In the States, it’s against the law to drive while intoxicated. This all started, of course, once there were cars. But then, because there are lawyers, the question became “What’s intoxicated?” The prosecutor would say “Well, you were intoxicated.” The lawyer would say “Prove it!”
So they developed scales for intoxication. They were able to measure in various ways your blood alcohol level. They did it through something called a breathalyzer or through drawing blood and taking your blood alcohol level from that.
They developed a scale. This much blood alcohol meant you were intoxicated to a certain degree and this much blood alcohol meant you were intoxicated to another degree. So in some states there was DUI, Driving Under the Influence, A and Driving Under the Influence B. Driving Under the Influence A would be a minor penalty; Driving Under the Influence B you would lose your license for an extended period of time. Different states had different measurements. In New Jersey .8 wasn’t intoxicated and 1.8 was very intoxicated to the point where they take your license for a year. Different states have different measures of intoxication.
We walk around the world and we are influenced by various things. Some of them we take very seriously, some we pay no attention to, and some we become incredibly attached to, and very close to, and very influenced by. You might say we become under the influence of those things, just as in a DUI you’re driving under the influence, well we’re walking or talking under the influence.
Anything that you get involved with in great excess becomes an intoxicant. This is one of the dangers of our walk through the dunya, that various things in this world intoxicate us to the point where we are in an altered state.
There are lots of things that can put you in an altered state. The drive for fame can put you in an altered state. The drive for power can put you in an altered state. The drive for women can put you in an altered state. The drive for money can put you in an altered state — an altered/intoxicated state, an altered/drunk state. So we can be drunk with the need for power. We can be drunk with the need for fame. We can be drunk with the need for money. We can be drunk with the need for women. We can be drunk for so many things: drunk with the need for titles, drunk with the need for recognition, they have names for some of these things. If you are constantly in need of recognition and you are drunk with the need for recognition, they call it histrionic personality disorder. They have names for all these things. You can be a narcissistic personality if you have this constant for fame and recognition.
