High and low<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Addiction can be seen as an attempt to fill a deep-inside void, an Inner Emptiness that seems unbearable to experience. The addict tries to fill this void with occasional highs. In some way, he also fills it with the in-between quest for the next high. The quest is also meaningful \u2015 serving the goal of the high as well as the filling of the low.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anything but meaninglessness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Close to depression<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In the concept of depression, one can see meaninglessness itself. Every symptom that is being described as part of depression can be seen as a direct result of a profound lack of meaning. [see: \u201cThe Dark Side of Depression<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depression as a whole can be seen as a loss of connection to the \u2018deeper self\u2019 \u2015 my term for the dynamic set of deeper mental-neuronal patterns that together form the basis of what we feel to be the source of \u2018meaning.\u2019 In translation, one may call this \u2018soul\u2019 as in the soul of music, or in a more religious sense. [see: \u201cDepression: in need of the lost soul<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nirvana?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In [see: \u201cNirvana and Depression: Same Emptiness?<\/a>\u201d], I made an association between depressive and \u2018enlightened\u2019 emptiness. In addiction, we also encounter this huge \u2018void to be filled.\u2019 Can this eventually be about the same?<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018high of the addicted\u2019 fits in the scheme, although in a paradoxical way. Here, we see a combination of running away from emptiness and right into Emptiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Or, one can say, from complete meaninglessness to complete meaningfulness. [see: \u201cAddiction: in Search of Deeper Meaning<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n I happen to know first-hand what I\u2019m talking about. [see: \u201cNightlife at the Zendo<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coincidentia oppositorum<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n C.G.Jung (1875-1961), a Swiss psychiatrist, has written extensively about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u2018unity of opposites\u2019 is an age-old idea with, in alchemist parlance, \u2019a thousand names.\u2019 It is an intuition with which humanity has been trying to grapple for very long. It\u2019s about many opposites, but, I guess, meaning is an excellent instance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AURELIS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In \u2018AURELIS tradition,\u2019 it\u2019s head-on about subconceptual processing. [see: \u201cAbout \u2018Subconceptual\u2019<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Subconceptual processing is entirely meaningless if one searches for conceptual meaning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It can be entirely meaningful if one doesn\u2019t let the former search stand in the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Early-life trauma<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Many addicts have a history of trauma, most frequently in or from early life. In my view, the working mechanism here lies in inner dissociation engendered by the trauma in the broadest sense. [see: \u201cTrauma Wisdom<\/a>\u201d] The trauma\u2019s energy can flow in different ways. It can lead to wisdom or a profound loss of contact with inner meaningfulness. [see: \u201cInner Friend or Foe?<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n One can feel in the latter a profound yearning, a call from depth. Otherwise said, this call is<\/em> depth itself, but it isn\u2019t heard as such. There\u2019s a considerable layer between.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the use of the drug, for instance, the layer-between is taken away.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since this is artificial, it happens very temporarily in its immediacy as well as its effect. The addict usually doesn\u2019t grow from the experience \u2015 a big difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet, crucially, it is the same emptiness, highly addictive because it\u2019s a quick-fix, quickly lost Nirvana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unfortunately, our brains aren\u2019t made for the repeated use of such a highly energetic mental hammer. With present-day visualization means (fMRI etc.), we see changes in the chronic addict\u2019s brain that make the addiction into what can be rightfully called a disease. The mind-brain gets physically wounded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even so, I think that every addict can learn from seeing his addiction as something that \u2013 in most profound depth \u2013 remains worthy of being treated positively. [see: \u201cSix Steps Every Drug Addict Could Take<\/a>\u201d]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Easy? Not at all!<\/p>\n