"Addiction and Insanity"

The Environment of the Self

For all of us who are or have been addicted, there is never the surety of our own sanity. Addiction is the attempt to escape a world that we intuitively see as insane. Is the world around us insane? For the most part I would have to say yes. The problem with escaping is that it eventually leads to our own insanity. In the end, instead of escaping, we end up becoming part of the problem. Especially if we escape through drugs. Drugs eat away brain function. That's the simplest way to put it. I could spend pages and hours in detailed explaination but it's already been written. I have included a lot of it at my site and you can get the details their. But right now I want to get you to understand the importance of sanity. Your happiness is directly related to your sanity. Until we stop the addiction we won't move on to a deeper understanding of life. Granted a lot of addicted people have a better understanding of life than their non-addicted friends. That's not enough.

I'd like to establish, part of, my position on addiction right from the gate. No one in this world has all the understanding necessary to give a complete picture of addiction. We have some information. Some observations. Some theories. Let me lay out a few aspects of addiction I have found to be most helpful. Addiction is a reaction to an environment. Addiction is a condition that takes form, over time, as a result of escape from an environment. We, our brains, our ideas, beliefs and understanding are part of that environment.

Does that make sense? The generally accepted notion is that the environment begins at the edge of our skin. Everything "out there" is what we think of as the environment. Like everything else, this mistake has been taught to us. A more productive way to see environment includes that which you have always thought of as you. You are really that which notices all you notice. You may notice a pain in your leg. The pain in your leg is not you. It is what it is: a thing, an event, part of the surroundings. The environment starts where you start to be aware of it. A truer statement would be: it is that which extends from nothing out. A confusing concept in the practice of some Buddhist meditation is "to become nothingness". Look at nothing as two words. Because it is two words. Like apart. When they talk about becoming it may be more readily understood to say becoming aware of. To become aware of the no thing aspect of you. It is all that is not a thing.

This is very helpful when we are attempting to gain control over our thoughts. Thoughts are what makes life intolerable. Thoughts are the environment we seek to escape. We can see this now with our new understanding of the environment. We notice thought, therefore it is not us. It is part of the environment. It is not the inner environment. There is no inner environment. There is only that which notices and that which is noticed. You and the environment. Now we can look at thought from a new perspective. Is it easier to pay attention this way? Certainly: it is where paying attention begins. It is where finding oneself begins. You simply eliminate all that is not you. You are whatever is left. What about memory? Are you aware of memory? Do you notice it? So you know it's not part of you. Memory too is environment.

There is really no reason to try at this point to understand all aspects and possibilities concerning addiction. The only thing that matters right now is that you be able to live happily, without being addicted. Without the happiness part, why would anyone want to quit? Let me assure you, as best I can, that happiness is possible. For everyone. My objective is that you and I be sane and happy. All the addiction stuff is just stuff. The only reason it has any significance to us at all is that, in order to be completely sane and happy, it needs to stop. All insane behavior stands in the way of our happiness. First, the addiction part needs to stop. If you have a serious drug addiction, go to a chemical detox facility and spend whatever time it takes. Come back when you are drug free. If you have other addictions, stop practicing and start paying attention. I'd like to add one more thing. This world is changing fast. We, as the people on this planet, no longer have the luxury of playing silly games and wasting time. They too, need to be set aside to reach a happy sane state of being.

It's time to get serious. To focus absolutely. The more you pay attention, the better you'll get at it. As you practice you will constantly progress to a deeper awareness. This awareness will free you. Freedom and happiness go hand in hand. It was never meant that you be bound. The only things that bind us are ideas. They are not us. They have more in common with trees. No one has ever been driven crazy by a tree.

Within psychology and neuroscience, some new and rigorous experimental paradigms for studying consciousness have helped it begin to overcome the stigma that has been attached to the topic for most of this century.
David Chalmers

If your happiness depends on what somebody else does, I guess you do have a problem.
Richard Bach

Only when your consciousness is totally focused on the moment you are in can you receive whatever gift, lesson, or delight that moment has to offer.
Barbara de Angelis

Where you are in consciousness has everything to do with what you see in experience.
Eric Butterworth