Addiction

We human beings are extremely susceptible to addiction. The robotic nature of our self-conscious existence lends itself to the repetition of experience as a need to substantiate the feeling of being alive. Addiction in all its forms is becoming more widespread as another global symptom of the universal unhappiness of life on earth.The basis of all addiction is the search for something to alleviate the pain and trauma of being born in a divisive world where love struggles to survive. Most people have become so identified with their fluctuating feelings that any direct experience of love as the restorative quality of life is unable to be registered. When love is present as the palpable sensation of being alive, the addictive impulse to find solace through some external means is negated.

When a pattern of behaviour becomes excessive beyond the normal bodily requirements, there’s the possibility of addiction. The triggers for addiction are manifold and often occur when a person becomes vulnerable to the forces of the unconscious. Entities of past living experience are primed to enter existence through any emotional aberration that creates an opening within the personal space of the subconscious. This is common when someone is traumatised, or a way of life is shattered through the collapse of a relationship or losing one’s job. Alternatively, there are those whose lives appear to be loaded with such obstacles and disadvantages that addiction to drugs or alcohol seem the only solution to coping with life.

Habit precedes the full-blown addictive symptoms. Habitual patterns form shallow grooves within the subconscious mind and lack the intensity of addiction. Addiction is of both mind and body. Anyone who’s smoked cigarettes will know how unsatisfying it is to begin with; it takes a while to get habitually into the routine of inhaling the smoke. The addiction only kicks in when the body becomes dependent on the nicotine as a stimulant which is able to alter the sensitive internal apparatus of the body. Every puff on the cigarette pacifies the cellular vibratory motion that has now become dependent on the nicotine to maintain the integrity of the body system. When deprived of their feed, the cells vibrate at an increasing speed and can only be quelled by smoking another cigarette. And this is the same for every type of addiction, the only difference being the intensity of the addictive pay-off.

To break an addiction is a more difficult task for some than for others. An obsessive gambler, for example, becomes attached over time to the emotional feelings engendered by the experience, regardless of winning or losing. The addiction is supported by the emotional body of self which, unbeknown to the person, has usurped the virtue of the being. While an addiction is rife, the best that can be done as a temporary measure is to manage the condition without trying to stop it completely. Ultimately, the addiction has to be willingly surrendered by giving back to life something of value beyond the person’s self-satisfaction and pain. At a certain threshold of suffering, usually at a point of complete despair, the addict is compelled to enter their body as an action of consciousness. This direct experience of being present in the senses can instigate an extraordinary change and set in motion a completely new way of life. This is common in people who then go on to help and inspire others through the virtue of having passed through the addictive condition within themselves.

Any addiction is something out of context of the whole, making the addict exclusive in their identification with a substitute love in the world. Each day as the earth is divested of its natural resources, more and more people are becoming addicted to some external substance to appease the despair caused by the predicament of our polluted and decaying planet. Although there’s no way out for the masses, the solution is built into the living process itself and realised by the individual alone. To come to life, it’s essential to begin to perceive beyond the sense projection to the vaster life within. The impediment to this is the craving for sensual experience in the flesh. However, when someone has suffered enough through the realisation that they want no more experience as a need, the addiction to the suffering of existence is negated.