An addiction is a relationship one establishes with something or someone outside of self, to palliate 1) the pain of not owning self, and 2) the dreadful sense of unworthiness that being away from self triggers.

Addiction & Spirit

From a spiritual stand point, an addiction is a transposition, a transfer of energy. Instead of being within, an addicted person is outside, in another person (co-dependency), in a substance, in a habit, a practice etc… That transposition happens upon the imperative need to fill up the void within, and to damper the pain of being disconnected from self.

All addictions, to substances or others, is a temporary filler and soother that gives us an impression of more wholeness and connection, with the terrible drawback of becoming “hooked” to whatever replaces the painful inner void.

The obvious danger of any addiction is that an addicted person will not do what is required to truly fill up the gap of presence within, because their life style has become revolved around “getting” the –whatever, whether serious or benign- the addiction is. It’s a bottom less pit that detracts someone’s energy in a vicious way.

Social Consensus of Addiction

Since we all live in the search of ourselves, we all run the risk to become addicted. Addictions have been so well absorbed by the social consensus and practices that we don’t even realize that they are addictions, because they are the reflections of our human quest for connection. They go under the radar and feel legitimate.

As an act of awakening, a desire to get the head out of the sack -even when the sack doesn’t look like one…-, one has to have the willingness to look and ask within: “why do I do this or that? What is the drive underneath my actions? Then one will unavoidably hit the pain, and if that pain is dealt with, then true healing is on its way. True healing means connection, re-owning the parts that were gone and starting the journey to wholeness.

Final Thoughts on Addiction

As a spiritual guide, it’s my role to repeat things over and over until it sinks in. We are creatures of habits, identified with our behaviors, and that makes change really hard to happen! So I’ll say it one more time: as long as pain, in any shapes or forms is avoided, denied and not met, no progress will be made in our goal to Oneness, and no ultimate Self-Realization will be achieved. Pain is the pointer to our missing parts. Running after stuff — itself an addiction — in the hope to feel better, will do just one thing: keep us in the hardship of fragmentation, coping with life instead of living it!

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