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  %ADDICTION BALANCE DISHONESTY MEANS SALVATION GET+950107
%TRUE LOVE ACCEPTANCE AFFIRMATION AFFECTION RESPECT 950107

     When  we regard any thing,  person,  relationship  or
activity  as  a  means to or  substitute  for true:  love,
acceptance, affirmations, affection, respect and integrity
within a genuine community---we are addicted.

     When  we are addicted we are tempted to be  dishonest
about  the  role of our addiction(s)  in our  lives.    We
cannot be honest about our attitudes, feelings, beliefs or
behaviors  as they pertain to the foci of our  addictions;
because  dishonesty is essential to the continuity of  our
games of mutual self deception about the effectiveness  of
our addictions  as presumed means  to or  substitutes  for
true:  love,  acceptance, affirmations, affection, respect
and integrity within a genuine community.

     The  foci  of our addictions are  rarely  essentially
evil  or bad for us---especially when we maintain  balance
and moderation in how we regard them and are involved with
them.    In  fact  many  of the  foci  of  addictions  are
essential  elements  of  healthy  modern  living:    food,
drinks,    work,    personal   relationships,     romantic
relationships,  sexual relationships,  drugs,  scriptures,
dogmas, rituals,  etc.    It  is  how  we individually and
organizationally  relate  to  the foci of  our  addictions
which makes them be the foci of our addictions.   The foci
of our addictions are  not  like bacteria or viruses which
upon  entering  our body cause a disease in us.   It is  a
dis-ease  in us which makes  us approach the foci  of  our
addictions in addictive ways.

     We cannot cure our addictions by eliminating the foci
of our addictions from our environment.    To recover from
our  addictions we must seek to be true to  ourselves  and
each  other about our selves and our experiences;  and  be
willing to stop playing our collusive games of mutual self
deception about the powers we think reside in the foci  of
our addictions.

     We cannot save ourselves,  make ourselves acceptable,
or achieve love or salvation through the use or abuse  of:
food, drinks,   work,   personal  relationships,  romantic
relationships,  sexual relationships,  drugs,  scriptures,
dogmas, rituals, etc.   They are not tools which can so be
used with honesty or integrity.   We will recover from our
addictions when we decide to stop pretending that they can
so be used with honesty and integrity.

                                                                                                                               
                         (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in      
                    (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy)  
                                                                                                                               
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