Evil is Live spelt backwards

Evil is irrevocably at cross-purposes with love, life, freedom, and creation.

(Gerald May)

Evil is "live" spelt backwards. I tend to be pretty good-natured, and must have done something right in my previous lives; evil rarely shows its ugly face in my life. But the concept of evil is more than just bad intentions and actions, it is everything that stands in the way of life. It turns out that I know something about the he escape from freedom; the conscious or subconscious turning away from life. There are times when a dark cloud descends on me. I cannot write, read, and don't really want to interact with anyone when I am stuck in this low energy mode. In the olden days I would have visited sexual chat rooms and would have been sucked into a negative energy spiral that was hard to emerge from. Today, I just kill my time listening to music, or spend my time playing mind numbing video games against a computer that somehow always wins. I just while away time until the dark clouds lifts and my life energy returns; this is always bound to happen after a day or two as long as I don't do anything stupid.

The neurologists have a biological explanation for addiction and compulsive behavior. Something along the lines that our happiness neurons are pulled like a bungee cords when we stimulate ourselves with that orgasmic high, but every additional stimulus has to be more potent, and ever more extreme, otherwise the payback arrives in form of a pain body descending on us. 

Neurology and brain chemistry is the hardware that simulates life for us, but spirituality and the symbols of life are the software. There is a spiritual element to every addiction. The ego tells us how pleasurable an activity is, while beneath the surface he is crying murder about it. The sex addict is accused of throwing dirt on love; the video addict accused of wasting his time and numbing his brain, while the alcoholic is accused of ruining his health and giving up on life more generally. A not-so-merry-go-around starts that has our ruin as a destination unless we step up to the challenge.

What is the solution to the problem statement? Gerald May put it well in his book "Addiction and Grace", falling in love with life is the only way to beat it. God has a Plan for us that gets the happiness neurons dancing in a self-sustaining way. Every addiction is an escape from freedom; a highway to hell while the spiritual path points into the opposite direction, towards life and Heaven. Writes Gerald May, "For the power of addiction to be overcome, human will must act in concert with divine will. The human spirit must flow with the Holy Spirit. Personal power must be aligned with the power of grace."

Every compulsive behavior or addiction is nothing but a message to ourselves that we have run into a wall somewhere. That's ok really; life shakes us up from time to time, and our instinctive reaction is to shy away from it. It takes courage and love to climb all the obstacles that life puts in our way. The good news is that every addiction sends us the wake-up call to try harder next time. The first step is hard - we are facing a dark tunnel and we are scared. But what choice do we have but to proceed? Fall in love with life again. Let the spiritual path lead you towards the light. Along a spiritual path life becomes a thrill; an adventure full of fun and meaning. Discover your divine calling. Live again!