The Way Novemberpdf (1)

CHAPTER 7

ONENESS ATTITUDE

THE ONENESS ATTITUDE IS THE HIGHEST
virtue of the mind. It is a state of consciousness that will cause
Divine Love to flourish within your soul. The Oneness Attitude will
provide you with spiritual protection from the vile forces that work
through addiction for the torment and destruction of human souls.

Chosen One, God gave you full authority over your mind. Your
intellect is the fruit of the thoughts that you allow to take root in
your mind. Your attitude about everything is derived from the sum
of your thoughts. The Oneness Attitude is the way you think, speak,
and act – the way you conduct yourself relative to your connection
with God.

Cultivate the Oneness Attitude in your mind by feeling and
expressing love for God. Attain the Oneness Attitude and addictive

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ONENESS ATTITUDE

thoughts will be banished from your mind. Think continuously
about Oneness with God; train your emotions to always feel the joy of
Divine Love; let every thought in your mind be motivated by Oneness;
and carry yourself like you know that you and The Father are One.

This is the Oneness Attitude. Study these lessons with the spiritual
teachings of your choice. Embrace them together in alignment with
those teachings, and because of the added faith, you will experience
the restorative transformation of the Oneness Attitude even sooner.
Meditate and pray for understanding of what you read. From the
very moment you achieve the Oneness Attitude, you will realize
that you have the right and the authority to turn to The Higher Power
for immediate help. The desire to get high will cease to dominate
you. You will be transformed from addict to liberator of souls.
Keep the faith. God will never forsake you.

Live your life in loving service to God rather than thoughtlessly
chasing after immediate gratification. Live in obedience to God’s Will
and reject addiction. Addiction, more than any other tribulation in
your life, has tested your faith. Yet, it has caused you to achieve a
higher understanding of how important it is for the “Spiritual You”
to take control over the desires of the flesh. Find the motivation to
take full command of your life by becoming joyfully aware of your
sacred duty to persevere in the doing of God’s Will.

Let your personality be humbled by addiction. And at last, let
your mind come under the guidance of the loving Higher Power that
has been pointing out from within how you will be lifted up by your
love for God. All who continue to engage in addictive behavior will

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be prevented from ever obtaining the heavenly joy that the soul
so earnestly yearns for, which requires only awakening unto the
power of Divine Love.

Affirmation

We encourage all of you who are battling with your
own addiction to focus your efforts on cultivating the
Oneness Attitude. Watch how quickly The Higher Power will fill your
heart with the healing power of Divine Love.

We amplified these teachings with indisputable spiritual
truths. Embrace them, and they will speed up your ascension
into the Oneness Attitude. So that you will receive the highest
spiritual wisdom from what has been taught, we suggest that you
review what you have already read.

Meditate for just a moment to receive explicit inner
confirmation that the truths presented form a fundamental
spiritual reality for you. If they are not immediately apparent to
you, do not worry. It may simply mean that the lifting up of
your consciousness will require more prayer and meditation.

If you are one who accepts these teachings, and feel that you have been
uplifted by them, you will find further enlightenment in the knowledge that
God is already at work mobilizing your body -- every atom and molecule of it
-- for the struggle that lies ahead.

Allow the Oneness Attitude to create health and harmony in
your life. You can do so by focusing your spiritual awareness on
your love for God while reciting the following affirmation:

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Oh God, I love You with all my heart, mind, and soul.

I will look to You for My health, happiness, and well-being.

I will not submit to selfish addiction, for I am strengthened

by the consciousness of my Oneness with You.

Concentrate with all your being on this affirmation until it
completely fills your consciousness. Concentrate on it until it is all
that you are aware of. Memorize it and earnestly recite it several
times a day.

You can be sure that your selfish personality will try
desperately to regain dominion over your life. You will be
bombarded by enticing temptations, which will appear out of
nowhere, unpredictably, trying to seduce you back into bondage.
While you are sleeping, years from now, even after you have
conquered addiction, you will experience vivid, realistic dreams
in which you will be presented with the temptation to engage in
addictive behavior. These “dream encounters” will be the
severest test of your ability to resist the temptation to get high.

Addiction occurred in your life mainly because you
glorified and praised addictive behavior. You gave addiction an
exalted place in your mind. Now you must take that position
away, or you will relapse. But you will have to change your way
of thinking before you are able to put addiction permanently
behind you.

This means that you must consider the misery, shame, side
effects, and dire consequences for you and your loved ones if
you continue to cater to addiction. Use those thoughts to nurture

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the Oneness Attitude. All that is required for you to permanently
attain this expansion of consciousness is for you to recall the
suffering that you have already experienced from submitting to
the desire to get high.

Addiction is the source of immeasurable mental,
emotional, and physical anguish in the world. It contributes to
social problems like homelessness, hunger, mental illness, and
crime. Nearly all of humanity is affected. Your preoccupation
with mind-altering chemicals impaired your health,
preventing you from living your life in Oneness with God.

When you develop the Oneness Attitude, The Higher Power –
like the wind beneath a sail – will lift your thoughts to
transport you to a place of happiness and prosperity in all your
endeavors. The Oneness Attitude will free you from every thought
left in your mind that could lure you back into addiction. It
will help you achieve spiritual victories over all of life’s
sensual temptations, some even more challenging than addiction.

Achieving the Oneness Attitude is a task that no one else can
accomplish for you. It is a task that requires the intelligent, wise,
and persistent use of your mind and your will. This means that
henceforward you must keep in the forefront of your consciousness
a high awareness of your relationship with God.

The Oneness Attitude will cultivate a liberation consciousness
in your mind. This spiritual transformation will restore the power
to control your thoughts, your intellect, your emotions, and
the desires of your biological body. It will create a state of mind

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where The Higher Power can inspire, motivate, and guide every idea,
expression, and activity in your life.

The lessons in this work are given to help your mind awaken
to a clear understanding of the danger behind addictive substances
and activities. Such mental awareness will summon the loving
Higher Power to come forth in full consciousness to safeguard your
liberty.

The time has come for those of you who have considered
and accepted these truths – and thereby had your spiritual eyes
opened – to see addiction as a threat to your existence. Utilize
this awareness to trigger your survival instincts to secure your
liberty. Apply what you have learned about the nature of
addiction to achieve a new attitude, where the love of
freedom will burn in your consciousness as fiercely as gasoline
will incinerate when it is put to fire.

Use your mind and your intellect to direct, motivate, and inspire
the harmonious stewardship of your spirit over your personality –
an alliance from which your determination to remain free from
addiction will draw its strength.

Perfect freedom is your destiny. Use your feelings of revulsion
for the controlling and ruinous consequences of addiction to
inspire you to rise up in defense of your freedom – a process of
spiritual vigilance.

The Oneness Attitude is a soul-conscious commitment
requiring devoted attention to your duty to take all the necessary

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measures to preserve your freedom. It demands that you block
out every thought that would distract you from fulfilling your
Divine Purpose.

Achieving the Oneness Attitude is a task that is most urgent. Do
it now. Take management of your life away from your flesh and
give your life over to God. Seek guidance from within. Before you
act on any compulsive desire, ask God if you should.

You know that blind obedience to the desires of your flesh will
destroy your life. And it should be equally clear to you that loving
obedience to God will lead you to the peaceful, joyous state for
which your mind strives and for which your soul yearns.

Achieve the Oneness Attitude by directing all your ideas, words,
and actions to serve as loving tools for advancing the Kingdom
of God. The Oneness Attitude will soothe your mind, tame all your
desires, and lift up your soul. It will inspire the Spiritual You to
take action and be recognized and known by the Godly
Deeds that you do in the world. Then your life will be entirely
free from addiction in its many and various forms.

The Oneness Attitude will fortify your character and release
a constant flow of Divine Love to radiate out from your being.
It will repulse and drive away anyone who would otherwise try
to tempt you, as they will sense in you the power of Divine Love.

The Oneness Attitude is The Way. We know this to be so.

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CHAPTER 8

ADDICTIONS

ADDICTIONS ARE CAUSED BY SPIRITUAL
impotence – a soul-mind disconnect that allows the lust for
pleasure to overrule common sense, self-preservation, and God’s
loving guidance. Because the Spiritual You failed to govern your
mind, your desires took control and caused you to become
addicted. Much of humanity has descended into this perverted
state of disharmony.

Every addict lives under the rule and governance of a

cruel and unappeasable ruler. Nothing ever is enough for

those who have no control over their passions. Whatever

they have is devalued by what they crave.

Every thought in an addicted person's mind is ruled and motivated

by the desire for pleasure. But fierce desires

alone do not make addiction; submission to
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ADDICTIONS

them is the spiritual factor that enables addiction. Together
they are the two poles of dependence; one without the other is
only half way to addiction.

So, chemical addiction is facilitated by the behavior of
the addict, not by the chemicals themselves. Gluttony is an
addict's most dominant character trait. There is no stronger
bondage than one that is self-imposed. Therefore, spiritual
governance over self is The Way to total victory over any
addiction. l

Recognition of this self-inflicted element in addiction
distinguishes those who accept God as the One True Healer
from those who are slaves of their desires, accepting drugs and
alcohol as their masters and overlords.

Chosen One, it is your duty to direct your mind to correct
your addictive behavior so addictive chemicals will no longer
hold you in bondage. When you allow The Higher Power to
govern and direct your life, a force field of Divine Love will
surround you, sustain you, and protect you – this is the Law of
Divine Harmony.

Many health care professionals who have treated patients
with chronic, compulsive disorders know that recovery from
addiction requires more than attending to the health of the mind
and body. There is a growing recognition of the need for more
attention to the addicted person’s spiritual well-being.

All addictions are physical symptoms of a void in the

spiritual realm. All external factors, including the type and

strength of substances, are secondary to the spiritual

nature of addiction. 96

One thing that is alike with all addictions is that they require
stimulation of the brain from an outside source. To better
understand the diabolical nature and the real danger of
addictions, we divide them into two distinct categories:
“substance (chemical) addictions” and “behavioral addictions.”

Addictive substances and addictive behaviors

differ considerably in the way they affect the brain’s pleasure

centers. In a healthy brain, endorphins, which relieve pain

and stress and induce a sense of euphoria, are released in

these pleasure centers as part of a biological reward system,

reinforcing specific behaviors.

Addictive behaviors naturally stimulate the production of
endorphins in the brain. Persons addicted to games, activities, or
practices often refer to the resulting “earned pleasure” as a “rush.”

On the other hand, addictive substances unnaturally stimulate
the brain to churn out dangerous levels of endorphins,
corrupting the brain’s essential reward system. They induce
a synthetic, “unearned high” that could never be achieved
biologically.

This abnormal surge of sensation deceives the brain with false
pleasure. All addictive chemicals temporarily raise the pleasure
threshold far beyond a level that can be matched by the normal
biochemistry of the brain.

Seeking relief from the dreadful, inevitable depression that
follows each high, the addicted person’s mind craves more and
more of whatever it believes can temporarily bring back the joy and
euphoria. The intensity and tenacity of these uncontrollable
yearnings can be devastating to 9th7e mind and body.

An addict is anyone whose willpower has been hijacked by the
chemistry of pleasure; one who, in disregarding all else, greedily
indulges in sensuality and pleasing ofthe flesh. Multiple addictions
are often combined in one individual. Many addicts suffer from
the two types of addictions simultaneously. Combinations like
cocaine and alcohol addictions can be woven together. And it is
not uncommon for multiple addictions to merge in one person all
at the same time.

The two categories of addictions can influence and feed off
of each other, and mixtures of addictions can form a continuous
stream of addiction in one pitiful addict. A good example is an
obese internet poker gambler who smokes, drinks, gorges food,
and snorts cocaine.

Addiction occurs when the human will is overwhelmed
by the desire for sensual pleasure and begins to blindly serve
the gluttony of self. This knowledge about addiction will help
every believer achieve the Oneness attitude and know when
and how to apply the principles of Divine Love which are
presented in these lessons.

A. Addictive Chemicals

Addictive chemicals are not always harmful. Many drugs
have highly beneficial medicinal applications, but to prefer the
pleasure of them, beneficial or not, over the joy of Divine Love is
unwise, and to give the shallow desire to get high such a high
priority in your life will bring about much suffering and destruction.

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Addictive chemicals can stimulate permanent changes in the body,
causing catastrophic illness decades after they have been ingested. Just
a single dose of one of the concentrated derivatives made possible
by modern science can trigger heart failure and sudden death.

On the following pages, we offer some enlightening facts
about speciic substances commonly regarded as addictive.
Holding them in your consciousness will arm you with timeless
wisdom and help remove addiction from your life.

Alcohol

Alcohol is often served in tasty, cold drinks with enticing and
exotic names like Piña Colada, Passion Daiquiri,
Margarita, and Golden Evening, to name just a few. For most
recreational drinkers, alcohol is synonymous with fun,
celebration, parties, and good times. And well it should be, for
alcoholic beverages, in some form or another, seem to always be
in plentiful supply at happy, festive occasions.

The mere presence of alcohol seems to make even the
best of times better, at least for a while. If one is inhibited,
alcohol can remove all inhibitions. If one is sad, it can inspire
laughter, if not rom the alcohol drinker, then rom those who
ind humor in the foolish antics of one who is drunk with
alcohol.

In general, drinkers enjoy the way alcohol makes them
feel detached from reality, hence alcohol’s popularity.
Alcohol is probably the most aggressively marketed and
promoted of all addictive subs9t9ances. So it is not surprising that
it is also one of the most readily available drugs. It is everywhere.

Unfortunately, its damaging effects are also everywhere,
exacting a grim toll in human suffering and mortality worldwide.
With alcohol, we see a tragic illustration of the two sides of
addiction. Initially, "drinking" seems to make life happier,
more exciting, and less painful. Yet a brief analysis of
alcohol’s long-term effects reveals it to be the source of much
misery, despair, death, and grieving. In heavy drinkers, alcohol
has been shown to be extremely toxic, often severely
damaging the drinker’s liver.

Alcohol’s effects on the body are unpredictable. Casual or
first-time drinkers can experience an unpleasant end: even a small
dose can result in sudden death, especially if it is consumed with
other addictive chemicals and there is an adverse reaction to
the combination.

Alcohol use can bring about heart attacks, strokes, and
cancer of the lungs, mouth, throat, larynx, and esophagus. It
can also lead to severe psychiatric problems and mental
illness. Alcohol abuse also significantly increases the
likelihood of dental issues and contributes to bad breath.

Alcohol is a contributing factor in more than 40% of all
violent crimes, and alcohol consumption is the single largest
and most preventable actor in traffic, household, and industrial
accidents. Alcohol can be counted among the most insidious,
deceptive, and destructive of all the addictive substances. Sincere
seekers are warned to avoid it.

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Caffeine

Caffeine is probably the second most widely promoted addictive
substance on the planet. It is marketed and sold as harmless
refreshment to millions around the world who gulp staggering
amounts of it in the form of coffee, tea, and cola drinks.

But the truth is that caffeine contains powerfully addictive
compounds which inhibit a key enzyme and can adversely affect
the body’s metabolic processes. This spellbinding force is so subtle
that it is very difficult for m any of t hose s ouls w ho habitually
consume it to realize that it has entrapped them. This is why most
people who are addicted to caffeine fiercely resent and refuse to
listen to anyone who tries to tell them that they are addicts.

Caffeine elevates the blood levels of glucose, fatty acid, and
cholesterol – an extremely dangerous derangement. Studies suggest
that caffeine intake may also be linked to high blood pressure, heart
disease, cancer, and genetic defects. Caffeine should be avoided
because it can control the mind, leaving users helpless to resist
while blinding them to the awareness of its rule.

Cocaine

Even a small dose of cocaine, one of the most ruinous of all
addictive substances, can set off a "waterfall of pleasure" in the
brain and forever change its neural functions, causing enduring
psychological addiction.

The high induced by cocaine bombards the brain cells with an
explosion of pleasure so intense that neural pathways typically used

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for memory and learning are taken over. Smoking cocaine instantly
transforms the mind, leaving it craving for the next hit and creating
an overwhelming desire for more and more. This intense
craving for the drug rapidly replaces most of a user’s routine
motivations, aims, and actions with a feeling of emptiness. The
cocaine user is driven onward trying to fill the void with the
substance that caused the vacuum in the first place.

Cocaine achieves maximum impact immediately after it is
ingested, going directly to the central nervous system, causing
specific dopamine-carrying neurons to become positively charged
with a fleeting sense of extreme pleasure. The overwhelming
physical and psychological urges that come from using cocaine
can induce laboratory animals to choose cocaine over sleep
and sex, often preferring the drug even to food until they
starve to death.

Cocaine can be snorted, injected, or swallowed, but it is most
devastating when it is smoked in “freebase” form. Smoking
freebase literally bombards the brain with tidal waves of pure
pleasure. Users have described the effect as causing the brain’s
pleasure center to “ring like a bell.”

Smoking crack – an even more diabolical form of freebase
cocaine, sometimes mixed with other destructive, toxic
chemicals – can, according to many of its victims, “leave a
hole in the consciousness.” “Crack-heads” claim that smoking
crack is “like inhaling pure desire.” But the brain just keeps
demanding more.

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Cocaine is one of the most habit-forming of all drugs. At this
very moment, it holds millions of souls in bondage, blinding them
to Our Creator’s Loving Light. The brief pleasure derived from its
use comes at too high a cost. Using cocaine increases the risks of
stroke, cardiac arrest, jail time and ruin, t h u s confirming the
fact that the cocaine addict idolizes the drug and values it above
self-preservation and pleasing The Creator. This cannot be right.

Designer Drugs

Designer drugs are usually produced in home labs. They are
often made by mixing potent, mind-altering chemicals in a
toxic solution to stabilize them, effectively increasing
the likelihood of damage to the body and the brain, and raising
the odds of death. These drugs have widely varying
chemical structures, usually imitating the effects of naturally
occurring compounds.

All designer drugs are purposefully concocted to be highly
addictive, and they are all aggressively marketed.
Designer drugs wreak havoc in the brain, interfering with the
production of neurotransmitters (chemicals produced by
the brain) and so severely damage the neurons that they
never again work properly.

As scientists unlock more of the brain’s secrets, undoubtedly a
wider variety of designer drugs such as “Ecstasy,” “Crank,”
K-2, PCP, and “GHB” will eventually be developed. It would
be impossible to predict all of the future forms of designer
drugs but we can foresee the devasta1ti0o3n they will wreak on the

human body and the

human psyche. The wrongdoing of using “club drugs” is not just
that they have no purpose other than the pleasing of the flesh but
that their use destroys the user’s brain and makes an addict unfit to
carry out The Creator’s Great Plan.

Opiates

Opioid addiction is one of the most accursed tragedies that
can befall a human being. It is a filthy lust that serves only
the basest desires. Opioid addicts have little or no regard for
Godly piety, duty, or even self-preservation. Users often
become pitifully detached from their normal desires.

Even short-term use can obstruct the normal
functioning of the mind and dull the intellect. Addicts
become passive and apathetic, their lives characterized by
self-loathing, self-neglect, and self-destruction. Opiates can be
smoked, snorted, or taken orally, but by injecting it into the
veins, a stronger, more potent dosage can reach the brain quicker.

The effect is immediate; opioid injectors experience a
dreamlike, warm sensation of contentment and euphoria; they
often lapse into a nodding, semi-comatose stupor. Repeated
injections can cause devastating health problems, including skin
ulcers, collapsed and hardened veins, and increased risk of
infection from contagious diseases (such as AIDS, hepatitis,
and tetanus) carried by other opioid addicts with whom a
needle might be shared.

Heroin is an opioid-based drug, derived from the opium poppy. Other
opioids include morphine, opium, and codeine. Opioids
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are extremely dangerous because they depress vital functions like
breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure, and digestion.

Synthetic opioids include Methadone, Vicodin, and Percocet.
Deadly new synthetic opioids like Fentanyl and W-18 (10,000 times
stronger than morphine) are flooding the street-drug market. Yet,
heroin remains the most widely used opioid. All opioid
addicts develop a tolerance, needing more massive doses with
increased regularity, merely to avoid the agonizingly painful
withdrawal that can include symptoms ranging from headaches
and body tremors to cardiac arrest.

Dreading detoxification, opioid addicts have been known to go
crazy when they can't find it, feigning helplessly under the rule of
their chemical master. When not in a semi-conscious nod, the
opioid addict saunters about in a “walking dead” state,
with rotting and missing teeth, rancid breath, staggering gait,
bilious yellow eyes, boils, and abscesses in the mouth and on the
skin, and bloody red, inflamed nostrils -- "fried out."

The financial burden of maintaining an opioid habit can be
staggering. Habitual and casual users alike risk death with every
use. The greatest wrongdoing in the abuse of an opioid is that too
often a precious human life is taken away by its abuse.

Household Inhalants

One of the most dangerous and common amusements of the
human mind is “recreational intoxication.” Even so, many
parents don’t realize that the urge to be intoxicated can acquire a
hold on the young as early as five years of age. Adults often
find out too 105

late that this insidious game is being played right under their
noses, so to speak, as kids in their custody stealthily inhale
fumes from common domestic chemicals to get high.

From fingernail polish to paper correction fluid, there are

more than one thousand everyday

household products containing chemicals that can touch

off mental, anesthetic, or psychoactive effects. They all

are highly addictive, and sudden cessation of their use

have caused symptoms similar to withdrawal from

opioids and other drugs to happen.

But these chemicals are not drugs; they are, in fact, deadly
poisons. When inhaled, they are rapidly absorbed into the
bloodstream and distributed to the brain and throughout
the body, causing symptoms ranging from alcohol-like intoxication
to euphoria, hallucinations, or delusions.

Inhalants are common chemicals that usually are breathed through the
nose or mouth using three techniques:

• Sniffing – inhaling fumes from the air.
• Huffing – inhaling fumes from a cloth.
• Bagging – inhaling fumes from a bag.

Regardless of the preferred technique, the consequences of
this behavior can be catastrophic. Chronic inhalation of these
toxins can cause irreversible damage to the brain, heart,
kidneys, liver, and lungs. Paralysis, sudden loss of
hearing, impaired vision, and movement disorders are a
few of the certain ill-effects of long-term inhalant abuse.
Even first-time users risk

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irreversible brain damage and what is known as “Sudden
Sniffing Death Syndrome.” Sniffing, huffing, and bagging are
wrongdoing because they impair the body and make the mind
less fit to serve God. The best hope for solving this problem is to
prevent it altogether by providing loving care, proper
supervision, education, protection, and spiritual uplifting for
unsuspecting children.

Marijuana

Whether legalized, decriminalized or outlawed, marijuana
(Cannabis) is often the easiest drug to obtain and the most casually
used. The herb is very popular among teenagers, young adults,
and even seniors who "never gave up weed."

Marijuana can be smoked, vaped, or taken orally in solid or
liquid form. Some users brew it into tea or include it in foods
and desserts such as soups, salads, cookies, and brownies.

The primary psychoactive ingredient in marijuana is called THC.
THC use retards activity in the hippocampus, an area of the brain that
is essential to learning, memory, and emotions. A single use can leave the
mind feeling merry and happily “stoned” for thirty hours or
more. It also impairs brain receptors involved with muscle
control and sensory-motor coordination. Analysis
of test data shows that subjects who are high on marijuana are as
uncoordinated as those who are drunk from alcohol. Even more
so when the THC levels have been raised by selective
breeding and genetic modification to grades that could never be found in
naturally grown cannabis. Research shows that using such high potency
marijuana can damage nerve fibers in the brain.

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Recreational or prescribed, THC will stunt your spiritual growth. We
are born to find and fulfill our purpose, and we must each discover our
own. Experience teaches that there is more to be learned from the real
than from the imagined. The great danger of recreational marijuana
use is that it distorts reality. When reality is twisted by a marijuana
high, the soul is denied the hallowed wisdom that is gained from
worldly experiences. So unprescribed use of marijuana must be
avoided by all who seek spiritual advancement in this world.

Nicotine

Nicotine is a highly toxic liquid alkaloid found in tobacco
(Nicotiana). By any standard, nicotine has been shown to have
profoundly devastating effects on the health of those who
consume it.

Dipped, chewed, vaped, or smoked, nicotine is one of the most
addictive substances ever known, and it is toxic. By way of vapor
or smoke, inhaling is the primary means of using nicotine.
Many ex-smokers prefer e-cigarettes over cigarettes. Nicotine addicts
find the sensation of inhaling the drug pleasant and relaxing.
After receiving a sufficient dose, they are satisfied – at least
for a while. But after a brief period of gratification, depression
follows, and the user quickly starts believing that the only
treatment for the depression is more nicotine.

Eventually, the nicotine user develops a tolerance, requiring larger
and larger doses with declining results. The nicotine addict is
perpetually driven by snowballing

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nicotine cravings. In extreme cases, the addict binges,
administering a constant stream of nicotine to the brain.
Nicotine causes great suffering and millions of deaths each year.
Ingesting nicotine in any form shows foolhardy disregard
for one’s own health.

Whether it is from chronic obstructive lung disease (bronchitis

and emphysema) or from some form of cancer, most nicotine

users will experience agonizing, prolonged suffocation due to

difficulty in breathing. Sadly, most nicotine inhalers

will experience terrifying, agonizing breathlessness for years.

Gasping for air, more than a third of all nicotine addicts will die

from it – a far higher death rate than heroin, alcohol,

and cocaine combined. Nicotine inhaling is indisputably the

most senseless and most preventable cause of premature

mortality in the world. Every year, thousands of children,

spouses, friends, associates, and even the pets of

nicotine inhalers die from debilitating illnesses caused by

long-term exposure to a nicotine addict’s smoke or vapor

(secondhand or passive exposure), adding to

nicotine’s reputation as a ruthless destroyer of life.

Prescription Drugs

Respectable pharmaceutical firms distribute some of the
most addictive substances in the world, mainly for
medicinal use. Prescription drugs vary in type and potency and can
bring about a wide range of ill effects on the mind and body.
They often simulate the functions in the brain of natural
compounds. They are usually

consumed in easy-to-swallow pill form. These legal drugs are
widely available and very easy to obtain even without a doctor’s
prescription.

Most prescription drug addicts are otherwise law-abiding
citizens who have fallen into addiction’s dreadful trap because
they continued to use a drug once prescribed just to “feel good.”
Now, the desire to feel good is not wrongdoing; it is human
nature. But those who gorge the flesh by getting high a t t he
e xpense of their health when they should be seeking the
greater good and harmonizing their lives with the will of
The Creator are idolaters, the root of much suffering and death
in the world.

However, this form of recreational drug use is not considered
by society to be much of a problem unless it is felt that
taking the drug is causing the user to exhibit mood swings,
emotional outbursts, bizarre behavior, laziness, or
unproductivity.

But even then, prescription drug addicts are not judged as
harshly by society as are the addicts who deal in the violence and
crime-ridden, illegal drug trade. Still, prescription drug addiction
takes a heavy toll on its victims and their families, who often
do not recognize that there is a problem until they suffer a
significent loss. Prescription drug abuse is brazen gluttony.
It is shameless idolatry, the forbidden absence of self-control.

Prescription drug abuse is deadly, yet more than half of

the patients treated in hospitals for drug abuse

or overdose test positive for prescription drugs. Women are

more inclined to 110

be under a doctor’s care and therefore more likely than men to
become victims of prescription drug addiction.

Because seniors (per capita) require more prescription drugs
than the rest of the population, disproportionate numbers of
them fall victim to this insidious form of flesh-pleasing. Teenagers
and minor children are at a high risk also, given the ready availability of
prescription drugs in so many homes, and considering the
increasing willingness of some zealous doctors to prescribe mood-
altering drugs to pacify unruly children. The easy availability of
prescription drugs over the Internet only worsens the situation.

These circumstances combine to make prescription drug
addiction probably the most challenging addiction for individuals
and society at large to eradicate. And as pharmaceuticals
make more and stronger "feel-good drugs," the
problem is likely to worsen. Prescription drugs are
hazardous. For some users, just a single act of non-prescribed use
can cause permanent brain damage, heart attack or death, especially
if there is an adverse drug interaction or when used with alcohol.

Prescription drug abuse is not considered destructive just
because the drugs are being taken f or pleasure. But
because when abused with reckless disregard
for the consequences, all too often it causes
organ damage or fatal overdose.

Prescription drug abuse is morally wrong because it
allows greed to push aside self-preservation instincts,
rebuke spiritual guidance, and surrender authority to an
insatiable master whose ultimate goal is self-destruction.

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Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine (“meth”) is arguably one the most diabolical
of all the addictive substances. Adolph Hitler is said to have used meth
himself, and he ordered his Nazi commanders to distribute huge
amounts of the drug to unsuspecting German soldiers.

Recognizing its effectiveness at provoking an uninhibited
kill response, Japanese military leaders laced chocolates and
other tasty treats with powerful doses of methamphetamine.

Every person now struggling to defeat meth addiction should
be strengthened in their resolve to be healed in knowing that
many of the loathsome atrocities committed by German and
Japanese military forces during World War II were likely
carried out by soldiers under the influence of
methamphetamine.

Methamphetamine is particularly problematic today because
it can be produced in home laboratories using active
ingredients commonly available in over-the-counter drugs such
as Sudafed® and Contac®.

Methamphetamine can severely affect biological
mechanisms and bodily processes, including heart
rate, body temperature, blood pressure, appetite, attention,
and mood responses. The effects of the drug are acute
and profound. Methamphetamine is a powerful poison
shown to bring about tragic bodily degeneration. The
wide range of adverse effects from meth abuse includes
but is not limited to sudden death, cardiac arrest,
lung and kidney disorders, b1r1ai2n damage, immune system

damage, liver damage, high blood pressure, rapid heart rate, stroke,
rotting teeth, and a wide variety of psychological problems and
severe mental disorders.

A preferred method for ingesting meth is “inhaling” (producing
fumes by vaporizing rather than burning to generate smoke,
as with marijuana). Some users prefer injecting it. Meth use
takes a devastating toll on the physical and mental health of its
victims. Meth addicts abandon all duty to The Higher Power,
country, family, and self-preservation to idolize the flesh. They
become slaves to a beastly chemical tyrant.

Sugar

When we use the word “sugar” in these lessons, we are referring
to “extrinsic sugar” – crystalline, processed sugar, commonly
known as table sugar – as opposed to “intrinsic sugar,” which is
naturally present in fruits and other foods.

Sugar is ravenously consumed by a vast number of humans.
It is undoubtably the most addictive substance known to mankind.
There is not a nation, culture or economy today that is not
shaped by the worldwide obsession with this sweet poison.

The history of European exploration and colonization of much
of the earth is inextricably tied to the sugar craze that swept across
Europe in the sixteenth century. As early as 1500 AD, practically
the entire European aristocracy was addicted to sugar. Before long,
commoners and peasants alike were hooked and quickly
invented new ways to use it. Many of the sugary cakes, pies,
jellies, jams,

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candies, and desserts common today were handed down from
that era. The early sugar mills of Europe couldn’t supply it fast
enough. By seizing massive chunks of farmable land from Native
Americans and mercilessly pressing millions of Africans into
lifelong slavery, European merchants and rulers were able to feed
the unquenchable hunger of the masses for sugar.

Today, sugar reigns over the lives of virtually every man, woman,
and child on earth. Sugar – masked as glucose, sucrose, syrup, or
corn syrup – is used almost universally as a filler in processed foods,
including but not limited to, canned vegetables, pasta, breads and
cereals of all kinds. Although sugar has absolutely no nutritional
value, most people consume an average of 120 to 140 pounds of
the sweetener per year.

Sugar addiction is extremely difficult to prevent and treat
because it is everywhere and because the addiction is so widely
accepted. Unfortunately for "sugarholics," sugar addiction is
also very difficult to recognize. Sugar addiction is a silent
plague, not even acknowledged by most addiction treatment
programs or addiction professionals.

But like any other addictive substance, sugar stymies the
spiritual growth of its victims. It deprives sugar users of the joy
of clear thinking, making them slaves to sweet stuff, to every
candy, dessert, refreshment, or other food containing sugar while
ravishing their health. Sugar addiction is the most deceptive and
by far the deadliest of addictions. A sugar addict’s life
expectancy is shortened by decades, and they suffer from an
array

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of chronic illnesses. Diseases caused by sugar include but are not
limited to cancer, heart disease, obesity, diabetes, asthma, arthritis,
bad breath, and tooth decay, to name just a few. Degenerative
diseases caused by sugar account for almost half of all human
illnesses and deaths.

The human brain has been hardwired over the course of
millions of years to love the taste of sweetness. Consequently, the
simple sugars in fruit are a delight to the senses and contain all the
minerals necessary for the body to digest them. Table sugar, on the
other hand, is a man-made chemical that is a stripped, bleached
perversion of the intrinsic sugar found in sugar cane or sugar beets,
devoid of all vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. It shouldn't be
surprising, then, that many humans have difficulty
metabolizing the unnatural concentration of glucose caused by
sugar consumption.

The metabolic process that produces and regulates
glucose – a major source of energy within the body – is
overwhelmed by sugar and impaired.

The body learns to depend on this supercharged fuel to
power each cell. Such dependency is the primary
mechanism behind sugar addiction.

There is scientific evidence to suggest that sugar affects both
dopamine and opioid receptors in the brain in the same way
as morphine. A sudden drop in dopamine levels can set off
in a sugar addict an irresistible craving to eat sweets. It can also
activate in some people the desire to use drugs. Is it possible that
you too are a sugarholic?

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If so, it is likely that you are in some stage of developing
a severe illness from sugar addiction. We make these
statements only after having provided clear proof of the
control that sugar addiction holds over practically the whole of
humanity.

Sugar has been so thoroughly integrated into the lives of
nearly every living human that very few are aware of its
power. The lust for sugar has so much influence over the daily
human consciousness that even the most earnest, sincere seekers
will have a difficult time freeing their minds from it.

Sugar addiction is the supreme test. If you can break free from
the tenacious grasp of white, processed sugar, you will certainly
be able to give up any addiction, and you will reach your
fullest potential as a selfless missionary of Divine Love.

B. Addictive Behaviors

Addictive behavior can break up relationships, destroy
careers, and dash the dreams of even the strongest individuals. We
mention addictive behaviors only in passing because, unlike
addictive chemicals, addictive behaviors generally do not
directly threaten the health and life of individuals.

We discussed gambling, screen addictions, and
compulsive eating with great detail in a previous publication
titled The Way to Freedom from Life’s Many Addictions. We
address compulsive eating in these lessons only because
it is often triggered by addictive chemicals that have
been added to many foods. What’s more, compulsive
eating is raised in these lessons because it can 116

give rise to a wide variety of illnesses, including diabetes,
constipation, indigestion, hypertension, and cardiac disease.
Habitual overeating usually results in obesity, adding to the
addict’s risk of medical complications and premature death.

There is mounting scientific evidence that people obsessed
with food derive extreme pleasure from eating, akin to the “rush”
that drug addicts get from drugs. Now, there are those who will
take this to mean that food is an addictive substance. But nothing
could be farther from the truth. Addictive substances
have no nutritional value and are not necessary for sustaining
life. Food, on the other hand, by its very definition, is
an essential substance that contains life-supporting body
nutrients, such as vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and
carbohydrates. Food itself is not addictive because it
is necessary for life. Unfortunately, however, many meat
products on the market today are produced utilizing
unnecessary addictive chemicals as appetite enhancers.

We told you about how sugar is used almost universally as
a filler in processed foods. Consider now the steroids and
growth hormones that are fed to many farm animals to make
them eat more. There is growing evidence that humans who
eat the flesh of such animals develop ravenous appetites. So,
there is indeed a connection between the jumbo chicken wings
and jumbo shrimp being sold to unsuspecting consumers and
the jumbo-sized buttocks and bellies so prevalent
in Western society today.

Nothing requires more discipline than controlling the appetite -
thehardest test of willpow1e1r7.

A single moment of gluttony, in fact, can destroy a lifelong
practice of temperance, prudence, and resolve.

The satisfaction of feeding the appetite is a delight that soothes
all impulses. Purposely embracing hunger by fasting can tame the
emotions, discipline the mind, control the cravings of the flesh,
and strengthen the spirit.

The wise fast often, eat smart and in moderation, seeking
their fulfillment in a lifetime of good health. But the greedy
gorge continuously to avoid hunger, serving a gluttonous, greedy,
unquenchable oppressor – the belly. Whether compulsive eating is
set off by mental, chemical, emotional, or psychological
factors, God has the power to heal you. Fill your consciousness
with Divine Love, and the ravenous cravings caused by your
voracious hunger will be obliterated. Compulsive overeating is
destructive not only because it constitutes ruinous pleasure-
seeking, but because it sets the belly up as an idol, panders to
it nonstop with nibbles and snacks and renders the body less
suitable as a fountain of God’s Divine Love.

When compulsive eating flaunts itself in the form of
massive girth and devastates the health of its victims so as to
make them incapable of and unconcerned about serving God, it
is double wrongdoing because it destroys the body and it
damns the soul.

Customary Addictions

Customs play a key role in shaping the shared routines,
traditions, and values of society as a whole and in determining

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the habits and addictions of each individual. When addictions
are customary, they are not unique to the individuals but are
representative of the way people in a community, a country, or
a whole region think, feel, and behave. That’s why the attitudes
about common addictive substances are shared and spread all over
the world. We see this in the global obsessions with coffee, sugar,
tea, and tobacco – addictive substances that shape family dynamics

in every nation.

When families routinely pass on the use of
addictive substances, addictions become intergenerational, and
youths consequently inherit these behaviors from elders as
traditions. The patterns of dependency and co-dependency
associated with such activities gain strength when successive
generations pass them forward, shaping the future of the next
generations.

Deeply interwoven into local art, craft, folklore, social
mores, religious rituals, and cultural practices,
customary addictions become so absorbed within families
that even non-users uphold the use of substances
associated with such addictions as normal behavior.

Customary addictions are hidden in plain sight, and their
existence is often denied by the very addicts that suffer from them.
These addicts can often see the absurdity of other peoples’
addictions while they are blind to the folly of their own.
Thus, there is no stronger addiction than one that is customary.
Chosen One, it is common in every society for inebriating
pleasures to lead to shame and sorrow. You should therefore

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never adopt the habits of the drunk or stoned. So, the following
customary addictions are presented with the knowledge that by
seeing bad habits in others, you will be better equipped to
change your own compulsive behavior and hopefully this
pathway to addiction will be avoided by your offspring.

Areca Nut/Betel Quid

The Areca nut comes from the seed of the betel palm fruit
(Areca catechu). It is ferociously consumed in many parts of Asia,
including Southern China, Bangladesh, India, Laos,
Thailand, Vietnam, and places as far east as the Fiji-Samoa-Tonga
sector of the Pacific. It is also used worldwide in
communities composed of immigrants from those regions.

Recently collected data estimates that 20 percent of the

human population (more than 1.4 billion people) consume the

areca nut in some form. The areca nut is the basic ingredient of

a “betal-quid.” The term ‘betel quid’ is used to describe a folded

betel leaf wrapped to contain the areca nut as the main ingredient

along with contents like tobacco, slaked lime, cardamom, saffron,

cloves, aniseed, turmeric, mustard and varied other spices and

sweeteners, added according to local preferences. The “quids” are

either chewed or placed in the mouth between the teeth and jaw,

leaving the mix in contact with the oral mucosa, where it causes

the user’s mouth to emit a constant dribble of red spit. Withdrawal

symptoms on trying to quit the habit include mood swings, anxiety,

irritability, reduced concentration, sleep disturbance, and

craving. These findings are considered to be consistent with the

existence 120

of a dependence syndrome among regular users. Abrupt cessation
of use produces psychosis.

Betel-quid users speak openly about what they perceive to be
the positive benefits of chewing areca nuts. But even as the quid
addict tries to explain the bizarre habit, evidence of the downside
of consuming this venomous drug is visible to all who are not
blinded by tradition: mouth disfigurement, scarlet d rooling lips,
crimson stained tongues, and red decayed teeth.

Also, one cannot ignore the constant hacking cough,
followed by spitting of red mucus onto the ground, into
spitting pipes and spittoons, or against the nearest shrub.
Though chewing betel nut products may bring about a
temporary feeling of euphoria and well-being, the deadly
consequences from using them are indisputably proven by
the prevalence in areca nut users of invasive malignant
mouth cancer, and pharynx and esophagus tumors that rapidly
metastasize to other areas of the body.

Khat

Khat is a green, leafy, slow-growing, shrub-like tree native to
the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Its flowers, leaves,
and bark contain an amphetamine-like stimulant, a
monoamine alkaloid called cathinone. Khat is often referred to as
the “flower of paradise,” likely because it is said to
spark excitement and euphoria. The scientific name given to
the plant is Catha edulis, but it is called by many different
names in different regions: gat in Yemen, qaat
and jaad in Somalia, and chatI1itn2i1sEthiopia.

also known as jimma in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and
Egypt where the Oromo language is spoken.

Fresh khat leaves and flowers are most often chewed to induce
the desired effect. Dried leaves and bark from the plant are used to
make tea. In hot liquid form, khat is affectionately called Arabian
Tea in parts of Arabia and Bushman’s Tea in South Africa.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified khat as
an abused substance of great concern because frequent use of
high doses has been proven to bring on psychotic reactions and
can result in psychological dependence and tolerance.
Withdrawal symptoms after prolonged use consist of lethargy,
mild depression, trembling, and recurrent bad dreams.

Khat chewing and drinking habits have been handed down as
honored tradition from generation to generation for thousands of
years. Khat is routinely used by individuals at family gatherings
and social functions. It is habitually used by farmers, drivers and
workers of every ilk, because it acts as an appetite suppressant,
helps with altitude sickness, and boosts energy.

For generations, the pervasive use of the drug either as
a beverage or a masticant has wreaked havoc on successive
populations. Long-term khat use is devastating to all who abuse
it. Chewing khat can bring on anorexia, constipation, elevated
blood pressure levels, insomnia, irritability, migraine headaches,
racing of the heart, liver damage, manic behaviors, greenish
darkened teeth, psychotic episodes, sexual impotency, oral
cancer, stroke, heart attack, ulcers, and increased mortality to all
who abuse it.

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Moonshine

Moonshine consists of a wide variety of non-commercial
alcoholic beverages produced from traditional recipes. These
locally produced concoctions can be found in virtually every corner
of the world.

The consumption of moonshine is often associated with poor
and rural people. Regardless of their class status, moonshiner
families, clans, and tribes pass on their habits and their top secret
moonshine recipes to successive generations in a perpetual cycle of
illness and morbidity.

Moonshine cultures are representative of the way moonshiners
think, speak, earn money, live and die. For this reason, the attitudes
about particular moonshine concoctions are celebrated with pride
over whole regions. We see this in Appalachia and in the South of the
United States with “White Lightening,” in Russia with “Samagon,” in
Canada with “Screech,” in Trinidad and Tobago with “Ba-bash,” in
Guatemala with “Cusha,” in Greece with “Raki,” in Uganda with
“Waragi,” in China with “Baijiu,” and in Egypt with “Bouza” – to
name just a few. But no matter what these homemade alcoholic
concoctions are called, they shape family dynamics and doom
moonshine addicts on every continent.

Parents and relatives routinely pass on the production,
distribution and consumption practices associated with moonshine to
the next generation as sacred customs. Young descendants pick
up these behaviors even before they reach their teens. The
power of moonshine over humanity increases as successive

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addicts pass the practices forward, shaping the future of the
next generations.

Moonshining is extremely dangerous because it circumvents

regulatory bodies that would impose health standards or sanitize

the distilling process. Homemade high-proof spirits

have been brewed without any regulation

for thousands of years. Recently, governments have tried to

control production of illicit alcoholic beverages.

Moonshiners have reacted by hiding their

unauthorized stills in forests, swamps, mountain

tops, valleys, chicken coops, or underground.

Quality control, health and contamination risks are

rarely considered in production. Moonshiners,

bootleggers, and customers alike often assume that the

alcohol content will kill off any germs in a “batch.” But

even the highest proof whiskey’s germ-killing capability too

often fails the test when insects and small animals fall

in the mash after taking a drink while it is still fermenting.

All of these factors contribute to moonshine's deadly reputation.

Taking into account the vast cultural differences and

agricultural diversity when it comes to producing moonshine,

it's not even possible to list half of the various

ingredients added to make it even deadlier.

However, it is important that we offer a sampling:

rotting fruits (of all kinds), jet fuel, embalming fluid,

shrubs, pure ethanol, battery acid, and methyl

alcohol. Additional dangerous " d e s i g n e r " ingredients are

often added at the whim of the moonshiners. For instance,

to give their product that extra

“kick,” moonshiners may add lye, rubbing alcohol, paint thinner,
bleach, gasoline, manure, formaldehyde, cologne, mouthwash,
lighter fluid, fertilizers, acid, etc. These ingredients can be
added singularly or in combination. And to make the brew even
deadlier, dangerous levels of pine pitch or lead frequently
contaminate the moonshine during the distilling process.

Lead-tainted liquor is extremely hazardous because lead is
odorless, tasteless, and almost impossible to detect. Lead is a
poison that accumulates in the body and piles up damage to virtually
every organ over a period of years. But it is particularly
damaging to the neurological system, causing mental retardation in
children of mothers who consume moonshine. It damages the
central nervous system and causes blindness. Whiskey-based
lead poisoning damages the kidneys, and very high exposure can
cause a person to experience convulsions, paralysis, catastrophic
heart failure and death. Lead poisoning is the principal reason why
moonshine is the most harmful and hazardous form of
alcohol consumed in the world and the leading cause of
alcohol-related deaths and diseases.

Reject the Customary Addictions of Your Community

Without second thought many people embrace the bad habits
of their environment. Sons after fathers, daughters after mothers
– whole families, clans, and entire nations commonly succumb to
sickening addictions and even embrace them with pride. It is a
triumph of the spirit to reject such character flaws altogether or to
correct them as soon as they are noticed.

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God gave you dominion over your own destiny, but if you
allow the traditions of your ancestors to define the desires of your
character, you will be doomed to repeat the diseases of antiquity.

Rather than fall into the trap of customary addiction,
dedicate your life to mastering and directing your own personality.
Unleash your spiritual, mental, intellectual, and physical powers
by unceasingly expressing Divine Love. By so doing, you shall
experience the most profound recovery, and you will be given the
ability to help lift up others to accomplish the same.

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CHAPTER 9

LIBERATING THOUGHTS

WE HAVE SHOWN YOU A NEW WAY OF THINKING abou

your passions and desires. If you have already embraced

the teachings presented so far, the Spiritual You has been

awakened; your mind has been set free, or soon it will be, and

liberating thoughts shall henceforth, dominate the aspirations of
your consciousness.

Those of You who sincerely prayed and meditated over the meaning

of these teachings have been shown that Divine Love, once
it has taken root in your heart, nourishes liberating thoughts.

You have learned that dwelling on such

thoughts empowers your will to be free. You

understand that expressing Divine Love energizes

you to act; and you know that awareness of

Oneness with God brings The Creator’s Perfect Plan into reality.
127

Before long your heart will overflow with Divine Love,
and harmony in your life will be restored. Focus your mind
on the liberating thoughts as they come streaming forth
from deep within. Use these thoughts to redirect your
desires to motivate you to live drug and alcohol free.

To achieve this, you must motivate your mind to focus on The
Creator’s Great Plan and then take concrete steps to advance the
plan and bring it into reality. Focusing your mind on Divine
Love supercharges your thoughts with healing energy. When
guided by God’s Love, your thirst for liberty will keep your desires
in check.

You allowed lustful thoughts to thrive in your mind; and
accordingly, they shaped your past. They formed your character,
governed your personality, and led you into addiction. The self-
control techniques that follow are designed to expel
any lustful thoughts that may yet linger beneath your
consciousness.

Corrective Visualization

Corrective visualization will speed your way to recovery

by choreographing the activity of your spirit and your mind to

harmoniously generate liberating thoughts. Corrective

visualization gives you the ability to look into the future and get

a glimpse of what your life will be like when you have been

liberated from addiction. A clear vision of what your life

will be like when your every thought and word are guided

by Divine Love will give you the power to bring what you

visualize into reality. 128

By thus seeing yourself free and holding these visions of
freedom in your consciousness, you will soon be able to put
behind you all of the allurements of addiction. Once your mind
has embraced Our Creator’s Plan to make you who you really are
and who you are destined to be, you will never accept anything
less than eternal, everlasting freedom.

Let your soul review images in your mind of your life in
its fullest bloom. Visualize yourself completely free from
addiction; allow your spirit to clearly see and visually
experience your personality serving God’s Loving Purpose.

What a glorious destiny! Your mind, your intellect, your
emotions, and your body are yours to use to correct anything
that may be wrong in your life. Every aspect of your being must
embrace the Holy Spirit if you are to fulfill your purpose.

So, instead of feeling overwhelmed by addiction, change the
way you think. Visualize yourself living free from the tyranny of
your desires. Free your mind by understanding that you have this
God-given ability to recreate yourself, to bring into existence The
Creator’s Plan of who you should be. In fact, you have used this
ability every day. You used it to become what you are.

Every skill, gift, talent, and even your bad habits, came into
existence as a result of this capacity to alter reality with thoughts
and visions of what you thought you should be and do. Your
ability to talk, read, write, and walk from one place to another –
every aspect of your character – began with just an idea, a vision
in your mind of what Our Creator predestined you to do.

129

Your behavior is defined by the manner in which you direct
your personality to act. Before you can do anything of your own
will, you have to visualize it in your mind. For example, before you
can sit at a card table, shuffle a deck, light up a cigarette, inhale the
smoke, drink a shot of liquor, and play a hand of poker, you must
visualize yourself in t he solitude of your mind as a drinking,
gambling, nicotine addict.

Isn’t it true that you became addicted because you saw yourself
behaving in such a manner in your mind? Didn’t you become
addicted because you visualized yourself in such a miserable state
and then acted on your visions? If this is true, then can‘t you
correct bad behavior by the application of the same means?

Being eternally free from addiction first of all
requires you to earnestly see yourself so to make it so.
Understand how visualization worked to make it possible for you
to behave like an addict. In the same way, corrective visualization
can now work for you to change and correct your behavior.

Now visualize yourself as one with The Creator and fully
conscious of Oneness, guided in all matters by Divine Love
-- a liberated you. Visualizing with confidence will cause
addiction to cease to exist in your life. In its place, freedom will
become a everlasting reality. Visualizing freedom in your mind will
enable you to stand steadfast in the glory of Divine Love through
the power of The Higher Power.

You may need to visualize daily or hourly, so do it as often as
it takes. See your personality doing great things as an essential

130

instrument of God’s Plan. Visualize all your thoughts, words, and
deeds into reality under the direction of The Higher Power. Visualize
your Divine Mission fully accomplished in your spiritual .

All addicts are held in bondage by their own foolish thoughts.
Some cling to the absurd belief that they can use addictive
substances only occasionally and not get trapped. Others get high
without thinking. But the big loser is the addict who is
already suffering from self-destructive living yet knowingly
embraces thoughts that lead to even greater destruction.

Trying to free yourself from addiction by embracing the same
thoughts that delivered you into dependency is like digging deeper
to get out of a hole. Put down the shovel and stop digging the
hole deeper. Look within to The Higher Power to form a true
understanding of who you are.

Stop living foolishly. Live right. Visualize your life guided by
Divine Love. Know that you won’t need to visualize your freedom
forever, for after you have resisted your carnal impulses over a
sustained period of time, Divine Love will light up your life and
radiate in your consciousness as your natural state of being.

Those of you who are not seeking freedom for yourselves –
you anointed souls who are selflessly seeking to free others from
the chains of addiction – will find corrective visualization perfect
for liberating loved ones. However, to ensure that visualization for
the purpose of liberating others is effective, you must sincerely
feel and express your love for the other. You want the spirit of the
person you wish to liberate to willingly accept your help.

131

If a part of you lacks love for the addicted person, you must
fill your consciousness with Divine Love. Go in consciousness to
the spiritual plane and touch the addicted person’s soul with your
Love.

Selfless visualization is most effective when you can see and
speak to the one you seek to help. It is best employed when the
intended beneficiary is asleep or in a meditative state, temporarily
released from the tyranny of the flesh.

You can engage the power of Love to convey to the higher
consciousness of any addicted person your vision for that person’s
liberation. You will have to be sensitive, honest, compassionate,
and unassuming since these visions are, after all, your visions for
correcting what you see as flaws in another person’s character.
Realize that your efforts will fail if you try to force arrogant or
judgmental visions on an addicted person.

If you are pushy, impatient or insensitive, you will not
be able to inspire another person’s own ability to visualize
freedom. So, be prepared for a long battle and understand that
even your sincerest efforts could be rejected by the addict’s
headstrong and selfish personality. But don’t worry. If your
attempts to help are motivated and inspired by Divine Love,
you will succeed, and eventually Divine Love will prevail. You
have had a great blessing bestowed upon you – an unfailing
method for generating liberating thoughts in your mind and
assisting others in achieving the same.

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Make a Mental Movie

Your mind is an amazing tool; it can create visions of things
that do not exist and direct your physical body to rearrange matter
so that your thoughts and ideas become reality. The single most
important and best use of your mind is to engage it to advance the
power of Divine Love. The imagination that works to give
your mind the power to transform the world can be utilized to
transform your mind in the same manner. The thoughts that you
dwell on and the images created in your mind from your
thoughts have an enormous influence on your actions and your
perception of yourself.

Since addiction is an inner foe, the mind can only defeat it
by correcting itself from within. So an effective way to correct
addictive behavior is to direct your mind to make a mental
movie of how you lived while you were suffering under the
spell of addiction.

The purpose of such a picture show will be to have
your mind see, through the prism of your soul, the greed,
dishonesty, lust, criminality, pride, and personality flaws that
characterized your life as an addict.

Your mental movie should be designed to help you:

1) accept total responsibility for your addiction; and

2) confess your transgressions against Divine Law; and

3) repent.

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Make sure the production of your movie is motivated by a
sincere desire to regain your freedom, with the knowledge that
liberty (God’s Supreme Gift to you) is one of the strongest desires
of the human soul.

Be ever mindful that bondage to a ruthless internal ruler is,
on the other hand, probably the worst thing that could happen
to a human being. Design the plot of your mental movie as a
private confession. Call to mind your wretched experiences with
addiction as accurately as possible.

Use the images stored in your memory to visualize vivid
scenes of the pain and suffering that defined your life when it was
ruled and dominated by lust and the obsession to get high.

Pray and ask The Higher Power to help you visualize a script
“storyboard” and a mental outline recalling occasions when
addiction prompted you to:

• neglect your duty to God, country, or family;

• commit crimes/get arrested/serve time in jail;

• waste time;

• tell lies/deceive/betray;

• miss days from work;

• damage or neglect your own health and well
being;

• lose work, property, valuables;

• get into fights or arguments;

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• disappoint your children, parents;

spouse, relatives, and others;

• destroy relationships with loved ones;

• have accidents;

• consider doing bodily harm to yourself;

• squander or lose money; and

• commit other wrongdoings not listed above.

Including these misdeeds in your mental movie will help you to
atone individually for every transgression so that you will forgive
yourself and receive release for each. Blanket remorse will not
suffice.

Do not hesitate to portray your selfish personality as the villain,
recalling the self-pollution, foolishness, trouble, and suffering that
selfish greed caused in your life.

Nothing will be more important in your mental movie than
truthfulness, the illuminating source of all understanding. Yet, not
all truth is relevant, so you need not include each and every minor
transgression.

Edit the final cut in your mind and remember that when your
mental movie is finished, The Higher Power will patiently review
it with you over and over again or as often as necessary. Always
review your movie in the God Consciousness!

Direct your movie to enact the full horror of addiction. All
the while you construct the storyline, you will be strengthened by

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remembering the occasions when burning desire raged within you
like an uncontrollable inferno. The narrative threads of your movie
must be woven together so graphically as to make you realize that
if addiction is reignited in your life, the flames of desire will
engulf you again and destroy you.

Create a happy ending to your movie by setting down visions
of what your life will look like when you are free from addiction.
The end of your movie should depict you lovingly visualizing
the future in peaceful harmony with Our Creator’s Plan.

As you edit your movie, be instructed and corrected by what
you see. Watch the vivid images of your self-destructive conduct
unfold. Remember that you are producing a mental movie (an
inner work), so take care about writing things down or taking
notes because if they are discovered, the secular world may not
be forgiving toward your transgressions.

There will be no need for a high-powered director or
wealthy producer. The only one necessary for your movie is
you. You must oversee the entire production. And if you are to be
and remain free, you and God must be the only audience to
ever view it. Embrace the power of Divine Love to energize
your set. The key goal of your movie is to humble your mind
so it can submit to guidance f r o m the Spiritual You. Divine
Love will then ignite within you a profound sense of
purpose and devotion to advancing God's Perfect Plan.

Rise to action! You should be able to complete the mental

movie “shoot” in less than forty-eight hours. Immediately after

you finish with the production of your movie, review it in the

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