Firstly let me say how much I applaud you for asking this question on this site. For the most part I agree with Tom. This may or may not be a serious problem but if you are posting a question on IQ and are still concerned about it, it possibly is quite serious. The first step is always admitting that you may have a problem.

The trouble with pornography is that it is designed to be highly addictive. A very interesting book entitled "The Brain that Changes Itself" by Norman Doidge has a chapter specifically about this topic. In it, the author describes the brain changes that take place and why users not only become addicted but then seek out harder themes to get that same "high". You see the same in alcohol and drug addiction of course. He explains why (in terms of the brain) what appears at the start to be a healthy pleasure paradoxically often leads to an eventual decrease in pleasure, stating that many of the patients he treated craved pornography but didn't like it - wanting and liking being two different things. The book explains a whole lot of other things including why Viagra is often advertised on porn sites!

The whole area of human sexuality is a complicated one, but my gut feeling is that pornography is eventually a powerful vibration downer and if you are still experiencing problems you might be best to seek specialist professional help. (EDIT - 27.11.12 Clearly from your recent posts, this is no longer an issue for you though - I'll leave the answer just in case other people might be inspired to read the book)

If you are worried it is bringing you down it most likely is... especially if you call it an addiction. I usede to look at it and whenever I did it killed my mood. So I made myself quit for 30 days... definitely a big difference especially in my mood and energy.

I don't remember where I read it but on other PD sites this question has come up and many people feel that masturbation and porn usually brings you down and makes problems worse, unless its just an occasional thing. There is a site (Your Brain on Porn, I think) that says giving up masturbation/porn has helped people with social anxiety and other problems. It has a lot of info on why they believe its not too good for you.

Personally it helped me a lot to stop, especially in my personal relationships, and I definitely feel I think more clearly and have an improved mood. It definitely made blocks for me at the time.

I agree with what Tom wrote above - it's not the pornography per se, it's your relationship towards it. Addiction will always slow down spiritual development.

But perhaps you need to take a deep look inside and see whether you are harboring lots of feelings of guilt and beliefs such as 'pornography is bad'. When I look back at addictions I have had (or thought I had, I'm not so sure anymore what addiction is and isn't), a lot of them were just fuelled with guilt. Whether excessive drinking, promiscuity, smoking, or other things, the pattern was always the same: Feel bad ---> Seek comfort in the 'addiction' of choice ---> Berate myself for doing 'bad' thing ----> Feel worse, and so try to distract myself from feeling bad by seeking comfort in the addiction ----> Feel worse ----> et cetera, ad nauseum.... Personally I've always been a bit compulsively drawn to doing things which I felt were bad of me to do, but removing the guilt about that behaviour often made me feel less inclined to do it.

Currently I watch porn, probably more frequently than a lady should (or should admit to in mixed company, at any rate!), but I don't feel it interferes with my spirituality, because I don't really feel guilty about it or feel that it is inherently bad. But I used to, and I believe that back then it did interfere with my spirituality.

Sex is a great gift of the Almighty-The Creator. So are HIS fine food and drink. It is the quality and the quantity of them that determines the end result. If by addiction you mean you eat too much, then, simply try tune it down-do not abstain, otherwise it will not last just like food diet. PONO is the secret. Just like your food and drink choose the right one and the right amount, then, you'll feel the real ecstasy, and when you do you will not go back to excess, cause it does not feel good. Just remember, it takes time to go back to balanced point as it took time to break the balanced point. Persevere and you will succeed. Namaste & Peace.

Well pornography itself may or may not be to bad. It's that word addiction. Addiction robs us out spiritual development. One so addicted must totally abstain and work a spiritual program of recovery to "stay clean" shall we say.

I have 35 years of sobriety, not even a sip or beer. I frequently go to AA and try to give back by helping others. There is a sex anonymous, but I know how to get hold of them. I would try a priest, to get the information. After finding SA you must give it everything you have or you will succumb to your old ways. Over any considerable period you will get worse if you do not take action. Blessings!

No, I do not think it is absolutely necessary to curb a pornography addiction in order to become "spritual". As long as it is not taking over your personal life, it really cannot be considered as an addiction yet, and it is perfectly normal for a person to have the desire to fulfil his or her sexual fantasies in anyway possible.

I do not agree about what some people have posted about studies finding that a reduction in masturbating or pornographic watching helps in their personal life, for just as there are as much studies that prove that, there are also many other studies that say that pornography or masturbation helps a little in your personal life. So who should we actually believe? :)

Personally I think that it is more of the stigma that comes along with pornography that bothers a lot of people, because it is something that many people do not want to admit openly due to being scrutinized. But if a male claims that he has never had the desire to see a lady naked before in his life, he is most probably lying...

As for you not being able to concentrate well during meditation... I believe that almost everyone who starts meditating for the first few times have this problem , regardless of whether they have an addiction to pornography or not. Most people are unable to meditate for the full fifteen or twenty minutes the first time they are doing it, it only gets easier as you practice it more.

So as long as your pornography addiction is not taking over your life, I do not think you need to worry about it that much.

Hi I've read many great answers and I would like to share my knowledge of this situation. I have been taught that in the creative functions there is a source of "fire", energy what have you, that strengthens us, and the more we are able to retain this "fire" the stronger we get Spiritually. When we masturbate excessively we lose this energy and in so saying become less weak spiritually. Another issue with pornography is that it tends to bring out the primitive side of us, instead of seeing a man or woman in their true essence, which is true beauty, we see them physically, sexually, what have you and sometimes this way of seeing people tends to distract us from the true individual. I also have an issue with porn, being that I am single, I sometimes feel the urge to be with someone sexually and there is no one but me so..... But, I am making a conscious effort to limit the use of porn, it is not easy but with practice it becomes easier!! So yes, if you desire to become Spiritually advanced anything that clouds you're mind from seeing the good in life will limit your spiritual progression. Peace

well i would say get has much porn has you can and you will see that it is not the way and get feed up. look at buddha he was a prince add a harem money power etc. yet something was missing once he got feed up he made a choice. you might be addicted on porn for another reason you are lacking something else. find what it is and make that choice.has for is it bad for spirituallity only has attachement it is a bond that stop your progress. experience and enjoy.

We know inside when we go too far. We become fixated. That fixation grounds you to its own reflection. And it begins to take a life of it's own. You can be spiritual, but you can always do better. Replace that fixation with a fixation that is not as grounding. Tai chi maybe. This will raise your vibration and you will expand.

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so". Shakespeare

I'd suggest using EFT and BSFF. These can go a long way in helping you get the addiction out of the equation and leave the action for what it is. Don't try to suppress it or fight against it, with these techniques you can clear this and many more things that might be in the way.

Hope it helps!

Something I heard that resonates with me is:

An addiction is only an addiction until you recognize it. If you continue doing it after that, it's a choice.

Maybe you are ready to outgrow the porn addiction and are seeking ways to do that. Sometimes something comes along in life that gives so much relief from other pains and circumstances that it becomes the 'go-to' pain reliever.

Then one day it either doesn't work as good at relieving, which often drives some into more and more looking for that that great releif.

Or one realized they are soothing themself now and can let go of that once beloved pain reliever. It's like an old friend who is going on a different path...not good, not bad as said above. Simply growing in another easier direction.

Awesome answer @wade casaldi. You don't, CAN'T cure an an addiction by focussing on it. In your story, I submit that the young man replaced the pictures of the women with the picture of Christ.

I had wondered why so many pastors have fallen victim to pornography. They were all very much against pornography, then they accidently picked up a magazine, or an x-rated tv program in a hotel where they were staying and it all came crashing down. Often maasturbation is part of the syndrome.

If you constantly think about it, whether you tell yourself that you are for it or against it, you WILL include it in your universe. The LOA works inexorably that way!

"Against" something is the closest you can get. Right up against it!

"Replace" perhaps "redirect" this energy. Sex is a gift that goes far beyond the physical. Study the Hindu tantric exercises for a better understanding of the Sprirtual aspects. Sex, properly done can be a spiritual exercise!

Or better yet, get a girlfriend! One real woman is worth more than 10,000 pictures.

Define "spiritual state of mind" and why you want to secure it. Your mind will automatically lock onto anything you do with intense focus and for long periods of time. Addictions happen because some things give you the feedback necessary to sustain that focus. If I play Starcraft for hours one day, I'll literally drift off and play the game in my head everytime I close my eyes. If I keep the habit for several days, I'll have trouble falling asleep or thinking of anything else because I keep thinking up new strategies that I just have to test. If the habit continues I'll literally have trouble thinking in a sane manner because everything becomes framed by the game structure, I'm not even sure how to describe this. If I watch a lot of porn, porn images will automatically flow through my mind. If you want success as an inventor you need to be an invention addict. Everyone that has success with anything is to some degree addicted to it.

Consider the possibility that addictions are not a mistake, they are part of how our minds are meant to work. A porn addiction is just a particular form of sex addiction which I imagine is a very natural thing, particularly in men.

BEYOND ADDICTION AND AFFLICTION

In the context of The Presence Process, addictions and afflictions (chronic illness and disease) are the same. Both are outer manifestations of an unintegrated charge within the emotional body.

Although we don’t discuss allergies specifically, they are considered in the same light as addictions and afflictions. An allergy is the polar opposite of an addiction. When we are addicted, we pull a specific experience toward us. When we are allergic, we repel a specific experience. The causes of both are an unintegrated charge.

In The Presence Process, addiction is defined not only as something we do uncontrollably and habitually, but also as seemingly random activity we are magnetically drawn toward when faced with specific emotional triggers.

The Presence Process is efficient in instructing us how to integrate the causality of addictions and afflictions, no matter how long we have entertained them and how acutely we have allowed them to color our experience. The Presence Process doesn’t instruct us in how to achieve integration by promising a cure, because a cure is a destination.

It instructs us how to enter an ongoing inner journey toward complete emotional integration, which gradually leads us beyond the manifestation of these outer experiences. None of us are immune to “living in balance,” no matter how acute our ailment! It’s a matter of personal will, commitment, and consistency. When we intend activating Presence, and when this intent remains in the forefront of our awareness, integration of charged emotion is inevitable.

The Presence Process demonstrates that addiction, whether to illegal drugs, alcohol, food, sex, gambling, or legal prescription medications, is self-medicating behavior that we manifest to sedate and control the charge within our emotional body. Without self-medicating, an addict inevitably manifests an affliction. When an affliction is successfully suppressed by ongoing prescription medication, the same condition manifests as addiction.

Both conditions are manifestations of an unintegrated emotional charge. Whether an unintegrated emotional charge manifests as an addiction, affliction, or allergy – or a combination of the three – depends on our individual circumstances.

When charged emotion is sufficiently integrated, there’s no longer a foundation for addiction and affliction.

Excerpt From: Brown, Michael. “The Presence Process.” namaste Publishing