as a former drug addict i feel i have a good grip on the ideals behind this. I feel that i have a great connection to my higher self now, back when i did drugs i was so dissconescted, i NEEDED somthing to fill that void. when u loose or never make that connection to higher self teh ego takes over, once that happens WATCH OUT!!! the first thing that happens is it wants all things as a part of the pysical world to get its hooks in, that includes but is not all of the things that you mentioned. all of these things are GREAT tools for teh ego. thats teh entire goal of teh ego, to jkeep you away from teh higher self, to connect to all that is only inside of teh pysiacal system. and teh more you get connected to pysical existance teh less you care about higher self. and when you use drugs, drama , extream behavior, and more, than you are filling that void that you have unstaed of teh connection to higher self. As i realize now, in drugs i lost my soul, i was sooo dissconeted to my soul it was hoprrible, before that even . thats why i loved drugs. but after i get out of that, i see now that the worst days of mee being connected to who n what i TRULY am,, i now see that is 100x better than my BEST day on drugs. and when you do not have that connection , your ego will use anything to take the place of that "alive" feeling you have in your heart from being connected, and its a great tool to hold us away from that connection! hope it helped.

love n light,

rob

Most people at some point seek outside themselves for relief of those underlying feelings of incompleteness or to fill an imagined void that the egoic mind has created.

There are varying addictions adopted to satisfy this yearning... some more socially accepted than others. However, whether it's drugs or shopping, alcohol or obsessive exercising, any addiction will only ever give temporary relief or pleasure but will never provide lasting happiness... every addiction is an unwillingness to face your own pain.Lasting happiness can only be obtained by going within and facing the pain that one tries to escape from through the addiction.

Ironically when the addiction no longer works those painful feelings resurface even more strongly and this can often be the motivator to push us toward spiritual realization...often we need to have experienced deep pain in order to feel that pull toward our true spiritual identity. In this way that negative cycle actually becomes a positive in our life by pushing us to face our pain and wake up to who we really are.

it is a result of their choice of living mostly in the grosser elements of the earth,
and the neglect of their spiritual nature that leads them to the belief that satisfaction of sensual desire
is what life is all about

What I have heard about this is that the brain produces a natural drug called adrenaline. Adrenaline makes you high but the purpose is to give you a rush of energy as if your life depends on it! (It is called fight or flight.)

A person can get addicted to this rush of energy. The brain can be fooled into thinking that there is a danger of exhausting the life of the body. This produces the adrenaline and starts the addiction cycle.

To produce adrenaline, people jump off of cliffs with a hang glider; jump with a parachute from perfectly good planes that are flying in the air; ride dirt bike motor cycles and jump off huge hills; and water ski behind a boat going very fast. In other words, people like this will do most anything that causes their hearts to beat hard and fast because they like the feeling that they might die at any moment.

All of these things release adrenaline. This was built into the body long ago to survive being attacked by a Lion, Gorilla, Bear, Shark or what have you. This was not meant for fun, so is this addiction to adrenaline harmful to the body? I doubt it, because we are made for this. These people are just always turning it on to get high.

well there is always a reason why you decide to experiance drugs and other things. what can that reason be? to party, to try it out and experiance what it does, to replace a void, or to make you feel good and probleme free.the first 2 reason are not to bad onless you get hook on it. as for the other reason drugs or other things will not solve your problem it is only a bandaid and if you do not fix your problem it will only create more problem. so ask your friend what is the reason for what ever it is and you will have your answer. experiance and enjoy.