The document discusses addiction and the nature of desire. It states that addiction is an endless desire for more that knows no bounds or limits. Addiction numbs the senses and hides people from truly experiencing life. The document argues that addiction is an illusory reality operating in an uncomprehending world. It says that addicts treat life like an experiment in pursuit of the perfect chemical balance or prescription, but that this search is fruitless. The document also suggests that society, like the addict, fails to see its own role in creating addicts. It maintains that change is necessary but difficult, involving discomfort, and that intelligence offers no protection against addiction.

1. distilled spirit

2. “Break the wineglass
and fall towards
the glassblower’s breath.”
Jelaluddin Rumi

4. Addiction is desire.
Desire for more.
No bounds.
No boundaries.
Enough is nothing.
Nothing is enough.

5. Reflect on the power of desire:
it contains within it
the potential for
the greatest creation
or total destruction.

6. Addiction numbs the senses,
confuses awareness,
hides us from the great stories
and caricatures spirituality.

7. Addiction is unreality
operating as an illusory reality
in an uncomprehending world.

8. When mind and mood are altered
everything changes
and becomes other than what it is.
Nobody understands –
neither the experiencer or the onlooker.

9. Addicts treat life as an experiment –
searching for the perfect chemical balance.
False experiment.
False hypothesis.
Fruitless search.
Alchemy gone wrong.

10. Every drop drunk,
every ‘taste’ experienced,
becomes an ever more desperate search
for the ‘right’ prescription –
the addict dressed as scientist and doctor,
wrapped in a philosopher’s cloak
and disguised by an executioner’s mask.

11. Addiction
Grief
Loss
Change
Depression
Control
all constitute symptoms of
SOCIETY – AS – BODY.

12. Each addictive event, feeling, mood
and state is experienced by the
society that CREATES ITS ADDICTS.
Society, like the addict, looks out
and says, ‘Ha! They are the problem.’
They cannot see themselves
pointing at the mirror.

13. Addicts are the modern scapegoats-
saddled with everyone else’s sins
and driven into the wilderness-
the modern jail.

15. What is the true value of a mind
if its only desire is to desire
that which is destroying it?
Addictions only do deals
that allow them to keep on keeping on.
There is no deal except continued use.

16. Bargaining is not an option
in this MARKET DRIVEN WORLD.

17. Attempt to change any habit –
physical, psychological or emotional –
and the attempt will create discomfort.
Some people need a guarantee
that a change will:
a.Be easy.
b.Lead to wealth and riches.
No such luck.

18. awareness avoidance
ambivalence admission
acceptance
Standing still – stasis – means one will
always return to the original state.
Dynamism is critical for growth.

19. Habit is the enemy of change
when change is the only real option-
unless you count death, insanity or prison.
Life is uncertain.
The desire for certainty cripples
the capacity to act.

20. Intelligence or stupidity
are no protection
against addictive processes.
Don’t think for a minute you can
think your way out of this problem.

21. It is easy to confuse
adrenaline driven behaviour
with creative energy-
and yet they are opposites in effect.

22. Loss is change.
Change is loss.
Loss is grief.
Life is loss and change
Life is grieving.
Grieving is life.
No grief – no life.
Grieving gives us a direct connection
with our soul.

23. Each individual carries within them
the molecule of perfection.
It simply needs to be brought to
consciousness
and then
recreated in action.

24. Paradox
Tension
and
NOT KNOWING
are the alchemy of growth.

25. “I do not trust a man who thinks
with the mind alone.
I want a man who thinks
with the marrowbone.”
from William Butler Yeats

26. words and concept:
David Chaloner
presentation:
David Brown
music:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto in A Minor for Violin
©Amraco inc.1988

27. distilled spirit

28. “Here is the new rule…
Break the wineglass
and fall towards
the glassblower’s breath.”
Jelaluddin Rumi

30. Addiction is desire.
Desire for more.
No bounds.
No boundaries.
Enough is nothing.
Nothing is enough

31. Reflect on the power of desire:
it contains within it
the potential for
the greatest creation
or total destruction.

32. Addiction numbs the senses,
confuses awareness,
hides us from the great stories
and caricatures spirituality.

33. Addiction is unreality
operating as an illusory reality
in an uncomprehending world

34. When mind and mood are altered
everything changes
and becomes other than what it is.
Nobody understands –
neither the experiencer or the onlooker.

35. When mind and mood are altered
everything changes
and becomes other than what it is.
Nobody understands –
neither the experiencer or the onlooker.

36. Addicts treat life as an experiment –
searching for the perfect chemical balance.
False experiment.
False hypothesis.
Fruitless search.
Alchemy gone wrong.

37. Every drop drunk,
every ‘taste’ experienced,
becomes an ever more desperate search
for the ‘right’ prescription –
the addict dressed as scientist and doctor,
wrapped in a philosopher’s cloak
and disguised by an executioner’s mask.

38. Addiction
Grief
Loss
Change
Depression
Control
all constitute symptoms of
SOCIETY – AS - BODY

39. Each addictive event, feeling, mood
and state is experienced by the
society that CREATES ITS ADDICTS.
Society, like the addict, looks out
and says, ‘Ha! They are the problem.’
They cannot see themselves
pointing at the mirror.

40. Addicts are the modern scapegoats-
saddled with everyone else’s sins
and driven into the wilderness-
the modern jail

42. What is the true value of a mind
if its only desire is to desire
that which is destroying it?
Addictions only do deals
that allow them to keep on keeping on.
There is no deal except continued use.

43. Bargaining is not an option
in this MARKET DRIVEN WORLD.

44. Attempt to change any habit –
physical, psychological or emotional –
and the attempt will create discomfort.
Some people need a guarantee
that a change will:
a.Be easy.
b.Lead to wealth and riches.
No such luck.

45. awareness avoidance
ambivalence admission
acceptance
Standing still – stasis – means one will
always return to the original state.
Dynamism is critical for growth.

46. Habit is the enemy of change
when change is the only real option-
unless you count death, insanity or prison.
Life is uncertain.
The desire for certainty cripples
the capacity to act.

47. Intelligence or stupidity
are no protection
against addictive processes.
Don’t think for a minute you can
think your way out of this problem.

48. It is easy to confuse
adrenaline driven behaviour
with creative energy-
and yet they are opposites in effect.

49. Loss is change.
Change is loss.
Loss is grief.
Life is loss and change
Life is grieving.
Grieving is life.
No grief – no life.
Grieving gives us a direct connection
with our soul.

50. Each individual carries within them
the molecule of perfection.
It simply needs to be brought to
consciousness
and then
recreated in action.

51. Paradox
Tension
and
NOT KNOWING
are the alchemy of growth.

52. “I do not trust a man who thinks
with the mind alone.
I want a man who thinks
with the marrowbone.”
William Butler Yeats

54. words and concept:
David Chaloner
presentation:
David Brown
music:
Johann Sebastian Bach
Concerto in A Minor for Violin
©Amraco inc.1988