Ask: Overcoming Addiction

Could you please address overcoming addictions from a Course perspective… - Anonymous As not-God, the personal thought system is the opposite of God in every way: It is the ideas of conflict, lack, dis-order, dis-cord, dis-ease, etc. given form. There is no such thing as a perfect personal experience. Some personal selves manifest diseases and disorders of the body; some manifest diseases and disorders of the personal thought system, like addiction, depression, psychosis, or other mental illnesses. All personal thought systems are at least neurotic, because guilt and fear are at their core. No personal thought system can ever be whole, because, as not-God, they are all the opposite of Wholeness. Above all, remember that you have one problem, and that the problem has one solution. It is in this that the simplicity of salvation lies. It is because of this that it is guaranteed to work. – (W-80.5) In Truth, you have no problems. All problems that you perceive, then, are problems of the personal self. But, you are not a personal self; it is only an erroneous idea in your mind. If you want peace, then, you must recognize that your identification with a personal self is your one obstacle to peace. Each seemingly-specific problem is only a symptom of your one problem of identifying with a personal self. So, if you want to be free of a problem, you must be free of its source: Your goal must be to let go of identifying with a personal self altogether. Then, healing of what seems like specific problems will follow. True prayer must avoid the pitfall of asking to entreat. Ask, rather, to receive what is already given; to accept what is already there…The form of the answer, if given by God, will suit your need as you see it. This is merely an echo of the reply of His Voice. The real sound is always a song of thanksgiving and of Love…You cannot, then, ask for the echo. It is the song that is the gift. Along with it come the overtones, the harmonics, the echoes, but these are secondary. In true prayer you hear only the song…God answers only for eternity. But still all little answers are contained in this. (S-1.I.1-4) You are mind; the personal self is a thought of yourself projected from your mind. As an effect of your mind, the content of its story unfolds from the content of your mind: When you identify with it, disorder is the content of your mind, and this manifests as disorder in the personal self and its “life” unfolding before you. But, when you choose to identify with Truth, then wholeness is the content of your mind, and this manifests as whatever the personal self needs in the universe of form - thoughts, books, people, doctors, programs, processes, opportunities, etc. - showing up to bring healing and peace to it and its life. When you center your mind in God, you will find that many disordered and diseased thoughts, traits, habits, etc. fall away naturally from the personal self with no effort on your part. So, you overcome addiction the same way that you overcome any aspect of the personal experience: You return your mind to Truth again and again. As long as the personal thought system is in your mind, it will manifest disorder in the personal self and its story, but, in time, as Truth becomes more True to you, and you become less attached to a personal identity, discord will manifest in your awareness less and less, until, finally, the personal self and its universe of form will be completely gone from your mind, and only peace will be left. >>>> Learn about The Plain Language A Course in Miracles at www.placim.com. Get answers by topic at www.acimmentor.com/answersbytopic.html. If you have a question that you want answered in the ACIM Mentor Newsletter/Blog, send it to Liz@acimmentor.com and indicate that you want it answered here.