Addiction - A Wake-up Call From Your Self

Gabor Mate, MD's book 'In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts' should be a must read for anyone who is struggling with addictive behavior or is interested in the subject. He has worked with numerous drug addicts over many years and describes their struggles in shocking detail. The book also offers detailed descriptions of the latest neurological insights on addictive habits. In essence addictive habits are so hard to beat because they shut down your mental decision process. When you are at it, you can't think; your pleasure seeking auto-pilot takes over, which of course begs the question whether you really have a choice in beating any ingrained addictions without external help.

Gabor Mate describes his own struggles with addictive behaviors in the book as well, but it falls a little flat in comparison. He gets a kick out of buying expensive CDs and he describes himself as a workaholic as well. Yet, his struggles seem trivial in comparison to his drug addicted patients who are wasting away on the streets of Vancouver. Of course he is right in saying that in the end there are very similar neural processes at work. I absolutely agree with him that we should think of addictions as a spectrum instead, but the people who are close to losing everything that is dear to them, including their lives, tend to mind when we compare our stubborn habits with their struggles.

I once ran into a problem when I discussed my process of abstaining from an addictive habit for 21 days and then recommended just observing how different the world will look to you after this period. Someone in this discussion forum got really upset with me and pointed out that he had been a drug addict and had he tried my method instead, he would be long dead by now. The point was well taken and I at least from that day on only talk about my problems as 'pernicious habits' that I would like to get rid off. So a 'pernicious habit' is at play when otherwise you still have your life under control. Gabor Mate certainly could have kept his problems for himself and no one outside of his family probably would have noticed that he is a shopaholic and a workaholic.

From the spiritual perspective Gabor Mate is absolutely right. Every addiction, illness or pernicious habit sends you a personal message that something inside of you is out of kilter and needs fixing. He spends several chapters in his book reviewing the spiritual literature and he often cites Eckhart Tolle and other Buddhist insights about the ego. Every addiction makes it clear to yourself that you are really running away from the True Self.

But in the end despite the best efforts of the author, his book is still caught in the common sense thinking that perhaps after beating an addiction, you can live happily like your neighbor next door. But that is an illusion. You are the neighbor next door. The spiritual conclusion has to be that once you have had an unpleasant encounter with your ego, a lifelong spiritual journey is about to start. In fact, one of the drug addicts he works with is a philosopher type who challenged him when he argued that with the help of heroin he can touch God, albeit only for a moment or so. Isn't that all what life is worth living for, his patient asks. Gabor Mate didn't really have a good answer.

The philosophizing heroin addict hit the nail on the head, once you had a taste of God you realize that She is the only thing worth living for. If you really look inside, if you are willing to spot and deal with that restlessness inside of you, an orgasmic high is surely waiting for you. It is an orgasm that never stops, a burning bush that never gets consumed by the fire. Your addictions, illnesses and pernicious habits are a good reason to start looking - God is waiting for you.