Being addicted to anything is a disease of many proportions. And it’s one that comes at a person from all angles that includes the mental, the emotional, the physical, and the spiritual.
For a person who is becoming or has already become addicted to anything such as alcohol, drugs, food, gambling, sex, or anything else, it means the person’s life is being taken over by that addiction and they’ve lost the power of choice to stop the behavior. Having suffered from multiple addictions throughout my life, I have learned just how much of a disease each of them can become.
On a mental level, anyone suffering from any addiction loses their ability to think clearly, to think rationally, and to think level headed. Often there is no thinking that’s done at all. It’s like Pavlov’s Theorem of Classical Conditioning where he learned if you kept feeding a dog treats and then ringing a bell afterwards, that eventually the dog would salivate upon hearing the bell all by itself without seeing any treats. That bell is no different then what happens when one puts a frosty beer, or a line of coke, or a huge piece of cake, or a set of casino chips, or a pornographic image, in front of an alcoholic, an addict, or an overeater respectively.
On an emotional level, anyone suffering from any addiction loses their ability to feel their feelings without experience extremes in them. During the “good moments” when one is indulging in their addiction, joy becomes elation and laughter becomes guffaws. But when one is coming down or withdrawing from their addiction, frustration easily turns into rage and sadness turns into torrents of tears, self-pity, and regret.
On a physical level, anyone suffering from any addiction loses their ability to maintain a healthy body. People often stop showering, shaving, eating, and even sleeping when in the throngs of an addiction. Because of this, their bodies suffer twice. Once if they are over abusing their bodies with any substance that can affect their internal organs and other parts from functioning on a healthy level. And twice, if they are ignoring the basic human needs for taking care of themselves as eating healthy, getting decent rest, and keeping oneself clean are critical to maintaing a healthy physical body.
But the most important level that the disease of addiction affects it the spiritual. Not only does it place a blackness around the heart and prevents a person from truly feeling love for themselves or anyone else for that matter, it also cuts off the physical body’s cord to connecting to the love of God. Eventually, the soul suffers as essentially it’s being cut off from the sunlight of the spirit. And when that happens enough, the physical body dies, and the soul departs from it.
If you happen to be a person in this world who is suffering from any addiction, please, take a moment, breathe deeply, and ask yourself this…Is suffering from the disease of any addiction worth all of this??? I hope your answer is that it isn’t. Seek a Higher Existence and know in doing so, you can end this addiction’s reign on your body, mind, and soul. You don’t have to suffer anymore on any level. Not the mental, not the emotional, not the physical, and definitely not the spiritual…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
