The Editor's Corner
I have observed that, amongst my fellow, successful Healing Transitions graduates, there is a sense of being privileged to participate in a crusade: that of bringing this extraordinary vehicle of deliverance to other suffering addicts. So, we have taken to calling ourselves "iboganauts," in the best tradition of heroic voyages, and in reference to our own journey of discovery.
I mention the term "successful" in order to honestly admit that Ibogaine is not a magic bullet. It will not somehow free an addict from making the necessary commitment to change, and exerting the personal effort required to make their recovery work. There have been clients who took Ibogaine and still relapsed, because they weren't yet ready to surrender their old way of life.
We mustn't underestimate the strength of our opponent: the disease of addiction is cunning, baffling and powerful. It is powerful enough to destroy us, cunning enough to make us the agent of our own destruction and baffling enough to keep us unaware and in denial. The spreading tendrils of this cancer reach throughout our entire being and attack us on every level. Addiction is much more than an escalating physical dependency. It is also a paradoxical inflation of the ego and, simultaneously, a gradual corrosion of the ego structure; a stealthy subversion of all psychological processes: perception, thought and memory; a progressive morbidity of emotional sensibilities; and the inexorable degradation of the spirit. In my experience, any treatment that fails to address these problems renders only temporary relief.
The period of early recovery is the most dangerous, when the addict is exposed to life without a chemical buffer for the first time in quite a while. The new, recovery-oriented behaviors are just forming, while the old, unhealthy but well-established patterns of thought and behavior beckon with the lure of familiarity and the illusion of security. Ibogaine goes far to bridge over this crucial period. Beginning with the extraordinarily effective detoxification, the Ibogaine experience offers the possibilities of psychological insight, emotional revitalization and spiritual awakening, if one is open to change. Because its metabolite, or intermediate form, wears off slowly, it maintains the addict in a receptive state long enough for them to firmly establish their new way of living and thinking, thus enhancing the chances to survive the difficult early period of recovery.
Yes, we iboganauts feel honored to be blessed with the opportunity to participate in bringing this marvelous new tool for the treatment of addiction to the relief of our fellow sufferers. It is a chance to perform service to others, a concept at the core of recovery, and to give back to a society from which we selfishly took for so long. More than that, we have the rewarding task of becoming living examples of the higher consciousness that the Ibogaine experience has guided us to find.
Thank you, Dr. Mash; thank you, Mama Iboga; thank you, O Supreme Spirit.
A.A.