--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, "authfriend" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > I think in some senses it's actually the > reverse. > > The addiction aspect is secondary; what's > important is the "self-medication" aspect, > whether with substances or with a particular > type of activity. One may or may not become > addicted to either. > > I suspect just about everybody has a very dim, > inchoate sense of the Self and of what it > would be like to be nonattached, to not be > overshadowed by the struggles of daily life, > and find that certain behaviors (different > ones for different people) tend to help > lessen the feeling of being overshadowed while > one is engaging in them. > > The temporary feeling of relief is usually an > illusion, of course, and it may lead to even > greater attachment if the behavior does become > addictive, even if the behavior is "healthy," > like running or playing a musical instrument. > (Even meditation is sometimes said to be an > addiction.) > > But the drive, the motivation, to engage in > the behavior is, it seems to me, *away* from > the self and *toward* the Self, whether or not > it's understood as such. > Yes! On the one hand, the addictive behavior-pattern is actually a denied particle clamoring for sattvic love/attention from Wholeness (rather than the tamasic denial or rajasic indulgence it usually gets), and on the other, the attachment-to-other qualities of addiction actually do, when lovingly attended to, bring those so- called "not-Self identifications" into a yet-more-inclusive Self. Either way, we win ... in the long run :-)
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