A divination about addiction ... and prayers

Someone I deeply love is circling the drain, close to drowning in booze. I've known this person for decades ... I know his soul, his sweetness -- I used to call him "my John Lennon angel." He'd once had a vision of John Lennon with wings, singing "Imagine" ...

Yesterday I had to have the police called to his home. Long story short, no one who's geographically closer to him will (in some cases, any longer) offer help; it seems they've all thrown up their hands. Three or four people, including me, are still willing to respond to the crisis calls ... and yesterday was my last time. I can't do it any more. I'm done.

I won't go into why ... Anyone who's loved another with unrelenting addictions will understand.

I pray through the I Ching ... and last night I was sweating with prayers. I released my coins and received Hexagram 30, RADIANCE, changing through Line 5 to Hexagram 13, COMMUNITY.

I leapt to the changing line; as always, the oracle spoke to the issue's core. From various sources, the message is this:

Tears fall like heavy rain ... you realize that you must give up certain things ... Tears in torrents ... Lamentation ... True remorse for indulgences (!) and sincere resolve to change behavior ... "You have lost your central relation ... but the connection remains." ... Accept the necessity of adversity ... Grief and regret for past errors shows your genuine concern ... Cleansing grief ... Give way to sorrow, else the dam will burst ... you recognize all too clearly what you must leave behind (but) you undergo a genuine change of heart.

What this beloved breaking-down man doesn't know is that he's already connected and always has been. The RADIANCE of Hexagram 30 -- the element of Fire, doubled -- is that of interdependence and interbeing. Addiction tears at all bonds; it's a maddened creature, a killer.

Though this person I love doesn't know it, I'm standing in the fire with him. That's all I can do ... and it has to be enough. It is enough, now, for me ... a harrowing liberation. I recognize the fact of interbeing and its evolution into consicous relation. My friend seems to have lost his ability to perceive relation ... and may be dying of despair.

Please, if you pray in any manner, place yourself in the fire with my friend. Call him John.

My thanks and love to you.