Addiction

Every next level of your life will demand a new version of you

Martin Santos

Spontaneous Despair

Letting the devil know your plans and intentions is the first step to defeat. You must sly the devil, because the ultimate devil is in you.

When the ego decides before it acts, this creates a hesitation, misfire, or in archery terms, “sin’ – which means missing the mark.

When I became so desperate and reached a level of defeat with no hope in sight, I humbly asked inside of my being “God, I need help!” This asking or imagining set forth a process for healing.

Minute by minute, hour by hour, day to day, attempting to live in the present moment as best I could, a miraculous transformation proceeded.

Days turned into months, and months turned into years.

Today, the insanity of mind craving the addictive substance has not only subsided, rather submerged into a realm of non-consciousness. The victimhood of the habit has been subdued, yet daily fundamental practices still need to be cultivated, nourished, and created in order to maintain the condition.

“You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.”

Galileo Galileo

For me, the belief, in time, transferred into faith. A deeper trust was established in the mind that allowed the conditions to be fulfilled and demonstrated. This the process of recovery, a healing, an endeavor into self-mastery.

This does not mean once something is perceived as mastered, that it no longer requires discipline or skill. To forge a new creativity, requires effort closer to the heart. A passion and burning desire to improve must be established in the form of conviction.

Why do we have addiction? The simplest explanation is to escape suffering.

Addiction is not a lack of will-power, character, or moral delinquency. It is a viable solution to suffering. Life is suffering. Everyone has suffered in any myriad levels of degree.

The problem is that medicine has looked at the problem from an idealogical perspective. Biology to metaphysics and everywhere in between has focused on the symptoms and not the root cause.

Only a few, enlightened medical practitioners have stepped out of the trained indoctrination to find that a spiritual component is at work in this ever present life long dilemma.

All addiction is “bad,” yet a grounding is necessary for sound mental well-being. Moderation is a good discipline, but all that does is lengthen the time in which dangerous consequences or effects from a lethal substance will eventually come to a head.

There is a passion and reasoning in all matters and that is what keeps us humans grounded. Most, have looked up to idols, like athletes, clergy, doctors, or just individuals that we would aspire to become, only to find out suddenly of destructive addictions like sex, drugs, alcohol, abuse, were hidden from the public arena. What does this do to a belief structure?

A collapse of meaning can be devastating to some, which leads to a cognitive dissonance where truth cannot be believed. If a lie is told over and over, the truth is denied in perception. It is impossible to do wrong in one area of your life and not have it blend into other areas eventually. Life is one indivisible whole. Very few, if any, have been successful in this high moral standard.

So, addiction is on the scene and for the foreseeable future looks like it is going to stay. What can be done?

Such a massive problem must be shrunk down into small segments or components. This first starts with the individual, then to its immediate circle of influence, ie. family, friends, culture, community, and expand outwardly. First within, then without.

The question of motivation or intent is involved, which brings us back to the original question, How do you outwit you? What is the addictive cycle of thoughts and worry?

In order for the trap to be set, one must not know that one is being trapped. When there is no door to open, you are here in the present moment. A choice or awareness is recognized. In this gap of silent awareness, there is a place to think and feel, but to escape the addiction and make it vanish, you must not decide and then act. Rather, decide/act is one simultaneous reaction, or spontaneity that releases you from the addiction, victimhood, or suffering, and shifts your awareness into sanity.

As stated previously, once this has occurred, a new process is established. A new fundamental behavior is created and lived.

I wish it was as simple as I played out. Dedication and commitment and resolve are so needed. The price is worth the effort because your life is worth living.

This has been my experience. And so it is.