Some Kiwis drink a lot of grog.  It kills about 1,000 of us every year.  The proposed reform of the alcohol laws may rein in the merchants who make millions out of this misery but will do little to ease the angst of human existence which lies at the heart of our boozing. As far as we know, we’re the only species on the planet that is self conscious, aware that we are one of billions, dispensable, replaceable and whose only real purpose seems to be to die to feed the mineral deposits of the Earth.  If that were evident to the ancients as they developed religious practises to make sense of it all, we are now poignantly aware that despite our grandiose posturing we are possibly the most harmful virus to ever invade the planet.   ‘Getting out of it’ aptly describes our struggle to come to terms with the growing awareness of our pointlessness.

The world may look different though if you’re an ex- governor general or an archbishop, a university professor, a media savvy sporting star or some other eminent New Zealander who has managed to construct meaningful shape to their life while still enjoying the odd tipple or two. From that position it might be obvious that amending alcohol legislation is the best answer to the problem of drinking ourselves into disaster.

However, if your hormones are driving you to re-create but you can’t find a partner to hold you for longer than it takes for quick release then you may disagree.  If you’re a young man who has never learnt to communicate through the heart, binge drinking with the boys will forge important male bonds.  When you have little money and family demands seem endless, drinking works as an avoidance technique.  Even if you’re an educated professional who could know better, drinking fine wine is a way of self medicating the pain that comes when wondering whether this is all there is?

We are born into a world of pain and dis-ease, Earth bound with a spirit that cries for ecstatic connection with the transcendent.  Previously, the god stories of many faiths gave us insight into this confusion.  Religious rituals, often involving pain or mutilation, were initiations into an adulthood that limited ego through adoration of the ultimate mystery and sometimes offered mystical experiences where glimpses of the transcendent were possible.

Having killed off God in a fit of intellectual pique when we couldn’t understand the Divine in terms we had invented and could control, we are now staggering around in an ignorance that knows no bounds.  Still we yearn for something more in daily life but we have lost the skills to make the connection.

Engaging the political system to bring about positive change is necessary but one dimensional.  We also need to re-introduce our society to the world of the soul.  To reinvent old rituals or create new ones that help us understand and value our human vulnerability without trying to intellectualise it out of existence, or self medicate it into submission.  In this way we may begin to grow the understanding that tending the spirit is as integral to our good health as caring for the body.  Not because of some hopeful existence beyond the grave, but to open up the possibilities of this life viewed from another dimension.

Ancient and Eternal Spirit; may we have more than eyes to see.

Be Sociable, Share!

•