( narrative, not a poem)
Why are people hooked on so many different crazy habits?
Something that’s so hard for some to overcome is easy for others?
Examples - gambling, shopping, credit card addiction, being too tight with money, needing to be surrounded by people all of the time, needing to be alone all of the time, can’t stand clutter, can’t stand too much neatness…
I really cannot understand the gambling addiction. Why do people sit in crowded, stinky, smoke-filled rooms playing children-like video games in hopes of winning a little bit of money, throwing away a whole weeks worth of income? It seems to me like craziness! I am baffled by this behavior and I am sure they are baffled by some of my habits, too!
It’s almost like we have a hypnotic suggestion to perform this behavior over and over again.
Why are we hooked to such craziness?
Author notes
d r i f t i n g c l o u d
In a list
A contest entry
- "We Are Only As Sick As Our Secrets" "Q&A" by liquidmindforever.
400 points, ended October 4, 31 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
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I went to Foxwoods once and was baffled by the smokiness and crouded dark rooms. They have no windows in there so no one will know if it's daylight or nighttime. I sat at a table playing Texas Holdem and then everything came in perspective, these people, their needs, the families they're avoiding to be here doing this. I lost my 100 bucks within an hour, these are 'pros' afterall, then when I was getting ready to leave the guy next to me puts his hand on my shoulder and in the most snide tone said "Well, looks like you lost!!" So yeah looks like I lost, but at least I won't have Vitamin D deficiencies from lack of sunlight
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Thought-Provoking Query
Dear Poet,
Thank you for entering my contest:"We are only as sick as our secrets" with your
Q.1 Crazy Habits...Hooks."
To you I will answer as follows:
If we take the position that ACIM tells us then we must assert that we in our
insanity to leave "Home" and the insane belief that we actually could and did leave "Home" and we did this as an act of self-will and out of a desire to taste of the fruits of life and that we created this world as a place to hide from God so God could not find us, and although the Course says that "into eternity where all is one there crept a tiny mad idea at which the son of God remembered not to laugh In his forgetting did the thought become a serious idea, and possible of both accomplishment and real effects...." Chapter 27 The Healing of the Dream VIII. The Hero of the Dream paragraph 6. the dream that we continue to keep alive through sin, guilt and fear, the unholy trinity allows mental aberrations.
Let's take a specific case of alcoholism or gambling or any compulsive, obsessive
addictive behavior/s. If one's seeming llife is built upon fear-based input,
and the desire to not be found out, or discovered, this is unwhole, in-sane
un-wholesome, un-healthy thought projection. Just suppose you were
a child who grew up in an alcoholic environemnt, with abusive parents, and
a zero-visibility and no self-esteem and were continuously debased with
myriad atrocities {in your dream} such as physical, emotional, mental abuse
sexual and other abuse and your mind split off into a dissociative state to not
be forced to be consciously present.
Denial works for so long, and serves as a defense mechanism to protect the individual soul from burning up. Substances become substitutes. The deepest
hunger is for the Beloved from Whom we have "separated" without any means
of returning without punishment plus over time we completely forget all this
and come to know the 'god' of this world.
Substances become substitutes. If it feels good, it becomes the desired effect
that we come to equate with "love" and "comfort" that we may never have known as a wounded child from a "dysfunctional" home. Now keep in mind, this is
all from the POV of the dream, and you must try to grasp the concepts, if you
want to have some small understanding of the addictive personality.
This manifests clearly in the addict; however, I do not know one person who does not have some compulsion/or compulsive behavior whether it be spirituality
to sex abuse.
With the addictive personality just a little will/can produce such a feeling of
well-being, warmth, comfort, self-confidence that either instantly or over
whatever period of time, they seek this gratification.
There seems to be a bottomless hole or pit and one drink is too much and 1000 is never enough.. This is true for the compulsive overeater, sugar-addict, drug-
addict, gambler...et al. There is an adrenaline rush and with most addicts
such as an alcoholic the substance itself produces an irresistable craving that
no will-power unto itself can stop.
The 12 Step Recovery Program addresses the complete abstinance from the
substance as the first step toward re-gaining some semblance of a normal existence. This is a medical and scientifically accepted claim and it applies
to other compulsive, addictive patterns such as relationships, infidelity,
sex-addiction, theft, gambling, etc.
All individuals whether active alcoholics or not have an underlying fear that
operates their being.
I could go on but if you find this helpful then we can talk personally at more length. You also can attend an open meeting of Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous Meetins and listen and uncover, discover and recovery
some of your own personal and perhaps unseen needs and desires.
This is a most valid inquire, one that has been going on for centuries and which
has been studied and practiced as the only means for treatment of this disease.
And it is described as a disease by the AMA.
Again, thank you for this inquiry. I know you were searching for some resolution
and for non-alcoholics it is almost near impossible to understand the craving because you don't have it, yet if you ask the HS to help you uncover all the
dark corners, you may be surprised what will appear in your closet.
wishing you well
till then
stay
liquid
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I think you hit on it - it’s a substitute for true joy and love. Whatever thrill or perhaps a distraction from pain they get, they go back and back again to it for whatever little relief it may offer.
Thanks for your helpful comments. - Bonita
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Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting
the soul that rises with us,our lifes star.
Hath had elswhere its setting,and cometh from afar.
Not in entire forgetfulness,
and not in utter nakedness.
But Trailing clouds of glory we come from God who is our home
Wordsworth
So we all have a history, each one different from the rest, hence our different preoccupations, I'm sure you already know this Bonita, but I do enjoy reading these words and thought I would share them with you
regards David
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Perhaps an emptiness created by neglect,
filled with mindless compulsion...
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You are saying the same thing as Pisces rainbow did below - she said we are 'trying to fill the void in a human way'.
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well
we all have something, my list goes on,
don't care for gambling though
I oftened wonder why everyone has something,
I guess if we see our something perhaps we can understand better others something, because I have a feeling that the why is the same, we express it or release it differently.
I guess this is where compassion and understanding is needed maybe we feel as if we are missing the mark and trying to fill the void in a human way.
perhaps it is urgent to know ourselves better to find the why.
I do love your question, one I have asked myself
well done
God bless you Bonita
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I think you are on to something. When we figure out the root of our problem, we will see it's the same root cause of all of our problems. -God Bless you, my friend.
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