From infancy our world has used our need to feel secure as a tool to control us by manipulating our perceptions of our abilities to do what we need to do to have a happy and secure life (self-esteem). At the beginning of our lives, we know little and have little power to meet the simplest of our needs. At this time, our minds are sharp, receptive and not as cluttered with irrelevancies as they later become. As we venture forth into a more complex life cluttered by symbols for success and danger, these abilities might serve some use. But at our earliest ages, we rationally conclude we must take advice from authority figures. We correctly assume they know more about life than we do. When we accept their wisdom and seek their approval without challenge, this orientation is called co-dependence. We believe they know who we are and how we should be, as well as what we should or should not do.

As we mature in healthy ways, we begin to trust our own opinions on things, especially about ourselves. In adolescence, we challenge authority figures, often for the sake of asserting our independence?even though we are not nearly as self-sufficient as we believe. Later, we simply accept responsibility for being adults and form our opinions with a more balanced view, comfortable using the wisdom of others as well. If we grew up emotionally troubled and confused, we tend to be unable to grow out of our childhood co-dependencies or our adolescent need to reject even wise authorities. Then the co-dependencies we take into our adult years set us up for manipulation and painful self-doubts. Those who have taken the Five Gates Training Program achieve greater self-empowerment by knowing how to balance their relationships with themselves and their worlds. As their anxieties rapidly fade, they take away with them the cravings for drugs and self-deception. This kind of fundamental approach towards healing the whole person is the only kind of treatment program that can work. Author: Lynn Kesselman