"Can you share what you did?"
See essay enclosed.
"
Addiction: Reality or MythIn this essay we discuss the basis of addiction and its solution. We will take a look at the concept in Chassidus of the mind ruling the heart and its application for addiction.
The primary source of this essay is the Rebbe Rashab's explanation of intellect creating emotions.
Definition of Addiction
The basics elements in the addictive process are as follows:
a craving for an activity substance or behavior that brings temporary relief to the user. [1]
the belief that he can use his "drug of choice" like other people without the consequences, forgetting the pain and shame of even a day or week ago. [2]
the resulting cycle which leads to more and more destructive behavior which can cause psychological issues, injury, or even death. [3]
Upon the subject of addiction, the book Alcoholics Anonymous [4] is an important authority. The book was published in 1939 when the group contained one hundred members. Since then the book has been reprinted four times and membership is an estimated two million in one hundred ninety countries. The message the book gives is one of recovery from addiction based off following a set of spiritual principles to recover from a life of resentment, fear, and grudges, and to allow the grace of G-d to expel the desire for alcohol (or other addictions). The book was met with wide approval from the medical and religious communities.
According to Alcoholics Anonymous the spiritual elements of addiction are the alcoholic's fear, resentment and grudges towards others.
To paraphrase their teachings:
-We set on paper our grudge list of those who harmed us, whether it was our ambitions, self-esteem or pocketbook. We mentioned those whom we were upset with, and what was the root of our anger. Was it our self-esteem that was hurt, or our pocketbooks, ambitions, or personal relationships? These parts of our emotions are the flaws in our makeup that need to be discarded in order to live a happy and useful life.
-In order to be free of the spiritual disease, resentment needs to be let go of, it's the thing which causes alcoholics to drink more than any other causes. Fear is also one of the great flaws in our spiritual makeup, it corroded our inner being and had to be dealt with. It proved that "self" had failed us; self-reliance, self-confidence never solved our problems for we were still afraid.
-Self-centeredness and selfishness are the root of our problem, and must be uprooted if the alcoholic wants to live.
-The alcoholic must be willing to take inventory of himself, and discard all flaws of the makeup of self. If he is to have any recovery, he must be willing to clean house. His encounters with others, his day-to-day life needs to be examined and worked through, to find his selfishness, fears, grudges, resentments, and find his own part, clean his side of the street and forgive those who wronged him. [5]
This brings out the theory that the basis of an addict's addiction is the inability to handle life like healthy normal human beings. He is constantly resentful at other people, and can't handle viewpoints other than his own. He is constantly sore from the "wrongs" done to him and is fearful of things not turning out how he planned.
An Addict’s Mindset Can be Compared to That of a Child
The above mindset is comparable to the emotional state of a child who is resentful at others who wronged him by not following his wishes. He is fearful of not receiving the award he hopes to win. He is selfish and does not wish to coexist with a viewpoint that is against his. His emotions do not give room for ideas, opinions and situations that are against his.
We find support for this notion from Tanya which states:
"A child by nature desires things of little value and gets angry about petty things, because his intellect is minute, and therefore the emotions born from his mind are petty." [6]
This shows that due to the lower level of intellect exhibited by a child his emotions are more foolish. The natural mastery of the mind over the heart is missing. In Tanya we see that human intellect by nature can rule one’s emotions:
"A human being by nature of his birth, can with the will in his mind, control the desires of his heart, to not think, speak, or do, what his heart desires." [7] (I.e.: a person can control his emotions with the power of his mind.)
We further see from Samech Vav, that since emotions are created from the mind, the latter contains natural mastery over the heart's emotions:
"The mind creates emotions through thinking about the positive or negative qualities of a concept, and therefore has the ability to control the emotions that are created. The brain’s control over the feelings are manifested in two ways: first, the emotions do not get overly passionate in an out of control manner, and second, two opposite emotions can exist simultaneously.
Therefore, a child who lacks control over his emotions will have emotions that are out control, and will not agree with an opposing viewpoint."[8]
As was stated earlier the mind contains within it the ability to control the emotions and feelings of the heart. It can prevent the emotions from making one uncomfortable and can handle a viewpoint that is different than his own. However, a child whose intellect is not developed will not control his emotions and will be uncomfortable when life does not go his way. His emotions are not kept in check to allow room for other people's feelings, or opinions if they differ from his own.
In our scenario the addict's mind is not developed, and therefore he is upset, resentful, and cannot deal with life (which fuels his addictive behavior with which he looks to medicate himself.)
The Solution Would Be a Developed Mind
The solution would be for him to develop his mind which would allow him mastery over his feelings and negative emotions and allow him to be feel comfortable in life.
One of the proven ways of developing the mind is through comprehending one's studies. A good method to use is to learn with a study partner, and repeat over in his own words all that he learned to the partner. The advantage is that each time he uses his own words, the concept becomes more and more clear in the mind of the learner, allowing him to fully comprehend the subject at hand. As one studies and comprehends what he learns, the brain becomes stronger and can use the inherent ability contained within the mind to control the emotions of the heart.
With the mind becoming developed and its intellect growing, one will gradually become able to control his emotions, and will be able to be comfortable with viewpoints other than his own. The entire basis of the addiction will dissolve.
Contrasting to Other Approaches
The steps which AA uses entail reviewing one’s day to day encounters with other people, and if any resentment comes up to see his part in the situation. The advantage of developing the mind is gaining mastery over the emotions, instead of working them through after the fact. This allows one to have an enjoyable life all the time, as opposed to having times where he is not comfortable.
[1] Alcoholics Anonymous, p 16
[2] Ibid, chapter 3
[3] ibid
[4] See Forward to Alcoholics Anonymous 4th addition
[5] See Alcoholics Anonymous pg. 63-70
[6] See Tanya chapter 6
[7] See Tanya chapter 12
[8] See Sefer Hamaamorim 5666, Pg 481-483, Leil Beis D'chag Hasukkos 5667"
Plus from my experience the lust thoughts are mostly automatic ie: they come by themselves, so if you gain control of your mind (See attached essay) you will easily be able to ignore them.