If addictions are, in John Bradshaw's apt phrase, "the ruins of our search for transcendence," those ruins remain as haunting reminders in us, and the reminders sometimes prompt the cry for help...what is the thirst behind that thirst?
Once, in our drinking days, we were blind, but now we begin to see. In recovery, we gradually grasp the meanings behind our desires and begin to decipher the language of our thirst.
— James B. Nelson, Thirst: God and the Alcoholic Experience