The Columbine – Addiction – It’s Our Basic Wiring

Our Time Here Is Limited – Warriors are in motion towards a better place. As the righteous, we’ve been given the promise that our hearts will be filled. We can’t afford to get “stuck.” But our poor little human brains like reruns & repeats & repeats of reruns.

DREAMS – Do you dream of imprisonment? Blank walls? Chains? Our neurocircuitry mandates our habit-making behavior, but our intelligence usually recognizes when we are trapped, and our dreams send distress signals.

There’s No Escaping Addiction – It’s in our humanity. The Way of the Warrior is not to accept the “default” but struggle to rise “above” to that condition of freedom we’ve heard about which will be our true reward. We have tremendous choice over what we become addicted to. Visit an AA meeting and the consumption of sugar and tobacco is outright alarming. Are you addicted to gambling? Do you work in sales? Were you raised in a ritualistic faith? We easily become dependent on praise, on safety, on gratification, and our brains (and our general health) show our dependency. They threaten and panic when the “treat” is withdrawn.

Challenge – If you fear you are approaching the cliff-edge of control, you probably are. One test is to go on a “retreat” where your customary gratifications are not available, and attempt to form new gratifications. See what happens! This is such a good idea that we should build it into our lives, periodically. Just to keep us from slavery to endangering substances & destructive behaviors.

Danger – There is always a chance that we will lose our autonomy. We want to change, we know we SHOULD change, but somehow we CAN’T. We need outside help. This is the purpose of interventions, to demonstrate to our eyes and ears that we are harming ourselves and our relationships. Denial is a powerful defense mechanism, especially when we think we’ve finally found a substance/process that “magically” allows us to live on our particular cliff-edge – a dangerous flirtation, an “enlightening” substance, a “relieving” treat, a comforting recreational behavior. We then have the choice of refusing to listen to our interveners – giving up our relationships to keep up our self-abuse. Some hardened wretches tell anyone who listen that life itself isn’t worth it without their personality-threatening self-abuse. This is the way they choose to die.

Opportunity – You not only CAN free yourself, you MUST. It is our spiritual obligation to live this life to the fullest as an enlightenment opportunity. Familiar with the saying, “Live simply so that others may simply live”? That means sharing. That means studying your consumption, and scheduling time to be alone with the universe and with God, to check on the hardiness of your Soul.

#Haiku: Addicts

Reckless
Drought victims
Seek flood;
Drenching mimes
Drowning;
Overwhelms
Parched cells