Let’s talk about addiction.
Do you share the common belief that drugs are addictive?
WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT MOST DRUGS ARE NOT?
I’m talking about substances such as LSD, MDMA, psilocybin mushrooms, DMT, Ketamine, Marihuana and even alcohol, coffee and tobacco.
Before you think I am crazy, hear me out. I know that thousands of people are addicted to cigarettes and that many deaths are related to nicotine addiction.
All I’m saying is that it is not the substance itself that we get addicted to. We’re addicted to the feeling the substance evokes within us. And of course over time your body also gets used to the substance and will show withdrawal symptoms, but I am talking about the beginning: why do we get addicted in the first place?
EXPLORING WHY AND HOW SUBSTANCES BECOME ADDICTIVE FOR PEOPLE
Let’s go back to the example of Tobacco. The tobacco plant is a sacred plant, used in the Amazon by indigenous people for its protective spirit. It is a masculine energy that helps to ground us, eases anxiety and unrest. It calms us, helps us to breath when we forget because we are anxious inside. Is it possible that people who are addicted to Tobacco are actually searching for that inner peacefulness with every inhale they take? Our fast paced society that values productivity over emotional wellbeing causes many of us to feel uneasy and restless – often we are so used to these sensations that we are not even aware of them. The Tobacco plant provides a feeling of inner safety and stillness. Can it be that this is what the addicts are searching for?
Marijuana guides us to fully relax and to calm our minds. She is the female version of a protector plant. She slows us down and reminds us of what matters most in our life. She helps us to feel and grants us comfort. Is it possible that Marijuana addicts are driven by the search for deep relaxation, comfort and calmness of the mind?
Alcohol helps us to let loose, to let go of responsibility and control.
Coffee gives us energy and motivates us for things that we would naturally not find the motivation for.
Ketamine helps us to not feel our body, it numbs our bodily sensations.
MDMA gives us a feeling of absolute bliss and grants us several hours of no worries.
LSD and Psilocybin Mushrooms open the gates to other dimensions in which we can loose ourselves.
PSYCHEDELICS THEMSELVES ARE NOT ADDICTIVE
Do you agree that this is what we are addicted to: the ease, the relaxation, the letting go, the energy and motivation, the forgetting of pain, the feeling of bliss, the escape of reality?
And yes, if the substance gives us exactly this feeling we are searching for – there is a high chance of becoming addicted.
BUT STILL, IT IS NOT THE SUBSTANCE THAT CREATES THE ADDICTION.
The question is:
Why am I anxious?
Why can’t I relax?
What do I need to let loose of? Whose control do I need to let go of?
Why am I not motivated in what I’m doing in life?
Why don’t I want to feel my body?
Why is my life lacking blissful moments?
Why do I need to escape my reality?
PAIN IS THE CAUSE OF ADDICTION.
Addiction expert Gabor Maté uses the following definition: “Addiction is any behaviour, substance related or not, that a person engages in, finds temporary pleasure or relief in but suffers negative consequences and still doesn’t give it up.”
According to this definition, who can say that they have not indulged in an addictive behaviour at some point in their life? We all have. And the reason behind is always to fill a empty void inside of us created by an unfulfilled need. Our society stigmatizes the drug user and judges the drugs but by doing so we are just blaming the symptoms instead of looking at the hidden cause underneath.
PSYCHEDELICS CAN HELP US HEAL THE PAIN THAT UNDERLIES ADDICTIVE BEHAVIOUR
To cure an addiction we need to address the pain. We need to fill the inner void with the feeling that the drug provides in other ways. Or we can ask the drug to teach us how to properly fill it. It is never a question of controlling the addiction, but it is about meeting an unmet need for ourselves that oftentimes hides itself so well that we are not even aware of it. It’s about changing the environment the addict lives in, it’s about feeling seen and received in relationships, its about creating connection.
And that’s when the conscious use of entheogenic substances can play an important role.
PSYCHEDELICS CAN HELP US TO DISCOVER OUR SUBCONSCIOUS REASONS BEHIND THE ADDICTION.
LSD, Psilocybin Mushrooms or MDMA combined with the right guidance or psychotherapy have oftentimes proven that they are capable of healing stubborn addictions.
Even the co-founder of Alcoholic Anonymous Bill Wilson credited LSD with helping his own recovery. “The vision and insights given by LSD could create a large incentive – at least in a considerable number of people”, he envisioned.
Ayahuasca and Iboga, two powerful teacher plants have shown to cure strong addictions such as to heroin or crack. That is because they send us right into our pain. No more escape. The plants guide us to deal with the pain and show us how to fill the inner void.
It is not the drug that creates the addiction. If your intention is to fully meet yourself, you can enjoy the offerings of the substances without risking to become an addict. You can learn from and enjoy their teachings, dive into your pain and/or have fun times, relax or feel blissful and take new insights about yourself and the universe back into your reality.
You can learn from tobacco how to ease your general anxiety level. You can let Marihuana teach you how to focus on the important things in life. You can use the blissful feeling of MDMA to dive into your deepest fears and release them. You can let the mushrooms and LSD teach you how to manifest a new reality and live a life that you love.
For a moment, you and the substance will become one. You experience the substance and the substance experiences you.
THIS WAY YOU WILL CREATE A SYMBIOSIS INSTEAD OF AN ADDICTION.
Just like the bee and the flower. They are not addicted to each other but they do need each other for a specific purpose at a specific moment in time.
The birth of addiction lays in the intend – be it conscious or unconscious.
Do you want to fill a void or do you want to gain insights? Do you want to escape your pain or do you want to dive into it? Do you want to hide from yourself or meet yourself? This is the essential difference and the deciding factor to either create an addiction or experience the benefits of a symbiosis.
