In comments following a recent post, many of you saw addiction and religion as different versions of a similar enslavement. Then last post we talked about the terrifying loss of meaning at the finish line. But today I want to show that these parallel prisons arise from the same fundamental longing — one that’s almost […] (Read the rest.)

Hi all. I recently got an email from Jeff Skinner, a member of this blog community, who came up with the following synopsis. To me, this brief statement (lightly edited) perfectly sums up the existential trap that awaits the addict facing recovery, like some lurking monster that you simply cannot sneak past. You have to […] (Read the rest.)

Since most of us seem to be in vacation mode, myself included, I’m stealing the following passage from Shaun Shelly (with his permission). He in turn took it from Richard Wilmot, author of “American Euphoria: Saying ‘Know’ to Drugs“. The passage compares religious commitments to the commitments made by drug addicts (deals with the devil?). […] (Read the rest.)

By Margôt Tesch…   A note from me (Marc): This self-trust thing….it’s like a hardy weed. It keeps spreading, and now it’s bursting out in all kinds of places. Margôt Tesch, a member of this blog community, trusted her future self to help her curb her drinking. And it worked. This post is her description of […] (Read the rest.)

What I’ve called self-trust in recent posts can be paraphrased as compassion. Compassion for oneself. In the last couple of weeks I’ve been exposed to the Buddhist perspective, which clearly sees compassion for others and compassion for oneself as two sides of the same coin. Compassion, or love, or trust, is considered a kind of natural state […] (Read the rest.)