Meditation and Intoxicants: Restlessness

Restlessness

Many people who use intoxicating substances do so driven by an inner restlessness that cannot easily be calmed by more natural means.

Many suffer from conditions such as hyperactivity, bipolar disorder, or psychosis. Quite a number of these conditions may be traced to hereditary factors affecting certain families, linked to leaking membranes in brain cells where, in some individuals, a particular protein is missing.

It would take us too far to explain this in detail here, so I will not pursue the matter further. It is sufficient for our purposes to assume that some people—and more than one might think, sometimes entire families—function differently from the majority of us because of an inherited variation in a membrane protein.

This is therefore not something one can blame oneself for. Up to this point it has nothing to do with guilt; it is simply a form of being different.

Such restless individuals are certainly no less worthy than anyone else. Yet they must go through life with a mode of being that is not always easily reconciled with the everyday demands of our society.

Various difficulties of adaptation arise from this, along with additional damage caused by the friction between these individuals and a society that they may come to experience as hostile and inhospitable.

The inner restlessness they experience—whatever its origin—makes it difficult for them to succeed.

It often begins already at school and continues later in the labor market: unsuitable for certain functions essentially because inner calm is lacking.

That restlessness is often so disturbing that throughout history people have searched for various means to soften it.

One may take up sports, attend religious gatherings, or practice meditation.

That last option is where we now stand, in the knowledge that for some people it may not be sufficient. Yet that does not matter.

Meditation can represent an added value both in general and for those who struggle with inner restlessness. It will not solve every problem, but it can help one become more fully oneself.

And that, in the end, is what it is all about.

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