What is an addiction? Gabor Mate (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-APGWvYupU) defines addiction as something that causes a person harm for which that person has a compulsion to continue doing even though he or she knows it causes harm. A victim of an addition has almost no control over it and usually needs help from an outside source to overcome it. Mate says it is something that gives a person temporary solace or alleviates stress. People have propensities for addictions, Mate notes, to varying degrees. These propensities get their impetus from abuse and insecurities experienced early in life. It's been proven that those who are victims of sexual, mental, or violent abuse in infancy and/or childhood are the most at risk of addictions later in life. But many people who who never experience these more blatant assaults, can still have propensities for addictions. Gabor Mate attributes these to the very makeup of modern society. He blames the nuclear family that is incapable of giving us, one and all, adequately nurturing environments in which to grow. Children need elders in their midst, many elders. Young persons need constant direction, sanctions, admonishment, interaction and intervention from adults. A two-parent household doesn't cut it; it isn't enough of what a child needs, Mate posits. Today, children are more likely to be motivated by the immature pressures from peers, sending the general message all around of insecurity and stress—again, a non-nurturing environment to be raise within.
I am paraphrasing and generalizing. I suggest people read Gabor Mate's books, which can easily be found with a Google search.
Everyone needs to ferret out their addictions. Even a person raised under the best of circumstances (or seemingly so) where abuse was absent; addictions can result.
Ultimately, once we start understanding the causes of our addictions, we can perhaps circumvent them. We are, each of us, the masters of our own fate.
Start with a plan: First, admit to your addictions, then connect to other fellow Spartanista Vegans, then go for the hard work. We have a goal here. We have a cause. We have motivation. It's a start.
Our higher power is a great cause, that is, to take down the forces that are wrecking our world.
Let's get started.
