WEEKLY MEDITATION
Every form of addiction is bad, no matter whether the narcotic be alcohol or morphine or idealism.
-Carl Jung
The tyrannical reign of addiction takes many forms. Addiction, remember, is but a pattern employed to erase the need to feel the pressure created by experiencing the present moment. Of course it is easy to mistake addiction as having to do primarily with the substance to which one is addicted, but this is only the surface truth. After the primary substance has been successfully dealt with, the need for addictive behaviors is only potentially more active, and new addictions can easily spring up uninvited and, often, unnoticed. In the beginning of the recovery process, it is acceptable to use more “banal” addictions to ease our way out from under our primary addictions. But it is important in the long run to attempt to develop the awareness to know when other addictive behaviors have cropped up and to make a decision as to how acceptable they are to us, to decide whether they hold enough power to keep us from our life goals, and then to move through them and put them behind us if necessary. With each new level of addiction discarded comes the opportunity to live and experience the reality of life more fully. It is a personal decision that each must make as to what level of addiction we want to be free of, but all addictions will have a negative impact on our lives, to some extent, if not faced.
