Addiction and the 'I'

All forms of addictions are a way of the 'I' to take a hold of you. Sex addiction, alcohol, gambling, substance abuse; all these coping mechanisms are the attempt to leave your struggles behind, at least for the moment. You will not have to cope with your fears when you put your mind in sleep. You are craving connectedness, anticipating the orgasmic high that your bondage can temporarily achieve, albeit at higher and higher costs for you and the people who are close to you. I am now in my fifth year of writing, and early on had a simple note titled 'J. Krishnamurti on Addiction', which to date has been the most sought out contribution on my blog. It seems many struggle with this issue and, whether you are a spiritual traveler or not, all of us battle with this problem statement: How can we avoid the 'I' taking us for a ride.

A spiritual path is about cleaning up. If you think that you can overcome the 'I' by appealing to your better half you are probably naive. You cannot play games with yourself. A spiritual path is about learning insights about the 'I'. You can observe the irrationality of your fears just be listening to them. You can observe the craving for security, the desire to cling on to whatever it is that gives you the temporary relief. You can observe all that and you can study what happens to your energy system and your environment as you cut all the impurities out of your life, very much as you can study the opposite effect when you let the 'I' roam freely. It is exactly the same path everyone else has to take, yet it occurs on a higher plane of consciousness. It is a staircase towards transcendence and with time you climb to higher and higher spheres of understanding with the occasional stop along the way just to remind yourself why you are undertaking the journey in the first place.

A spiritual path traveler has a couple of messages for the addict in need. First, when you perceive that your world falls apart understand that this is an illusion. Put your best foot forward and see how your life can heal as quickly as it disintegrated before. Second, when you face your addiction you have already taken the first step on your spiritual journey home. Every additional step will be similar, yet it will be a journey of joy, serenity and peace. It is just a journey in the opposite direction and it does get easier with every step you take.