What Is the Cause Of Addiction?

Previously, we have looked at the core issues of humanity and how drugs affect the body and the soul. In this post, we’ll take a look at the very prevalent issue of addiction in our society: What is the cause of addiction?

What is the conventional view of addiction?

The term “addiction” refers to the condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. There are several types of addictions that include substances, thoughts, feelings, people and activities, some of which are shown in “The Addiction Tree” along with some traumas or issues found in unhealthy or dysfunctional families (below, click to enlarge).

Several models have been postulated for why some people become addicted and others don’t. Here is a brief summary of the models used over the years:

The moral model of past centuries viewed addiction as a character flaw and a sin, which justified punishing addicts with beatings, fines, jail or public humiliation.
The disease model suggests that addiction is a chronic relapsing disease that is progressive unless treated by lifelong abstinence (Alcoholics Anonymous model).
The psycho-dynamic model maintains that we can link our problems to our childhood, which affects how we cope or don’t cope as adults (psychotherapy or counseling model).
The social learning model sees substance dependence as not only chemical but also behavioral and social in nature. It is based on the user’s thoughts about the substance and being under the influence of it.
The socio-cultural model focuses on society as a whole, not just the individuals. Drug use is linked to culturally and socially disadvantaged people, whose environment needs to be changed (e.g. poverty, housing, discrimination, etc.).

What is the effect of addiction in a family setting?

John Bradshaw (“The Family: A Revolutionary Way of Self-Discovery”) said that 96% of all families are to some degree emotionally impaired or dysfunctional. The rules handed down from one generation to another are unhealthy and make our families and societies sick. Why?

Our consciousness and way of life have radically changed in the last 150 years, but our parenting rules haven’t. They’re out of date and toxic, because they’re based on obedience, orderliness, cleanliness and control of emotions and desires. They’re authoritarian and use shame-based programming to control and enslave the soul of the child, to dim their light and keep them from accessing their own power.
A dysfunctional family is one with multiple internal and external influences. The internal influences include parent-child conflicts, sibling rivalries, domestic violence, mental illness, etc. The external factors may involve drug or alcohol abuse, gambling, extramarital affairs, physical illness, unemployment, etc.

These negative influences affect the basic needs of every family member. To cope, they develop rigid family roles that are not chosen or flexible (below). Each individual exists to keep the dysfunctional family system in balance, but in the process they all become co-dependent, living in reaction to the family distress.

For example, if Dad is a workaholic, one of the children becomes Mom’s Surrogate Spouse. If Dad is an alcoholic, one child will be a Hero, because the family needs some dignity. The Scapegoat is the troublemaker, who acts out the family’s unexpressed anger and pain. The Forgotten Child is the quiet one, who carries the loneliness and isolation of the marriage. The Clown uses humor or mischief to break the tension and lighten everyone’s load, etc. When dysfunctional people marry other dysfunctional individuals, they create new dysfunctional families or a multigenerational pattern, which is difficult to break, according to Bradshaw.

Note that each child may play multiple roles in a dysfunctional family with respect to mom and dad’s preferences or dislikes, as illustrated in this figure from Bradshaw’s book (below):

What is the spiritual basis of addiction?

We can look at addictions from the human perspective, but it’s often helpful to see them from the soul’s perspective. Remember the soul is the driver and the human body is the vehicle for incarnation, which exists at ten frequency levels and has seven major chakras. As Anodea Judith (“Eastern Body, Western Mind”) said:

Addictions are difficult to classify in terms of chakras, because different substances produce different states. But each chakra represents a specific developmental stage, so they evolve sequentially from the bottom up along with our chronological age from the womb (root) to adulthood (crown).
The way we cope with stress and trauma at the chakra level may be manifest as increasing energy to fight the stress or as decreasing energy to withdraw from it. This coping mechanism explains why we might want to stimulate or depress the energies at certain chakras in certain situations.
What happens to the body and soul under the influence of drugs is described elsewhere (How Do Drugs Affect the Body and Soul? – Big Picture Questions.com & How Do Mind-Altering Drugs Affect the Soul? – Big Picture Questions.com).

Here is a Figure that relates some of the common addictions (see Addiction Tree, above) to specific chakras and their issues, based on Anodea Judith’s work (below).

Choosing the body is one of the most important choices the soul makes before incarnation. The soul knows that the human form is the most complicated and most addictive form in the universe. Why?

Because we exist at the bottom of the multiverse, we lose about 99.9% of our soul’s connectivity with our Higher Self. The lower the frequency we exist at, the greater the chance of losing our higher frequency thoughts, behaviors, actions and higher functions (e.g. telepathic and empathic communication).
That means it’s much easier to become addicted, attracted or attached to lower frequency thoughts, behaviors, actions, sensory stimuli and experiences. That’s what karma is all about, but our souls agree to do it anyway, according to Guy Needler (“Avoiding Karma”).

Why would souls choose an addiction path?

We do it to give ourselves choice. Only brave souls agree to come to Earth, the densest and hardest place to exist in. It’s like a graduate school for incarnation. The souls understand what they’re getting into and know the limitations of the environment and do it willingly. Why? Needler explained:

We agree to be here, because the evolutionary opportunities for our souls and Higher Selves far outweigh the difficulties and isolation/separation we encounter. Even if we make a “mistake” or take a wrong turn, we still progress just by being here, because it is so profoundly different from our energetic existence.
Some souls are born into a family setting to experience some level of addiction, because they want to experience what it’s like to come out of the addiction. Others in that family may show the way (or not).
Other souls become addicted, and it may take them dozens or thousands of lifetimes to come out of it. It’s like a bad habit or a familiar pattern that they fall into, according to Gordon Phinn (“You Are History”). But that’s all part of the game of incarnation.

Needler said the whole objective of being here is to become self-aware and detach ourselves from these addictions, so we can navigate through the incarnation without accruing karma. What seems like “minor evolution” for our soul becomes “major evolution” for our Higher Self. We all benefit from it.

How many addictions are there?

David R. Hawkins said that there are over 650 addictions. But Needler said it’s probably limitless. There are as many types of addictions as we can think of in terms of the ways we can interact with ourselves, with each other, our environment and the things we create in our environment. There are variations upon variations upon variations.

The whole point of us being here is to experience things first-hand, to be in the thick of it all, to be the actor in the movie, not just the couch potato watching the movie. But we’re also meant to learn as we go and to master incarnation at some point in our soul’s evolution within the physical universe.

What is the best way to overcome addictions?

Needler said anything that allows you to detach yourself from certain thoughts, behaviors and actions and sensory stimuli is a positive way of overcoming addictions. What works for you might not work for somebody else, but a variation of it might work. For example:

Self-analysis is one way, using the observer self or reading “Avoiding Karma” are other ways.
The 12 step program is another way, as is becoming a hermit or a yogi that detaches himself from interacting with others. Some people like support groups, others like alone time to process issues.
Prayer, meditation, contemplation, therapy, counseling, rehab, lifestyle modification, diet changes, fasting, turning off the news, disconnecting from electronics, being in nature are various ways to “reset” yourself.
The way that works for YOU is the best way, as long as it’s repeatable, robust and effective for you.

You know you are protected from addictions or karma, when you can do things (e.g. eat chocolate, smoke marijuana, go on a roller coaster ride, watch a movie, have two or three cars, etc.), but you don’t get attached to those things. You won’t have an overwhelming desire to experience that thing again and again. That way you don’t get the links to it or attached to something that is potentially addictive.

You choose to experience it, work with it, learn from it and then choose to move away from it. You may choose to change the way you operate, think, behave and act as a result of it, which is evolutionary progression.

Final Thoughts

Looking at the Addiction Tree, it’s clear that all of us in human form are prone to addictions of one kind or another, whether it’s chocolate, shopping, sex, drugs or attention. We’re trying to get that lift or “hit” from something external to us. We want a quick fix, as noted by Wendy Kennedy. She said the addiction is created, because you’re not connecting with Source or God energy. If we really want to heal addiction, it’s about creating a deeper connection within yourself to Source by raising your own frequency.

The other problem she pointed out is that if we keep telling ourselves the same story of who we think we are, we’re never going to change. At some point, you’ll have to stop telling yourself that you are an “addict,” because that will keep you in a particular frequency range. You have to let go of that story of who you think you are (e.g. addict, good girl, troublemaker, etc.) and what you’re capable of. Throw those old, worn out “costumes” away and say this instead:

I acknowledge and express my divine authority in each moment. – Wendy Kennedy

You are free to heal now. You are free to release all self-imposed limitations, because you don’t have to stick to a particular story. You can have an observance of your overall behavior, but one day you’ll let go of the label and keep working on your inner connection to Source/God, which is who you really are. You are an individualized unit of Source sent to experience things on its behalf to increase its sentience (consciousness).

That means you’re not a flawed, broken, sinful or unworthy person. Neither were your parents or the “bad others” we tend to blame for our co-creations and problems. Get out of judgment, guilt and shame about addiction and see alcohol for what it is — a tool for enslavement on this planet for eons. The enslavement game is over now, according to Nora Herold. There are no victims here, only co-creators with Source. Get into loving yourself more as a sovereign being, because you are God’s Love incarnate.

Herold said you’re never NOT having a spiritual moment in life! Needler said we are creator entities in training to become Source Entities in our own right in the far distant future. Let that sink in for a moment! We have many things to learn along the way, but we can ask for help from our Higher Self, guide and helpers and the people around us, because we’re all in this together.

Herold added when you find yourself feeling powerless, defeated, abandoned or feel shame, anger, sadness, grief or your darkness, feel it, own it and take responsibility for it. The reason you gave it to yourself is because you want to transmute it, not just the trauma from your childhood but from other lifetimes. It’s just a hook, a memory, but you’re off the hook now, you don’t have to be addicts any longer.

Here is a simple technic given by Herold to help you transmute trauma in the moment, as it happens. It just takes a couple of minutes to do this FOAL technic:

FEEL — simply feel what you’re feeling and own it (using “I” statements): Ah, I’m feeling sad, I’m feeling anxious, I’m feeling angry, I’m feeling pain in my knee, etc. Feel what you must, don’t push it away.
OBSERVE — while you’re fully feeling, begin to observe yourself from a balcony, while you’re still feeling the intensity of your experience without judgment. Then you’ve got the 3D self feeling away, and your 5D consciousness observing, which gives you a blended 3D/5D experience.
ACCEPT — step into acceptance saying: I totally, completely accept myself and this feeling state in this moment exactly as I am.
LOVE — what happens next is an automatic activation of unconditional love within your energetic system that gets sent to all versions of you that have felt that trauma — wherever it sits, on whatever timeline it sits, and whatever moment in this lifetime and any other lifetime you experienced that trauma going back to the origin of that trauma. You will feel lighter right away. Smile!

When things get intense and you get triggered by something external to you, just FOAL more often. Be more gentle, loving and compassionate with yourself during this highly polarized time on Earth. Keep doing your inner work. When you clear something at the energetic level, you don’t need to play it out in your physical reality (brought to your attention as pain or dis-ease in your physical body or turbulence in your environment).

Remind yourself you can’t screw this up! Operate from Joy. – Nora Herold 🙂