Addictions

Food is no. 1!

Thus we are all addicts! My list starts with food, then relationships, then sex, and only then, alcohol and drugs. Followed by a miscellany of internet/phone, media and T.V., shopping and gambling –in whatever order you then prefer.

How much is food all around us? When you saw what you wanted, not what you needed, what happened?  What do we need? Know that for millions around the world a bit of bread or rice and a small amount of lentils, will not only do the job, but is all they are getting day after day. Maybe a little bit of chilli or something for flavoring. and then salt sort of course is so important.  This is what people live on and watch their lives go by in many places. Many places will give you less and then we move into famine ridden places.

What we have got around ourselves can be seen by going down any main street in town. Loads of takeaway‘s, fast food joints, and then we go upscale to all the restaurants. So, around us we have massive amounts of interest in food. Look at the books in the library about cooking and diets and things related do with food. Look at what’s on the TV, with programmes about cooking, programs about cooking competitions. Look at the supplement part in the newspapers where food is everywhere. Food going from being a necessity has become an addiction, an obsession, or an unhealthy aspect of our lives disguised as hobbies or interest, or professional activity

The monastic bunch of yogis, nuns and monks according to tradition, just get some alms or eat what is given to them. Or if they’re in monasteries or ashrams could be just basic, even just bread and water. My experience of ashrams is that the food issue, is still leaning towards wants rather than needs, so feasting can be a highlight of the month. (Something good rather than bad!). Quantity and variety can be very much the same as the outside civilian situation, with maybe a little bit more of restraint perhaps.

Tea and coffee and all the extras, are of course unnecessary for survival. They are very, very important, and I need my daily cappuccino fix! Thus given the place of food in the public domain, this is why I put it at the top of my list for addictions, (which can be whatever you want it to mean). Addictions can be significantly unhealthy, or obsessions, or just always going for what we want rather than what we need.  Okay, there’s some information about placings of addictions, and my take on them here, that is a little bit of an entertainment diversion type scenario. By all means make up your own minds!  From a spiritual life perspective, especially involving some renunciation where we are moving away from the material world, then we change our views about what we used to do and what others still do. We might see or think that 95% of what people are doing is addictive or obsessive. (Of course then we have to also see the “negativity” of our own previous behaviors).

Next place on the “list of severity” of addictions, is relationships. Again I base it on the prominence of relationships in the world, and again the facts of what we need against what we want.  People are driven to be with other people more than they need to be. Yes, we need to cooperate to do certain things, we have participation scenarios as our karma, where we hopefully have reasonably functional relationships. In families we mostly try to get on or get by. However in my counseling/therapy work, I have never found solutions for fixing relationships! Mission impossible it seems, although there are plenty of caring people who try very hard, be they professional or otherwise. There are many who believe they know just what is needed, and yet if you look at their relationship issues or skills even – well it makes you wonder!

Yet, everyone seems to be looking for someone to do something with. In all sorts of “want” situations. Look at social media, look at TV, look at sports games. All revolve around people connecting with people, so what’s wrong with that? Well, from a deep renunciate spiritual perspective, it is all unnecessary. Or is it? Surely we should just be connecting with our God, or divine soul, and sitting in caves meditating? The swamis, the monks and nuns, all generally have someone around with whom they interact more than at pure needs only level. So this relationship interaction is just a level of degree. There are also those who can’t interact, or don’t know how too. Thus we are all doing the same thing as everyone else actually or usually except for some of the cave dwellers I have met in India. Then they did not seem very sociable, and tended to be reclusive hermits rather than enlightened gurus. I’ve labelled addiction number two, because it’s all about him and her and human wants mostly. Not usually what humans need to be free from Samsara, the cycle of life and death, or free from Maya – the pool of ignorance.

This is arbitrary, because it’s based on my writing from the Transcendental Guru perspective, and of course remember my views are for entertainment only! Now sex is third on my list. Some will argue that this is the number one addiction, but it’s pretty high up there either way. We all know about the inside of sex, or the hidden side, including pornography, and “forbidden” aspects. Then there is the fact that people are driven to some degree by their hormones until they are dead. A 90-year-old man can make babies and may even enjoy the making of them. Wants versus needs is still the touchstone for this “addiction’. We do need to populate the world theoretically, or maybe we don’t need to do that at all if we want to save the planet.  So the needs aspect, if you have to populate the planet, requires a couple face to face contacts”, which may not even require physical coupling, to make the standard two and a half children.  Then we’re out of here, and can all be nuns, monks, and swamis, with celibacy as our focus. You’re doing the world a favor. Who wants more population anyway? Plus you should be eating less meat, not driving a car, and have a low carbon imprint. Thus, sex is pretty much unnecessary and is therefore a want rather than a need. What follows then is obsession, over stimulation, distress, and addiction. Simple! Too many books written about this subject, too much on TV, too much on the papers, and too much on everybody’s minds. Sex thoughts occur every five seconds apparently. (Or is it every five minutes)?

Then we have the traditional addictions of alcohol and drugs. In the 70s and 80s everyone smoked cigarettes. When I worked in hospitals, all the doctors and nurses smoked. Everyone smoked and it was not addictive, as it was normal and wasn’t a problem. Now it’s an addiction or problem, and nicotine is of course is very addictive. For many years alcohol and drugs were only problems if their use caused problems. Addiction is a more common concept now. Then going back in time one could buy cough syrups etc. with morphine and cocaine. Alcohol has only come on the radar as being hazardous to health in recent times. Previously only “falling over” alcoholics had addition problems. Addiction was more a word applied to those who used heroin and similar drugs.

Only since to 1990’s have modern rehab treatment models come forth, although there were Keeley institutes in the USA from 1879.

Then in 1935 Alcoholics Anonymous was founded with the 12 – step program, which remains a key element in recovery in many countries. This model spawned other anonymous groups for narcotics, cocaine, gamblers, and increase outreach to other addictions since the internet era. God features quite heavily in the program, as does surrender, (to a Higher Power). Alcoholics Anonymous was initially strongly connected to traditional Christianity, with prayers mentioning God, and sometimes requiring members to read from the Bible, or requiring prayer as part of the service. Now 12-step programs have move to create an inclusive space for people with different religious values and beliefs. And literature now says 12-step programs are just as effective for atheists as for theists

AA is a spirituality-based program, although some participants don’t think they are spiritual, or limit this approach. If any perspective works what’s wrong with it, as the 12 steps model offers a lot to start with. There is opportunity to expand on those steps, or apply them to one own thinking. Alternative or personal

The issue of powerlessness which stems from, “We admitted we were powerless over our addiction – that our lives had become unmanageable”, may be an issue for therapist. Admitting problems is a healthy thing, but admitting being powerless is a self-deflating start to any spiritual journey surely?  Perhaps it’s about letting go.  Perhaps there is a failure to appreciate the psychology of a craving, which can then be addressed through more “modern” therapies. The Buddhist mindfulness meditation has been found effective for craving control, and can be used in addiction programs. Then there is Response Control strategy:  is elimination of the immediate desire to use the substance in question as best accomplished through craving control. My approach is: How can I apply Eastern philosophy, yoga or meditation ideas. I have put together my take on the 12 steps from the Transcendental Guru perspective. (See below).

Adding to this list of addictions, then there are the areas where we can have another list, in any order of priority or severity of outcome that you so choose. So first gambling, then shopping, internet and so forth. I’ll stop there because this could go on for a while. However use the criteria: “what do you need versus what you want”.

In summary it is all very interesting if you want to make up a list and decide right, tomorrow I’m going to become a monk or nun and this is what I need to get rid of.  Otherwise it’s a little bit pointless from a Tantric respective. There one accepts everything in the world of desires, addictions, cravings or whatever, and runs with it until it’s all transcended. If you say I’m Tantric, and you’re not transcending the obsession or problems with “what I want”, then you’re not doing Tantric practice. You are simply using the technique to increase the fun and games, to get more out of your obsessions, addictions, and desires.

In Tantric spirituality you work with issues or problems and lifestyles, and move past them into an understanding of the central spiritual nature which is Divinity in the world. Divinity expressed as Life and the Universe or Maya or Samsara. So don’t get into Tantra for fun!