I'm having a hard time reconciling what R' Dessler talks about regarding the Process of Free Choice. In the english Strive for Truth it is in the 3rd book pages 49-52. I'm sorry, I do not know where this is located in the Hebrew. Anyone know (It is titled Process of Free Choice).

If I understand it correctly, R' Dessler says (pretty explicitly) that, in the case of smoking addiction (which probably can be extrapolated to Lust addiction), it is the person himself (and not anything/one else) who actively makes the choice to smoke, thereby choosing the fallacious argument (against what he knows to be true). He lies to himself, making the false into truth, in order to cover up what's really going on which he is at least minimally aware of: his deviation from the real truth.

R' Dessler says that one who has always given in to the yh in a area of avoda will invariably think that he is powerless against the undesirable action. R' Dessler says that one who denies having free will does so because he has chosen to enslave himself to the evil within him.

I really didn't do what R' Dessler said any justice, so please read it inside to get a better understand.

I just seems to me that this goes against what the 12 Steps / Big Book says about addiction. R' Dessler seems to say that there is a choice: a person chooses to accept falsehood as truth. To overcome this, one nees to recognize the truth at the H' is One and there is none but Him.

Any thoughts?

I happen to love R' Dessler, and michtav m'eliyahu is probably my favorite sefer (So yes, for anyone who didn't know who I am, I've just ID'd myself. Hi, mom!). Howver, one caveat - when it comes to dealing with these issues, it's very easy to get caught up in the hashgafa and philosophy, and have that distract us from the main issue, which is - I'm doing a terrible aveirah, how can I stop?

But anyway - I'm not really sure how you see R' Dessler and the AA perspective contradicting each other. Can you elaborate on what you see as the contradiction?

If you want to get clarity on this go to DrSorotzkin.com and look for the article about Free Will....

It answers your question very well...