My Buddhist practice reminds me to be mindful of the present

“The great object is sensation—to feel that we exist. It is the craving void which drives us to travel to intemperate but keenly felt pursuits of every description whose principal attraction is the agitation inseparable from their accomplishment.” ~ George Gordon, Lord Byron

I first learned about the topic of sensation addiction through my Buddhist practice.

My Buddhist practice reminds me to be mindful of the present moment and not escape from it by abusing the senses.

What is the hallmark of an addict?

One who refuses to accept what is by abusing the senses to escape from the present moment.

All our addictions have pleasure aspects within them and we get rewards for participating in them in the form of euphoric experiences. Euphoric experience can be related to the spiritual as well.

The definition of a religious mystic is one that partakes in an altered state of conciseness with God / god or the spiritual realm. Our addictions also give us this altered state of consciousness and feeling of euphoria.

So, we can say that our drugs are our gods and our addiction is our religion.

There is a reason to our madness - it is not just pure madness as most addicts think.

Some persons I run into feel guilty for having senses. They get super sensitized to anything that affects them. They do not look at the senses as a gift from a higher power, instead look at them as a curse.

Coming to peace with our senses and learning to enjoy them - but not abuse them is the answer. And for those looking for an excuse to continue addiction, do not look upon this post as an excuse to keep using your drug of choice. If you missed my previous post “The 7 Benefits Addictions Provide Us” and want a copy write me.

From: How to Want What You Have:

“People who dedicate their lives to the pursuit of sensual pleasure find that the more pleasure they get, the more they want. Small, ordinary pleasures soon lose their power to please and must be replaced with more intense or exotic ones. Heedless sensualists usually meet a bad end. They learn the hard way that their desires are relentless and insatiable.”

We are spiritual beings residing in a physical body and must balance this fact. The Buddha recognized this as he gave up being an ascetic himself in favor of the middle path, a path of moderation which rejected both sensory indulgence as well as extreme mortification.

If we want peace with this subject it all revolves around whether or not you are abusing your senses and does not revolve around the fact that you have senses that nature provided you with.

Try asking if the activity placing unreasonable demands on my time and energy, will it place me in legal jeopardy or endanger my mental, physical or spiritual health? You see, there never will be a shortage of ways that humans can find to abuse the mind or the body by living a life of extremes.

The important question is how to find a balance between the mind and the body to be at peace in the present. So, don’t feel guilty about having senses or desires, just work on not abusing them.

Once I started to practice mindfulness of the present moment, this practice opened up a new area of sense enjoyment by just being present. Drugs took me away from the present and I was anything but aware of my real senses. In fact, my senses were dulled from being drugged up. I liked the artificial sense of euphoria I received from various drugs, but this euphoria was not sustainable, natural or healthy. Sustainability and health aspects are both areas I now use to judge things that affect my senses.

If you look into your own addictive areas, you can see how your drug of choice affected your senses and how your were not necessarily addicted to the drug - you were addicted to the sensation the drug provided. This is where sensation addiction comes in. Without receiving these sensations our drug loses it luster. Sensation of the mouth, genitals, brain - addiction all revolves around sensations and how we respond to them.

“I drink to keep body and soul apart” ~ Oscar Wilde

Take Care,

V (Male)

Agnostic Freethinker
Practical Philosopher

For free access to my earlier posts on voluntary simplicity, compulsive spending, debting, compulsive overeating and clutter write: vfr44@aol.com. Any opinion expressed here is that of my own and is not the opinion, recommendation or belief of any group or organization.

I agree that addiction comes from that never-ending pursuit of sensual pleasure. And that mindfulness does help us, through our senses, to become more present and aware in the moment. But it doesn’t serve as a replacement for that sort of sensual pleasure. Mindfulness is not about seeking ‘sense enjoyment’. It’s about paying attention to whatever is ocurring in the present moment. This does mean sounds, smells and colors, but it also mean paying attention to feelings and emotions, both positive ones and the sad or painful ones. Not evaluating or judging them, but noticing them and observing how they affect us.

I disagree. Addiction is often about achieving a greater state of mind.