| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"V" |
| Date: |
06 Dec 2006 08:59:45 PM |
| Object: |
Sensation Addiction |
"The great object is sensation---to feel that we exist. It is the
craving void which drives us to travel to intemperate but keenly felt
pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the
agitation inseparable from their accomplishment." ~ George Gordon, Lord
Byron
I first learned about the topic of sensation addiction through my
Buddhist practice. My Buddhist practice reminds me to be mindful of the
present moment and not escape from it by abusing the senses. What is
the hallmark of an addict? One who refuses to accept what is by abusing
the senses to escape from the present moment. All our addictions have
pleasure aspects within them and we get rewards for participating in
them in the form of euphoric experiences. Euphoric experience can be
related to the spiritual as well.
The definition of a religious mystic is one that partakes in an altered
state of conciseness with God / god or the spiritual realm. Our
addictions also give us this altered state of consciousness and feeling
of euphoria. So, we can say that our drugs are our gods and our
addiction is our religion. There is a reason to our madness - it is not
just pure madness as most addicts think. Some persons I run into feel
guilty for having senses. They get super sensitized to anything that
affects them. They do not look at the senses as a gift from a higher
power, instead look at them as a curse. Coming to peace with our senses
and learning to enjoy them - but not abuse them is the answer. And for
those looking for an excuse to continue addiction, do not look upon
this post as an excuse to keep using your drug of choice. If you missed
my previous post "The 7 Benefits Addictions Provide Us" and want a copy
write me.
From: How to Want What You Have:
"People who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of sensual pleasure
find that the more pleasure they get, the more they want. Small,
ordinary pleasures soon lose their power to please and must be replaced
with more intense or exotic ones. Heedless sensualists usually meet a
bad end. They learn the hard way that their desires are relentless and
insatiable."
You can have a happy body as well as happy mind. We have to be careful
with all or none, black or white evaluations with sense abuse and
desire. I see this a lot with the "S" and "OA" programs and their
guilt over anything sexual or guilt over the fact of having to eat. If
you missed my earlier 6 page post "Putting Peace First" and want a copy
write me. We are spiritual beings residing in a physical body and must
balance this fact. The Buddha recognized this as he gave up being an
ascetic himself in favor of the middle path, a path of moderation which
rejected both sensory indulgence as well as extreme mortification. If
we want peace with this subject it all revolves around whether or not
you are abusing your senses and does not revolve around the fact that
you have senses that nature provided you with.
Try asking if the activity placing unreasonable demands on my time and
energy, will it place me in legal jeopardy or endanger my mental,
physical or spiritual health? You see, there never will be a shortage
of ways that humans can find to abuse the mind or the body by living a
life of extremes. The important question is how to find a balance
between the mind and the body to be at peace in the present. So, don't
feel guilty about having senses or desires, just work on not abusing
them.
Once I started to practice mindfulness of the present moment, this
practice opened up a new area of sense enjoyment by just being present.
Drugs took me away from the present and I was anything but aware of my
real senses. In fact, my senses were dulled from being drugged up. I
liked the artificial sense of euphoria I received from various drugs,
but this euphoria was not sustainable, natural or healthy.
Sustainability and health aspects are both areas I now use to judge
things that affect my senses.
If you look into your own addictive areas, you can see how your drug of
choice affected your senses and how your were not necessarily addicted
to the drug - you were addicted to the sensation the drug provided.
This is where sensation addiction comes in. Without receiving these
sensations our drug loses it luster. Sensation of the mouth, genitals,
brain - addiction all revolves around sensations and how we respond to
them.
"I drink to keep body and soul apart" ~ Oscar Wilde
v
.
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| User: "Uncle Vic" |
|
| Title: Re: Sensation Addiction |
06 Dec 2006 09:12:07 PM |
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Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet V (vfr44@aol.com) made the
light shine upon us with this:
If you look into your own addictive areas, you can see how your drug of
choice affected your senses and how your were not necessarily addicted
to the drug - you were addicted to the sensation the drug provided.
This is where sensation addiction comes in. Without receiving these
sensations our drug loses it luster. Sensation of the mouth, genitals,
brain - addiction all revolves around sensations and how we respond to
them.
Religion is an addictive drug. Just say no.
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department.
Proud member of Earthquack's "Ghost fulla holes" convict page
.
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