In looking at the latest news headlining the ‘Opiate Crisis’, it occurred to me that perhaps the disease of addiction can be looked at in terms of being separated from that which re enforces who we are. Disconnected and bound within the worried mind, the ego strives to find a solution. Alone and desperate, peering out to an alien universe the addicted mind consumes what it finds and yet never sees the wonder of being part of this living world.
Seduction of acquisition
How then does someone become disconnected from the earth? The fact is that in this modern world we are seduced into the belief that to be happy we must strive for ownership. To have and consume all that this planet has to offer. Wrapped in status and delivered in pride, our attention is re directed from communal wellbeing to gaining individual wealth and security. Are we then buying into the idea that to be happy we must satiate this need? What we want is available to be taken, neatly packaged and sold to us as a dream. Where money and status held as the highest prize is to be worked for in order to reach; not a higher consciousness, but a higher credit rating.
Where in this race toward a manufactured heaven do we find time to appreciate and nurture that which is within us? Acquisition has precedence over compassion and there is little time for love, it is not surprising that we have become blind to our true nature as human beings. We forget that we are a part of a living universe, that all of its majesty lives within each of us and that when another suffers, so do we. The pain of separation from each other and our home lead some to the church, temple, mosque or synagogue. Others find solace in acquisition.
Blame
Is the addict who seeks relief in the pipe or spoon much different to the rest of us? We loudly blame and shame someone in the midst of addiction, we might pity or attempt to ignore them completely. But whilst levelling our collective gaze contemptuously upon them, we are avoiding the question..Who is responsible for the ‘Opiate crisis’? When all of the shouting and finger pointing is done, it has to be said..
We all are.
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John Port