WEEKLY MEDITATION
It’s hard to get enough of something that almost works.
-Vincent Filleti
Addictions almost work. A combination of the substance or behavior that forms the addiction, and the underlying phenomenological experience of addiction itself, form to create a framework that almost fulfills. And it must amount to only almost because otherwise we would neither go to such extreme lengths for our addictions nor would we ever need to quit them if they actually worked. And they usually work best in the beginning when there are less negative consequences and our attachments to them can form free of much doubt. But admitting that addictions almost work also means admitting that they don’t work. So we must find what does work, using our addictions themselves, to help figure this out. Separating ourselves from our addictions allows us to discover, in their absence, just what they provided for us. We can then use this information to form a template for what we must learn to provide for ourselves through a direct and sustainable experience of life. As simple as this sounds, it is a very difficult process, one that is far more emotional than intellectual. But if we can face ourselves squarely and if we commit, we can create a framework for life that works. Actually works.
