Good Morning Friends! Thank you again for your kindness, support, and suggestions. I am deeply grateful for your compassion as I struggle with my Demon addiction. Now, this may creep some of you out if you are devout atheists, and I do not mean to offend. I am myself a practicing Zen Buddhist, but that is really a science, although it is considered a religion. Zen is nuts-and-bolts training of the mind to transform suffering into serenity and to adjust our moral compass for the benefit of ourselves, others, the planet, the future.

But here is my point: I have found addiction and the effort to recover to be, on another level, "Spiritual Warfare." I believe that we cannot afford to realize that there IS evil operating in this world. In Buddhism, we believe that we all have "seeds" for good and evil within us, and what will come to be depends on which we cultivate. It is a given that most people can drink and never become alcoholics. But those of us who are susceptible to addiction- be it genetic or early child development, or a tragic shift in circumstances later in life- at some point a drink launches the Titanic. And Evil is at the helm. 

The most recent research finds that it is feelings of "helplessness" that triggers us to drink when we have been actively working to recover. The decision to drink is an act of personal empowerment. In fact, the "feel good" chemicals in our brain begin to release the moment we decide we are going to drink- even before we begin.

If there is a fault line in our resolve to stay sober, that dark mist of Evil will drift in and being to work its malevolent temptation. At that exact point, we have a choice. If we take immediate action to ward off the intruding thoughts to drink, we can get through the thought before it becomes an Urge. But if we allow the thought to dwell in our mind, our resistance weakens and soon the compulsion takes over and that's it- we're gone.

There is no question that addiction is the pure manifestation of Evil @ Work. Consider the opiate epidemic that is killing more people than cancer and car accidents and has no regard for age, gender, or socio-economic status. Addiction is MY problem- but it is also the bane of society now. I feel my own suffering- but I feel compassion for ALL who are struggling to stay sober and all the families that are suffering because they have an addict in the family