Page 65 - WhoAreWe...

in life. As we come of age, each of us must come to realize
that our parents are individual people with real human
faults, and not necessarily saints. — and that this is OK,
commonplace, and expected.

There are other examples of course but I would ask you, the
next time you are really frustrated, to take the time to ask
your yourself if your expectations are truly valid or if there
is real reason that they are not likely to be of real truth.
Once again, doing the hard work of life will set you free.

On the Concept of Addiction, How We React to it, and
why it's Everyone's Concern

We all have seen, or have experienced ourselves, the
problems associated with destructive dependencies. We
discussed earlier how people can abuse stimulants like
drugs and alcohol to create a world in which they do not
have to face their challenges, causing great pain to
themselves and others around them, not to mention
stymieing their spiritual growth. This is all true of course,
but if we want the problem to eventually go away, then we,
in popular culture, might need to take a different
perspective on it.

When someone is consumed by destructive dependencies,
we call him an addict. In our culture, this word has a
horribly negative connotation (the dictionary actually
defines it using the words weakness and compulsion) and
implies that a person is hopelessly lost in a world of
personal destruction. It cannot do any of us any good to
look down our nose, in effect isolating them from the rest
of human culture as "bad", at people who are obviously in
such a state of personal distress, so there must be a better
way to approach the issue without so much vitriol and

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