If every man on earth could become a focus of dynamic affection, this benign virus of love would soon pervade the emotion-stream of humanity to such an extent that all civilization would be encompassed by love...

That would be the realization of the brotherhood of man...

A condition that would resolve our need for filling a hole with "happiness" forever.

I agree with you. I used to use drugs, too. Compared to what I've experienced in meditation... it is nothing. They made me feel happy, sure... but disconnected. A sad happy, if you know what I mean. "I feel amazing! But..." feeling to me.

Drugs are just tricky... confusing, exhausting, addicting... and when you have to rely on something external to feel good, you become very disconnected from your true self... just like you said, when people have to rely on anything external (money, approval, attention).

They just give you a false sense of happiness. Especially if you are very negative to begin with... that's my experience anyways. I'm glad I don't mess with them anymore... no desire to, and that feels great. :)

I guess Whitney's death is on all our minds...and of course, we are making assumptions here that she did die of an overdose. It is very sad, and very hard for "straight" people to even comprehend.

I have been in her Hell. I reached a point in my life where my mind was in so much pain that I would have sold my soul for five minutes of peace.

It is this which fuels drug and alcohol addiction, at least at first.

But soon, one needs more and more of the drugs to reach the same "high". Finally, you are totally lost, totally focused on simply and solely reaching the next drink, the next high, and you hit the place where you take a little of this, a little of that; you take too much, you pass out, stop breathing, and simply die. End of story.

Poor Michael Jackson was to the point that he was paying that doctor to give him anesthesia just to sleep. One day, he got too much...and died.

Can you imagine the pain of his mind? Can you imagine what kind of Hell a person must be living to require such action??? It is truly a real Hell.

If you are lucky; if you are very lucky, you catch yourself in mid-high, and realize where you are heading. You get off the drugs and alcohol, and find out that loving your daughter or seeing the sunset is a much more real "high", a much more "lasting" high, than drugs could ever give...

You may not understand this thinking. I hope you do not, in fact. But I do.

31 years sober,

Jai

The ultimate path to fulfillment and feeling good is Peace. Both drinking and drug will not lead you there. It actually destroys your Peace. You will only find Peace thru enlightenment. You will find that thru within. The means are given by Divine thru ages thru many teachers that The Absolute sent. Follow the one that fits you best. "The Kingdom of Heaven is Within." Namaste-Peace.

I too have been through the wringer. But I allow others to their desire. Some drugs and drinks are considered sacred in certain parts of the world. They do not abuse they are uses in rituals. I am fine with that. Also some can have 1 or 2 drinks and I allow that too.

This hole within us is indeed a very interesting thought invoking perspective. Yes I believe that really in reality many are trying to fill that hole within themselves with something. We here seem to have a never ending need to fill it with wisdom. Others fill it with drugs, others with work (workaholics), others with the quest for nirvana.

I wrote a long time ago in my personal journal of what the soul experiences from before birth to living in life and this hole idea was a part of that as I recall. Imagine a King that has everything and feels great peace and comfort. Now something happens to him, he loses everything and gains amnesia; this could be likened to the fall from Eden. Now he is born on earth with no memory but something deep within remembers what it was like. He feels something is missing so he tries to fill that something with anything to be happy. The wealthy man fills it with money and how can I make more money? The man worried of his bills fills it with how can I survive to pay these bills. The baseball card collector fills it with how many baseball cards do I have and can I get more. The list goes on and on of people trying to fill that hole within themselves to be happy. The religious people fill it with how much do I praise God and how can I praise God more? The spiritual people fill it with how much do I know God and how can I know God more? What is funny is that the Buddhist fill it with emptiness and how can I find more emptiness?

So when looked at from a bigger picture any addiction anyone may have is really all about trying to fill that hole. We feel when we can finally fill that hole that we can be happy. However even if it is to stop desiring it is a desire to stop desiring and so it is a hole within that we feel must be filled. I think the best thing is to not see the hole, to live now in peace. Living with the hole and knowing it can never be filled and that is just fine it doesn't have to.

I don't do drugs because they are illegal. And the penalty is not worth the high. If one is looking for answers in a bottle or a pipe one will not find them there. Many a life has gone to waste.Not only the people that abuse the substances ,but those around them become caught in the web as well.
Personally I do not get inebriated often,but it can happen.If I happen to have one to many it's not (as I see in self-reflection) not to fill a void more than likely just caught in the moment.I do enjoy a good wine or a quality ale. These I consider these beverages,not intoxicants and drink them for their taste.
And as long as we are talking substance abuse one must also include food and sugar. How many are over-eaters live in the same tormented lives as a the alcoholic?

I have never taken drugs before just for the sake of feeling good so I suppose I would not complete understand how taking drugs is like.

There are many reasons for people not wanting to drink or take drugs, the main being that it is illegal in most countries and that they do not want to end up being addicted to them. Simply put, sometimes the fear of taking drugs is much greater than the satisfaction which they think they might get from taking those drugs.

It is true you are always chasing that first high, then you just chase any high and eventually you are just chasing to get out of bed in the morning, thats if you actually went to bed.

Your question caught my eye as I used to take drugs and drink to excess. Under my party dresses was a permanantly bloated stomach and my eyes always looked so wide because they had not been shut properly for three days. My partner bought a big shiny car but it was bought from illegal money. Our house smelt, friends were physically abusive with women. Oh yes, I was that lovely girl.

Eventually I left, broke down, blanked out for two years and then while drinking vodka and soda at 12 in the afternoon found the master key system on my laptop which led to other sites which eventually led to inward quest. I knew my intelligence could never match some of the people I was reading, but deep down I just wanted to be like them.

This was a while ago now, and ive found that getting on my bike in freezeing cold weather and going so fast through the local forrest makes my eyes widen and heart beat, I just couldnt find that kind of high before no matter how hard I tried. I can always spot those hole-fillers, they just look sad and I feel sad because thats how pathetic I must have looked.

It not just drink/drugs but food, money, women/men even extreme sports can be used. People should look around them, if you see someone doing the same and they look content, really relaxed then go for it. If this is'nt how you want to be viewed, perhaps leave the hole vacant for little while. x