Cody Peterson is a desert rat. He grew up in the American Southwest. When he retired his rock-climbing shows he picked up the pen instead, setting off on an even sketchier traverse – the journey within. By day he works in construction, by night he writes.
Cody is a recovering alcoholic/drug-addict with over eleven years clean and sober. He has been fascinated by spirituality and religion since adolescence, although he struggled to maintain a spiritual connection, spending many years trying to get clean and sober. Finally, after a six-month stint in prison and a period of homelessness in Las Vegas, Nevada, Cody sobered up for good in 2013.
In addition to practicing the Twelve Steps, Cody has rekindled his love of academic literature regarding spirituality and religion, and in 2019 he was led to the writings of C.G. Jung. Resonating deeply with the seminal ideas espoused by the Swiss psychiatrist, Cody felt his own calling to start writing soon thereafter. Today he takes his daily spiritual practice very seriously, believing that his recovery (and his life) depends on it, with his own version of prayer and meditation having evolved over the last thirty years to now include highlighting books and sharing his insights through his writings—the central feature of his day-to-day routine. Cody also feels an urgent need to give back by “carrying the message” to newcomers to the Twelve Steps through volunteering at any number of drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers and detox-facilities every chance he can.
Cody is set to release his first published work, The Shadow of a Figure of Light: The Archetype of the Alcoholic and the Journey to Enlightenment. He sat down with Writer’s Life Magazine to tell us about it.
Tell us a bit about your background and career:
By trade, I’m a construction worker. I own a small contracting company with my wife and depending on business, I may or may not have to wear my toolbelt. I dropped out of high school to work in the trades. Like everyone, I have always been trying to fill a hole within me, to fix a core problem with something “outside” of myself. I used to do that with drugs and alcohol. For me, addiction is like a vision quest—drugs and alcohol always represented something mystical for me. Addiction stems from a longing to feel connected to people and to the Cosmos, even though it doesn’t look like that on the outside. Getting sober has allowed me the freedom and clarity to pursue my real vocation, as a writer. I use the term “vocation” in the sense that the psychiatrist Carl Jung did—I’m obsessed with the notion of psychological transformation and want to tell everyone about it.
Tell us about your new book, The Shadow of a Figure of Light: The Archetype of the Alcoholic and the Journey to Enlightenment
My book examines the thirst for wholeness through the lens of alcoholism and addiction. In it, I explore how the most profound, life-changing experiences are buried within the darkness of our psychological shadow. I hear about “shadow work” all the time: Gabor Mate talks about the shadow of addiction on Tik Tok; it’s become a talking point among popular psychologists to tens of millions of views. There is something life-changing in the ancient wisdom of accepting our own darkness, of carving out space in our being for our darkness to exist. Jung said that we are not healed by chasing the Light, but by making the darkness, or the Shadow, conscious. In other words, true meaning is mined from the darkness of our lives.
What was your impetus for writing the book?
William James, the great American psychologist, said that “writing is yoga,” and that really resonates with me because writing has always been a space where I try to work out the mysteries of the universe. Another form of meditation I enjoy is highlighting books—an idea I stole from Joseph Campbell, who inspired George Lucas to create Star Wars. I love highlighting books about spirituality and psychology, and so to view that as a spiritual practice felt good because it doesn’t require much discipline. I am not a very disciplined person.
My book grew out of the notes I had made in the margins of a few of my favorite reads. It is an extended meditation that explores what it means to have a mystical experience, both through using drugs as well as in sobriety—stone cold sober. In addition to celebrating the role of drugs and alcohol in the human, spiritual experience, my book is a love letter to Bill Wilson, the guy who wrote the Twelve Steps, as well as Carl Jung—two of history’s greatest teachers. But my goal isn’t to push the Steps onto anyone, and I want to be clear about that. For me, I found that working the Twelve Steps helped me make my darkness conscious. The Steps are one way to “get there.” But then again, so is getting high. Both methods represent a vision quest of sorts—a perilous journey inward.
The other reason I wrote this book was to tell the fascinating story of how a shaman led Carl Jung on his own vision quest in the mountains near Toas, New Mexico, and how that journey would eventually lead to the formulation of Alcoholics Anonymous. Jung knew that he had played a role in the formulation of AA, but he never knew that the Twelve Steps grew directly out of his own vision quest, inspired by an ancient tradition of Native American shamanism that he encountered during his trip to the American Southwest. Bill Wilson didn’t know it either, even though the two of them corresponded later. It was something I discovered through my own research. For many, the indigenous peoples of America have become our spiritual ancestors. We’re all connected.
What was it that led you to the writings of C.G. Jung?
Jung tells the story about a poor and uneducated woman coming to his office wanting to meet him. She had saved up for many months to make the long trip by train, and when she finally arrived, she told the doctor how much she loved reading his books. If you’ve ever tried to read Jung, you know how dense his writing can be, and Jung was a little surprised that a person without formal training and education could understand his writings, let alone be so moved by them. She said, “Doctor Jung, your words are food for the soul.” I can imagine how moved he was by that. It was Joseph Campbell who introduced me to Jung, and when I finally decided to read Jung for myself, I was addicted. I scarfed down many of his books from cover to cover, one after another. Jung’s stuff really is food for the soul, and it inspired me to write this book.
What are the messages you want readers to take away from reading your work?
Jung said that the best thing we can do for the world is to make our own shadow conscious, and that’s what I want to help people do. We’re all addicted to something—food, sex, screen-time, work, gym, our routine, and so on. That’s all fast food for the malnourished soul. I hope that my book helps people see themselves through a new pair of glasses, that it helps them to find greater self-love and self-acceptance. Writing the book certainly had that effect on me. Reading Jung has that effect on me, too.
Why did you feel it was important to tell this story?
Jung said that there is a battle being waged within each of us. But our society no longer has answers for the “divine drama” called “life.” Instead of facing our darkness, we distract ourselves. But the soul is restless, and we are all searching for something to fix us, hoping to find meaning or connection in the next drink, the next click, the next swipe. The lucky ones are those who feel this interior angst so deeply that it literally drives them to go in search of something to quench it, even risking their lives to do so—as many drug-addicts do. I am fascinated by the idea that addicts are called to such a daunting task. I think that more than most people, they have their finger on the pulse of what it means to be human, of what it means to search for real meaning in life.
I saw someone on Instagram (@nicoledaedone) the other day saying that even the most evolved minds don’t meet addiction well, either within themselves or in others. Jung says that “compulsion is the great mystery of human life.” He told one of his billionaire alcoholic patients that he would need a spiritual experience in order to overcome his problem—not what you want to hear from your doctor. All the money in the world can’t fix what’s wrong with the soul. We want to be told that a pill will do the trick. That’s the reason why so many people use drugs—it fixes the soul, at least temporarily. Addictions of all kinds stem from the angst in the human heart, and whether it be to a substance, a person, or something else, it is a calling from deep within to the difficult task of transformation. In that sense, addiction can be a great gift, a doorway that leads to deeper self-awareness and self-acceptance. That’s the story I tell in my book. It’s a story that everyone can relate to on some level.
You volunteer at detox and rehabilitation centers – what does this work mean to you?
That work is the most meaningful thing I do in my life, and by far the most nourishing for my soul. The beautiful thing about the work that we do in the Twelve Steps is that we are given the gift to reach people whom psychologists and clergy cannot reach—we’re the ones that the wisest doctors send their toughest cases to, because they know we can help when they can’t. We’ve tapped something special in the Twelve Steps, something sacred, something soulful. Jung called it “the numinosum.” I wanted to show the world that the Twelve Steps are a way for people to access “the numinosum.” Of course, there are other ways as well. The reason we can reach those people is because we don’t go preaching to them about how bad drugs and alcohol are, or how gambling can ruin their life, or how overeating will make them fat. In fact, we don’t even tell them not to do those things—we know that they have become trapped by the mystery of addiction. Instead, we tell them about our own plunge into the darkness, our own struggles in those areas. That’s the story people long to hear. It’s the story of our journey as humans, our vision quest.
What are you working on now and what can we expect from you next?
If you would have asked me that question five years ago, I wouldn’t have guessed that I’d be publishing a book, or that it would be getting so much attention. One of the wonders of self-discovery is that the paths that open up for us are ones we dreamed of but never really expected to happen. Joseph Campbell always encouraged his readers to “follow their bliss.” Writing this book has been my bliss, and there has been great power for me in being true to that inner calling. As many more avenues of self-expression open up, I want to learn how to communicate in a way that I can reach more people, to help them make their darkness conscious. And while I hesitate to try and control what might happen next, I would be lying if I didn’t admit that what I hope comes about is another book, since writing this one proved to be so rewarding.
Where can people find out more about you and your work?
I guess it’s a little ironic that Twitter/X is one place where I am rather easy to find—that digital cesspool kind of resembles the bars and trap-houses I used to frequent before my life took such a turn for the better over eleven years ago. Some of the apps are among my own addictions—Twitter and TikTok, just to name a few. But I do try to share a story and a message on those platforms that might punch through the noise. My handle on both Twitter and TikTok is @alkyarchetype. But if you prefer a more civilized landing page, you can go to my website www.cody-peterson.com. I have links to buy my book on all of those spots, and it is also available for purchase from Chiron Publications directly: www.chironpublications.com. It will be available on amazon very soon as well. By the way, Chiron is the world’s foremost Jungian publishing house, and I am certainly honored that they picked up my book. I must say, the Jungian community is pretty excited about what I wrote, and I hope that you’ll grab a copy and join us on this life-changing journey into the darkness.
