Light on Addictions


I've had some personal experience with the more common addictions. For years my life was directed by personal addictions and by relationships with addicted people. I found a path into recovery through 12-step programs. In recovery, I've found that the addictions I was treating were only symptoms of a spiritual emptiness. This is not a religious diatribe! I'm not gonna try to push God on you! What was missing for me was a connection with other beings and with the world around me. I had built a world image and was doggedly and blindly trying to force my life (and the lives of those around me) down the path I'd defined.

This may be a common problem for many of us, especially in the West. Our lives and worldview are based on scientific theories developed over the past few hundred years. Observation has become less important than research.

Suppose an addiction is anything which one interacts with, looking for satisfaction, which gets in the way of complete experience of the surrounding world. Suppose it's not an addiction unless you're unaware of the dependency. Consider the possibility that your worldview is distorted, even now, by one (or several) undiscerned addictions. As mine most certainly is still. Isn't it worth checking into?

Many sources concentrate on the popular addictions. Their recovery tools are usually also valid for all the other addictions.


Created: Saturday, February 17, 1996, 9:42:46 AM Last Updated: Saturday, February 17, 1996, 9:42:46 AM