itself is a consequence of an emotional malfunction not of their making. This is the internal shutdown of vulnerability, which is our susceptibility to be wounded, a fragility that is part of our nature and cannot be escaped. When we flee our vulnerability we lose our full capacity for feeling emotion.
We know that the majority of hard-core substance dependent adults lived as infants and children under conditions of severe adversity that left an indelible stamp on their development. As a rule, whatever we don’t deal with in our lives, we pass onto our children. Children swim in the parents’ unconsciousness like fish swim in the sea. However, nothing is irrevocably dictated by our genes and there is much we can do.
All addictions share a common neuro-anatomic and neuro-chemical basis. All addicts are chasing the ‘feel good’ chemical in their brains, in effect becoming addicted to their own brains. An addiction is characterised as any repeated behaviour, substance-related or not, in which a person feels compelled to persist, regardless of its negative impact on his life or the lives of others. So, how to rebalance this spiritual deprivation?
AWAKENING
Spiritual awakening is no more and no less than a human being claiming his or her own full humanity. People who are able to ‘find themselves’ in this way have no need to turn to addiction or to stay with it. Armed with compassion we recognise that addiction was the best answer we could find at one time in our lives to the isolation we felt from our true selves and the rest of creation.
Healing occurs in a sacred place located within us all: “When you know yourselves, then you will be known.” This sacred