unknown to the self that pursues them. When the soul begins to find these pleasures and this mastery no longer sufficient to quiet the yearning that grows within the heart and the deeper levels of being, then the soul begins to lose hope that the life of the physical plane will be able to grant the satisfaction that it longs for. Instead, it may seek a substitute gratification that it hopes will steadfastly and surely be able to grant the kind of peace and soul-fulfillment that is desired.
Fundamentally, turning toward addiction is a spiritual act. However much it may be fueled by conditions of poverty, need, emotional instability, immaturity, or any other psychological variable, the replacement of the soul’s yearning for completion and peace with a substitute is an act of spiritual seeking that has taken a turn away from its true destination toward an alternative destination. This is an act that is both an effort to resolve a spiritual dilemma, as well as an effort to grant immediate release from the pain of having to wait for a more authentic source of realization.
The difficulty in waiting for what one longs for but cannot yet have, and the emptiness that occurs in the presence of the heart’s longing that neither mind nor senses can satisfy – these are the dilemmas of the embodied self that seeks relief from longing and a way of resolving the problems of time and of waiting. If the process of choice were engaged in more consciously, with greater awareness of what truly was being sought, it is likely that many more who turn to addictive substitutes could find within themselves the courage to wait through a period of pain and of emptiness. But the choice before the embodied self is rarely that conscious. And