The Origins of Addiction

[Shemaya]

[font=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]But why does unresolved stuff show up as addictions? This points to a deeper mechanism at play. One where we have to generalize the above quote a little further.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Most people are what is known as ego-identified. We experience ourselves as a me[/font]

Very true.  We think we are a person who lives in a particular locale, we think we are a gender, we think we are someone who does certain things, we label ourselves vegan, omnivore, athletic, musical, contemplative, introverted, extroverted.  However, the Law of One states that we are everything.  That is a pretty big concept to understand.  Imagine knowing yourself to be a kind, compassionate person and yet according to the Law of One you are also an unkind, ego- centric, self- serving being.  I think that is identifying with the ego, rather than with the Creator/ Self.   

Out of touch with our higher Self, we’re unconscious of consciousness, the subject, and thus become identified with or caught in the objects of experience, including our self-concept or ego. We get lost in what we’re experiencing. This is ego-identification or object-identification.

So the sages, (Patanjali in this case) make a distinction between identifying with the Creator/ Self and our self- concept or ego. Most people are highly identified with their idea of who they think they are rather than who they truly are

[font=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]Patanjali observed, we’re attached to pleasure, grasping at things we want so we can latch on. But inversely, we have an aversion to pain. Both grasping and aversion lead to suffering.[/font]

[font=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]What is the solution? Notice the mention of higher Self. When we discover who we are within, the subject disengages from the objects of experience and we settle into pure being, pure consciousness. When this is deep enough, we are liberated from the binding attachments of object identification. We are the Self, observing objects of experience.[/font]

I think the attachment to pleasure is the source of addictions.  It certainly was in my love addiction .  Love feels really good and pleasurable.  And I think that is part of the experience of being in a human body.  Pleasure is a very natural state for our body, it produces neurotransmitters like oxytocin, serotonin , endorphins.  These are pleasure chemicals, unknown in the time of Patanjali. The recent scientific study of the chemical nature of emotions and psychological states is helpful in understanding how our bodies respond to internal and external environments.

When we are connected to our True Self/ Creator, which is a state of joy/ light/ love, our human bodies naturally produce pleasure chemicals.  It is our most natural and connected state.

Addictions happen because people are grasping for connection outside of themselves, thinking that sugar, or that drug, or that person will help me feel loved, or good, or connected.  And they do give that temporary feeling, replacing the endogenous chemicals with an outside chemical. Most people live in highly toxic environments, environments that cause them to feel bad , to feel unworthy, to feel guilty.  We think that we can fill the emptiness, which is just a disconnection from our Source of love and light, by external objects.  However the the Source of love is within.

And the good part is once that connection is made, the body feels good!  Because that is our natural state  a radiant embodiment of the Creator