Transference onto something outside of your self:
Addiction is defined in the Heritage dictionary, as a compulsive physiological and psychological need for a habit-forming substance; as the condition of being habitually or compulsively occupied with or involved in something.
Addiction, according to Wikipedia, is the continued use of a mood altering substance or behavior despite adverse dependency consequences, or a neurological impairment leading to such behaviors.
Addiction has long been understood to mean an uncontrollable habit of using alcohol or other drugs. Because of the physical effects of these substances on the body, and particularly the brain, people have often thought that “real” addictions only happen when people regularly use these substances in large amounts; more recently, we have come to realize that people can also develop addictions to behaviors, such as gambling, and even quite ordinary and necessary activities such as exercise and eating. What these activities have in common is that the person doing them finds them pleasurable in some way, states About.com.
And lastly, Addiction is defined by Webster’s dictionary as a compulsive need for and use of a habit-forming substance (as heroin, nicotine, or alcohol) characterized by tolerance and by well-defined physiological symptoms upon withdrawal; broadly: persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful.
Addiction is a symbol or a word used to communicate a symptom, and there are infinite numbers of symptoms & symbols used for the same experience…separation, and limitation of Your True Self. Symtoms of illness, disease or discomfort are but separation of your mind from the Mind, separation from your self and The Self, separation from God. It is a belief that you are your body with limitations. You are not your body. You are not limited. “Would you have the symptom if you were not your body?” ACIM The body is neutral and is animated by the mind, most often by the split-mind, the ego-mind, which is nourished or satiated by your beliefs and attachments to the body, and to time. Living in the present moment, in the Presence, with the One Mind, God, you are One, Whole and in Perfect Health. Put down your symbol(s), your belief in an addiction, and walk with Me.
“I just woke up one day and decided I didn’t want to feel like that anymore, or ever again, so I changed.” Author Unknown.
It is the mind, not the body that is craving or attaching to ecstatic pleasure, and the mind that is avoiding or detaching from deep pain. It is also the lower mind living in the past or in the future and not in the present moment with the Presence. The mind wants, desires deeply, to attach or keep pleasure, and push away pain. It’s conditioned through worldly experiences of intimate moments of bliss, or from a memory of a moment of bliss, or of a fantasy of bliss, to which it is attached. The lower mind does not allow these moments of bliss to come and go freely without attachment. In right-mindedness, we would live in state of gratitude for every perceived instant of bliss (joy and happiness) or pain (suffering or sorrow), knowing that they are only opportunities to know Your Self (Thy Self). We have a choice between Love and fear. Attachment is another form of fear, and addiction is attachment. So, is it Love or attachment?
Love is free, love sets free. From a Buddhist perspective, “It is a delusion that is the deepest cause of our unhappiness. It is because we mistakenly see ourselves as separate from everything else that we “attach.” Attachment is suffering.
Ironically, Detachment or aversion from our ‘pain,’ (our lessons), is also cause for suffering. There are pearls of wisdom in our pain. We have created a lot of suffering-separation in this world from our disinterest in our pain. It is through our pain or humanity that our divinity is revealed, and our suffering healed. The next time you perceive ‘pain’ I invited you to welcome ‘it’ as an opportunity for growth and to know Your Self. Cry if you must, but don’t cry alone, ask God to be with you and the Holy Spirit to guide you. Do not anesthetize or attach yourself to anything, they will not liberate you; they will bind you, blind you, causing you more pain and suffering.
Attachments to pleasure and aversion from pain are traps, keeping you from your Highest Being, your Highest Good, Your Higest Self. They are forms of separation that can lead, by choice, to many forms of ‘addictions’ and cause deep suffering. Ask yourself, “Is my thought or action, Love or Attachment?” Or; “Is it Love or Aversion?” Use great care in what you think, for what you think can become your actions, and your actions a habit, and a habit your character….
Love is Free. Love is Courageous. Playing small does not serves anyone. Do not fear. You are Love. You are Limitless. You are an aspect of God! You are powerful beyond measure!
Regina 3/22/13
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