WEEKLY MEDITATION
Nothing is lost, everything is transformed.
-Antoine Lavoisier
Addiction doesn’t end so much as it transforms. When we look at addiction purely from the standpoint of the substance or behavior through which it manifests itself, we may forget that these are only its symbols, they are not its cause. Our recovery from addictions must answer the underlying hunger that fuels these manifestations. For us to truly grow past the need for the emotional catering that our addictions attempt to provide, we have to address the need for the catering. And once we successfully get in touch with this foundational need—we must properly cater to it. But we don’t do this through another form of rigid distraction. We do this by discovering ways to truly provide ourselves with an experience of life capable of healing the parts of our psyche that once settled for the temporary soothing that these substances and behaviors provided. We may need to let go of these manifestations, but we must transform the needs underlying them if we want to become truly addiction free.
