There are many things we get addicted to. Some of us get addicted to IPL matches, some to social media, some to likes on Instagram and Facebook, and some to YouTube. Some get addicted to cigarettes, drugs, and liquor. Some get addicted to winning the races and competitions. Do we see any difference in these addictions? What is the reason for these addictions?
It appears to me that all addictions are the result of a narrow perspective of life. Probably, initially, we get fixated on the narrow perspective and slowly fixation gets converted into addiction in certain cases. When the psychological fixation is supported by certain biological processes, that becomes addiction. For example, we keep working day and night in the office aiming at promotions, and in the process, we get fixated on the office work. Even after coming back home, the office work keeps going in our minds. Eventually, we develop Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and remain stressed. It starts disturbing even our periods of sleep. If we examine carefully, we will soon realize what's happening here. Life has many possibilities and somehow, we pick and choose one of such possibilities and make it the hub of our life. We feel that if we perform well at the office, we will get money and stability that will take care of the family, medical issues, and all the comforts and pleasure. In the process, consciously and unconsciously, we make our lives limited and narrow by putting so much focus on the job. That is why we get fixated on work performance and the targets of the office stay with us even in our dreams. Every time we complete some office work, we get dopamine secreted into our blood and keep happy. We slowly get addicted to dopamine and develop OCD.
I feel that addiction to social media and IPL matches has the same underlying reason. We close our eyes to the wideness of the life. We become narrow and trapped in our daily routine. Since we get deprived of real joy, we develop a strong craving for the small pleasures. Social media, YouTube videos, IPL matches, etc, provide these quick doses of the happiness hormones without much effort. That is why we start watching these and slowly get addicted to the neurotransmitters that are released by our body by watching these things.
Similar is the addiction to liquor, parties, and drugs. The addiction to drugs and liquor is more dangerous because in other addictions such as the addiction to work and social media, there is no external intake of these neurotransmitters, but while taking the liquor and drugs, there is a direct intake of these chemicals inside the body. Once the body gets used to a particular amount of these chemicals, it wants higher doses and it is almost impossible to control that craving. Had the person been able to control the craving, it would not have started in the very first instance. Thus, A weak mind starts an external dose of these chemicals and gets trapped in higher doses in moments of weakness. That is why these addictions such as cigarettes, liquor, and drugs are far more harmful than other addictions.
However, all the fixations do a big damage to our spiritual growth. Certain fixations are accepted by society while others are not. For example, there is a legal acceptance of drugs in many countries, while some societies have a legal ban on the drugs. Similarly, certain societies do not accept liquor or cigarettes while others accept them. However, when it comes to spiritual growth, it does not matter at all whether society approves a particular fixation or not. All fixations make us limited and narrow. A person fixated on money and power is equally narrow as a person fixated on drugs and liquor. Any and every fixation takes us away from the divine. It strengthens our limited identity which is called ego. We wish to mingle with people having similar addictions and avoid the ones who challenge such addictions.
Probably, all the fixations are the result of internal disconnection. If we are connected to the divine, we see infinite possibilities emerging from the consciousness. There are so many places to explore in this world. A walk in the garden or park offers an entire universe to be explored. The falling leaves from the trees and the new leaves give us a fresh perspective of death and birth. The world of insects, birds, and animals offers us so many new perspectives of life. The birds do not have any concrete home or accumulated food and yet they find what they need. We human beings keep accumulating so much and yet remain unhappy. Observing different human beings gives many different perspectives of life. When that internal connection is lost, we seek pleasure. We can not live without that joy within.
In a state of disconnection, we try to find poor substitutes for inner joy in the form of pleasures from social media, liquor, money, powers, and many different sources of entertainment such as partying and thrill activities. We make many mental stories about the fun and enjoyment of these things. We listen to the false travelogues and narratives of our friends and relatives since they want to tell what they experienced. Either they do not have the capacity to tell the truth or they deliberately want to narrate only the pleasant side of the same to prove their state of happiness. We add many more stories to these narratives and develop strong desires to have fun. Every time we have fun, we feel more hungry for the fun because we have taken to wrong train that is continuously taking us away from the destination. In the end, the body gives up and it has no more capacity to bear such toxicity and we die in some hospital bed quite discounted and living quite hollow life. On the other hand, the inner journey makes life full of exploration and diversity. We always have a choice and this choice requires awareness. A fixated mind becomes very dull and loses the capacity to make a choice.
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