The Metaphysical Messages of Addictions
Lazaris
Each person who chooses to be addicted, and then creates logical, tangible explanations and realities to generate those addictions, does so for different reasons. Some of the more common messages are self-destructive; however, some addictions are actually survival mechanisms that have outlived their usefulness.
The main message of an addition is: I want to hide. I do not believe I can handle my world. I am out of control. If addicts fail at loving, they can blame their addiction. They are safe, at least for a little while. Thus, the addiction begins as a survival method that has outlived its usefulness.
Often addictions begin in your teen or young years when the pragmatic truth is that you have not learned, nor developed, methods of loving. Now the addict can be an adult. If addicts will come out of their hiding places, they can learn and experience. They can cope.
The second message: I do not deserve to be happy and free. Often, because the inventive survival mechanism had gone sour, addicts feel undeserving of happiness and freedom. After all, they feel, if they deserved it, they would have it. Maybe now they can cope with the face of the world with love, but alas, now they cannot cope with shame and despair. They feel they do not deserve to be loved, that they do not deserve to be happy, that they do not deserve to be free.
The third message: I am weak." These people feel and think that their addiction is a legitimate crutch. They feel they cannot function without whatever it is they are addicted to. When people give power away, they can easily become addicted to that to which they give their power. Whether you give your power away to a guru or a powder, to a liquid or a weed, the very act of giving away the power becomes an addictive behavior.
The fourth message: I'm a product of my society. This is what they have done to me." It is a message of blame. It is initially, perhaps, a way of releasing anger. When stuffed, filled to the brim, and overflowing with resentments and angers, it may seem the only viable method of release. However, this system of release ultimately backfires and turns into a self-destructiveness that is addiction. The initial blame is of them. The subsequent blame is of the addicted person.
Dealing with
Addictions
Spiritually
The basis for any change is first to recognize the problem and then to acknowledge it. Once you have acknowledged it, you are in a position where you can honestly forgive yourself. And after forgiveness comes change. The four criteria are the four bases; the four movements of energy, necessary to produce any kind of change, whether you do that spiritually or via the consensus reality.
If you will recognize your addiction, you must first decide what you really want to do about it. There are certain addictions that may be imposing self-harm and have no particular impact upon anyone else. Even so, you may still decide that you don't particularly care to change or work with or alter your addictive behavior. If that is your choice, then that is your choice. You see, we do not judge you or your addiction.
If you do want to change after you make the recognition, really recognizing and owning the addiction, then we advise you acknowledge it. More than just a word, acknowledgement means you must really own the particular addiction. It is important to root out the cause and to understand it as fully and completely as you can—and then to see how it went wrong, where it outlived its usefulness, its purposefulness, its value. You cannot get rid of what you do not own. You cannot get rid of your addiction until you own that it is, indeed, yours; and you are the source, you are the cause. Nobody made you do it. You chose it yourself.
By this point, just when you are sure that you are the lowest scum on the earth, forgive yourself. This forgiveness, again, is more than just a word, but it is also the word as well. It is important to really dig in and to honestly forgive yourself and to say so, to hear the words spoken, to see the words written: I forgive myself. I am forgiven.
It may take several times, several attempts, several passes, to fully and honestly forgive yourself.
Once you have forgiven yourself, however, the change can take place in a number of ways. The methods may vary, but the common base is desire for imagination to, and expectation of—and expectation of—change.
You are the cause of change. Give your power to yourself rather than giving it to the addiction or to the cure of the addiction. Perhaps it becomes clear then, in looking at what the messages of addiction are, that addictions have a great deal to do with power—whether you give it away, or whether you keep it for yourself.
From Lazaris Interviews, Book I, 1988 NPN Publishing, Inc. For further information about Lazaris, please call or write Concept: Synergy, 302 South County Rd., Suite 109, Palm Beach, FL 33480, (407) 588-9599. Lazaris is the author of three books (The Sacred Journey: You and Your Higher Self, Lazaris Interviews: Book I and Book II), more than 75 audio tapes and 17 video tapes, and conducts seminars regularly in major American and Canadian cities. | 
