this love and allow the embodiment of it to inform our movements. Only then will we not seek to abuse the vessel (our body) that such love is enhoused within. Such abuse is not inflicted by alcohol alone but by the many and various substances (energetic vibrations) we consume such as foods, beliefs, emotions etc. that are unsupportive for our body and as such inhibit our expression of a love that lives within but is not being allowed out. This is easier said than done in the sense that this journey back into our hearts and all the wisdom, love and joy that resides within them can take many, many lives. However, that said it is a simple movement that is made in a single moment to realign with our true source of energy and not the one that leads us away from it. From here it is up to us how steady we hold with this alignment. It is a work in progress for us all.
Our world is better without alcohol. Yet we know that alcohol temporally reliefs us from feeling pain,uncomfortable, but at the end sums up in harm in our body and psyche (wellbeing). Hence, it would be far wiser to look at the truth of why we consume alcohol and why we seem to protect it, even though we know the effects of how it harms our body and wellbeing? Now, that would be a wise and loving choice.
Wonderful expression about the truth of what alcohol is and what affect it has on our world!
Our body only needs true nutrition and alcohol is not part of that so what part of us is craving alcohol is a good question to ask and will help us understand why we drink a substance that is registered as a poison.
Yes- the effects of alcohol are pretty grim –
We are fed the thought of it being relaxing or fun but really it destroys us
Hm ‘destroy’ is a great word. Alcohol wreaks havoc, in our bodies, in our families and in our communities.
When we make it about love of people, many ingrained ideals and beliefs are seen for the harm they generate and their hold on us starts to weaken.
I agree with what alcohol contributes to in our society but to me there is more here, for if alcohol did not exist I would bet my bottom dollar that there would be another substance, another emotion, another behaviour that would take its place. The more we blame the substance the less responsibility is put on ourselves for making the choice to drink, or whatever else the case may be. Alcohol may be involved in those statistics but at the end of the day it is a human being making that choice, and in the full knowing of the consequences too.
Super wise and an invitation to us all. No-one who drinks alcohol, literally no-one doesn’t know that it isn’t bad for them. Thus this self-destructive, self-abusive, self-denying escape is absolutely a conscious choice and so the power (responsibility) is entirely in our hands. Well said Michael.
When giving up drinking and all drugs before I turned 40 some 25 plus years ago my body went through a huge shift as it literally shook for 6 weeks. So when you understand the level of addiction that comes from abusive ways it is not until you get behind the energetic cause that true healing starts as it easy to find replacements until the addictiveness has been fully exposed energetically.
I have also been there done that, as you have described Greg. Quitting one addiction only to replace with another will never expose the root cause. Until the cause is addressed, the cycle of self-abuse doesn’t end.
I have many memories of alcohol that I would rather not have. I feel as though I am marked for life for being somebody I was not. It is one of the best things I have ever done was to give it up for good.. I think the best way to show others that alcohol is very harming is to reflect how amazing life is without it. I honestly could say there was no love in my life when I drank — just emotion — this is massive contrast and its worth knowing.
Many years ago I worked in the police force and saw the first hand effect of the damaging effects of alcohol. Even though I drank and sometimes to an extreme, I still hated the effect it had on the people I cared about. I was involved in some very dangerous and frightening situations because of alcohol. Now working as a nurse, my observations have been the same. I have seen the emergency department damaged and staff threatened and injured because of the effects of alcohol. Meanwhile we see research to say that alcohol has positive effects on the body to try and reduce what alcohol does to our body. Lets just be honest about alcohol being a poison and then people can make their own choices to use it knowing full well what they are doing.
The facts from the front-line. Thank you for sharing.
Alcohol consumption was normal part of life as I grew up, I did it early, and thought I was grown up…it is so abnormal to chose a poison and to normalise the abuse that comes from drinking. I also hate alcohol and it is out of my life and I love that.
That pressure from others to drink, to help them remain where they are can be squashed when we listen to our bodies. The more I connect to my essence the less force that pressure has over me to keep the status quo alive.
I totally agree Anonymous and the question arises as to what will make people and society change, there is so much investment in the alcohol trade and its consequences? What made you stop? For me it was when a person, who is now a dear friend, ‘met’ me for just being me with total love with no agenda and in doing so reflected back to me that I was ‘alright’ as I was and that I, too, could love myself. By doing so I came to realise that the emptiness I felt inside myself did not need to be, in fact it was not true, and that I no longer needed alcohol to dull and suppress that feeling. What a joy it is to be alcohol free.
Yes it is a great joy to be free from the choice to harm ourselves. So long as we want to harm ourselves we will find a way – if we didn’t have alcohol we would find another substance or outlet.
I realized recently how I judge people that drink alcohol and how my reaction and judgment doesn’t support to show a different choice. I hate it not being able to connect to another after they have had a drink. Like the ‘real’ person has left and something else takes it places. Observing and understanding why people drink alcohol has given me the opportunity to speak differently to people about drinking alcohol, which doesn’t mean that I don’t see the poison it is and the harm it does.
I remember thinking I was super cool and classy when I was drunk until I went to a party where I was the designated driver and was the only sober one!… then I really got to see that there was nothing classy or cool about alcohol really and as far as I can see it does nothing to improve anyone’s character or behaviour.
Same here Andrew, I was always the designated driver as I wasn’t that bothered about drinking alcohol. Like you I got to see what we are really like when we are drunk and it’s not a pretty sight. In fact, I used to get quite bored with my friends when they were inebriated.
Thank you for sharing the real truth about alcohol, so much of this I relate to, have done and agree is what happens. So why do we have something that causes so much harm as socially acceptable? I know I used to drink to escape the frustration and unsettlement I felt in my body, what if we as a society focused on not the escape but dealing with the root issue of why we feel like we need to escape. Perhaps only when we all discuss the real truth of things like alcohol and the many other ways I know I would goto to escape that we can move on from it.
Yes, the list of things that are wrong with alcohol is many and the collateral damage it causes. Could the reason it is a legally supported method of numbing one’s self, because in 2017 the global alcoholic beverages market was $1224 billion, then add a tax on top.
Alcohol played centre stage in our house growing up and there was conflict and misery as a result. The sad thing is we then grow up and do the same things and see it as normal. I for one will welcome the day when we all know that alcohol is harming every aspect of our lives.
I remember the times when I was in Hotelschool and we oddly do wine tastings and how we spoke about all the flavours we found in them. These days, after not drinking for more then 10 years – simply because the way I would feel after just one glas was not worth it anymore to me – when I smell alcohol the stench reveals immediately what it is and it is hard to imagine I once had poetic things to say about it. It shows how we wilfully adjust what our body senses based on what we want, and so when we want the numbing and escape of alcohol we can make ourselves experience it as a wonderful thing. How powerful are we!
After reading this blog, I checked out some of the research on alcohol related abuse. The statistics are rising alarmingly. The Professional Association for Social Work and Social Workers (BASW) quotes that –
“Alcohol harm is experienced not only by drinkers but by those around them including families, friends, colleagues and strangers. There is a strong relationship between alcohol and domestic abuse, violence and sexual assault”.
As with everything moderate it only makes the hair less visible but the effect is always there both physically and energetically. We champion moderation as we feel it allows us to get away with aubsive behaviour but what must be realised that the excess can only be there because the moderation is accepted.
Growing up I would often hear my parents or their friends saying ‘have one for the road’. This would be shocking to hear nowadays – with the don’t drink and drive messages. Observing how characters change when consuming alcohol feels very strange when one isn’t drinking oneself. An alternative ego seems to emerge and people do very silly, sometimes dangerous things.
It is fascinating when we look at how commonly accepted and normal alcohol is as a part of many people’s lives. However, it was not always the case and I feel will not always be the case as people are waking up to see the ill effects it has. But then we have to look at how people are drinking and what they get from it. Because otherwise all that happens is we stop using one thing, congratulate ourselves only to find us choosing another form of numbing or distraction to deal with what life throws at us. If we addressed the way we were living in the 1st place that led to the need and desire for alcohol then we would not find a substitute for it – otherwise nothing changes only the look of our actions will.
I have been at celebrations where, despite the people knowing I don’t drink alcohol, the pressure to ‘have one sip’ to celebrate an occasion was quite intense. One occasion was compounded because I don’t eat gluten or dairy so also refused the bagel and cream cheese – which is apparently de rigeur after a circumcision. Why cant we just accept that people make their choices?
We don’t like to accept the reflection of people making self-loving choices if we are making harmful choices and not being honest about them as that exposes us.
Would you give a baby alcohol? That question alone exposes the harm alcohol does. What’s more no baby needs alcohol as in most cases we are born knowing and expressing from our essence. We should be investing everything we have into finding out why and how we stay from the riches we are born with.
Alcohol was one of those milestones we waited for because it was something you could not do legally till a certain age. But we all know what we do if something is repressed and not allowed. Once we cross that invisible line, we are lost into an activity that is encouraged. But it takes will and practice to override the body’s natural reaction to something that has no benefit or purpose. I can say, I got on the bus of socially accepted drinking to the point it became a part of my rhythm. 15 years ago, I had developed a rare-ish medical condition that sometimes is related to alcohol consumption and to isolate the cause I was asked to abstain from drinking for six months. At the end of this period I returned to the Doctor and asked if I had noticed any improvement, and I replied Yes, I had saved a shed full of money but, the condition has not changed. In the end, the cause was accidental solvent poisoning from work. I have not needed to drink again. It’s not till you stop and allow your body to rebalance its self, do you notice its voice you have suppressed for many years.
I also don’t drink now and love this. I go out but don’t stay out late – which I love, so the next day I am not tired. I also love not having hang overs and instead enjoy my days and feel well.
What really comes across is how we have normalised something that is so harmful to us and it shows how our behaviour affects those around us.
Anonymous, amazing article, thank you. The statistics are shocking for alcohol related crimes; ‘It is estimated that about 80-90% of crime occurs under the influence of alcohol and drugs.’
I don’t enjoy and no longer consume alcohol because of how awful it makes me feel the next day.
‘I work in a prison once a week and many prisoners tell me that the reason they are in prison is because of alcohol.’ This is huge! The whole drinking in moderation thing doesn’t work because as we know that we always want more. It’s a bit like eating a chocolate; you convince yourself that you will have just one and before you know it the whole box has gone. As a society, we haven’t been ready to really look at, and accept the damage alcohol does. When you break it down in the cold, sober light of day, as you have anonymous, the truth of it is clear to see.
Anonymous, I hate alcohol too. I can’t stand the smell or taste of it and thankfully my body did not tolerate alcohol at all. I tried alcohol a handful of times as an attempt to fit in with my friends but my body gave me clear signs that alcohol is highly toxic and the best thing I did was listen to its messages.
Brilliant article, exposing how harmful alcohol is to our body, to our society and beyond. The question you asked, ‘But… would you give a baby even a ‘moderate’ amount of alcohol?’ is so honest. The answer would be an outright ‘no’ for many people because deep down we do know that alcohol is toxic to our body. So it makes me wonder, why would we want to poison our body?
‘A future without alcohol is coming…’ and you have made it really clear about the impact this will have. Speaking to young people at work there are a significant number who are choosing not to drink alcohol, saying they don’t like it or would rather spend their money on other things. Maybe we are starting to de-normalise alcohol consumption and articles like these support bringing this conversation and consideration to the fore.
I also love living an alcohol free life and I really don’t enjoy attending parties or weddings where there is alcohol for after a while when it starts to take effect on people it really isn’t that nice to be around, this is something growing up I would have never expected myself to say because I was caught up in a culture that did champion it. Less people now are drinking alcohol than ever before and this is a trend that needs to increase so we can get a handle on alcohol related diseases which will at least help relieve some of the burden on health systems around the world.
Alcohol may be socially acceptable, with most drinkers considering that without it they can’t have a ‘good time’ but what about the consequences, many of which you have listed Anonymous. For me, as well, the consequences are too serious to ignore and damaging the fabric of society, a society that, in general, has its head buried deeply in the sand, not wanting to acknowledge the harm that alcohol is doing to both young and old; after all it is a poison so why would we want to poison ourselves simply to have a good time?
All of these reasons that you list for hating alcohol are very relatable to all of us – which shows me how totally and utterly, and without any questioning, we have allowed this poison to dominate our lives to such an extreme degree.
A very needed conversation and your comment about giving alcohol to a baby is spot on. There is no question that alcohol – or should we call it ethanol so that there is no doubt – is a poison to the body. We all know this, we all feel it and our body tells us this over and over again. Thus we have to look at the why? How are we living that we accept and inflict this abuse and it doesn’t stand out as ab-normal?
We see people as horrid, wicked and ill intentioned, instead of realising it’s an ill energy not their true essence. Knowing this transforms our treatment of alcoholics and other addicts.
Great point Joseph and this is why I feel if we eliminate alcohol entirely this will not change the energy that runs us to consume alcohol in the first place. So, the way to heal this ill, self-abusive behaviour is to understand what drives us to commit such behaviours and what is the real cause for this and address it from there by understanding energy. If we all live with absolute love, honesty and truth by aligning to the energy of our divine origin, we would be able to eliminate easily things in life that do not support us, like alcohol, sugar, drugs etc.
I hate alcohol because I see beautiful and lovely women and men change in characters which they are not and do not represent any of their tender and delicate qualities anymore. At times it makes me feel sad too.
We have made drinking poison normal. How lost have we allowed ourselves to become?
No one becomes a nicer person after a drink.
I agree Nico van Haastrecht. Seeing young people under the influence of alcohol, especially in groups where the energy between them can escalate is quite shocking – its as if hardness comes in which can also manifest as pride or arrogance, over excitement, competition – of course it can also make people depressed, sad and lonely. When talking to some young people they admit that alcohol isn’t such a good idea but because everyone else does it they are not going to stop and then they start saying it’s not so bad. It seems to me they are just making it ok because they don’t, as yet, have what it takes to stop and they haven’t looked at what is actually happening under the influence of this toxic substance. Great article, thank you Anonymous.
I know what you mean Nico. But when we don’t feel and see that beauty and the delicate qualities in ourselves then we can make choices that don’t support us.
What you say is true Nico. It is sad that so many women and men, walk as empty vessels feeling they need to fill themselves with an outside and toxic substance oblivious to their own natural essence which is beautiful and lovely.
Do we ever question ourselves that while we all know that alcohol is not good for people and in truth is a poison for the body, why people are still choosing to use it no matter at its cost?
‘Everything in moderation’ is such a lie – does it mean that moderate abuse, a moderate dose of arsenic or snake venom, a moderate way of torture, moderate warfare and atomic bombs are all okay and sanctioned by virtue of the fact that they are moderate? And what is moderate? Something is either harming or healing – where is the healing in alcohol and war?
Well said Gabriele. This highlights the ridiculousness in moderations or a little bit of everything. Whilst this approach may seem harmless we need to stop and ask if this is true?
We cannot successfully eliminate alcohol unless we are willing to go to the root cause of why so many of us reach for this vice and really examine what it is we want to alleviate or escape from and why. In my experience, once this tension is dealt with the need to reach for a numbing device such as alcohol simply drops away. If it is not dealt with and we still manage to give up alcohol, we will just reach for another vice be that a particular food or a certain behaviour that provides the same ‘quelling’ effect of the alcohol. I agree that alcohol is a poison we as a society are by far better off without however we also need to have an understanding that it delivers to the body a certain vibration that we crave and until we deal with the nature of why we crave it so, the addiction will simply remain long after the substance is removed.
Very much agreed because we know the harm alcohol does, at least most of us do by now, and it does not make sense that we keep consuming it, just as it is with certain foods we know don’t offer any true nutrition to the body.
Thank you Anonymous, I have learnt something that I was unaware of regarding the symbolism of the Last Supper.
“the Last Supper, which symbolised the letting go of food and drink which does not honour and support our bodies.”
This is such a strong and beautiful article. I have felt the heavy effects of alcohol since I was incredibly young but I never thought I had a choice not to drink. I always just did what society classses as normal. And I wanted to be classed as normal most likely. Such a beautiful highlight to what is still accepted in society but how incredibly poisonious it is to the body.
We have made drinking poison normal. How lost have we allowed ourselves to become?