The World is an Addict

The world is an addict.  That does sound harsh, but let me explain.

The word world hails back to ancient time.  Our first sense of it comes from when Indo-European was a spoken language within the Black Sea steppes, more than seven thousand years ago.  Then the word world  had the meaning of man as in humanity.  The Old High German word weralt means the life or age of man.  World does not refer to nature but to how people live within nature.  The world – civilization, culture, history, society, science, economy, education, technology – is embedded as a subsystem within the natural system.  It simply is how we live in nature.  Other social group species have their own worlds.  Think of the world of ants or the ibex world.  Importantly, none of these worlds exist apart from nature.

So with that definition aside, let’s tackle the word addict.  How can the world be an addict?  We understand addiction as a cyclical disease in which one compulsively seeks gratification from something external to oneself.  Once attained, we have a brief moment of gratification, but when that feeling wears off, the cycle of seeking begins again.  We all know addicts.  We may even recognize ourselves as one.

At the core of the disease of addiction is selfishness, which I am defining as the willingness to harm oneself and others to obtain something which we believe will benefit us, the object of our addictive compulsion.  Addiction breeds a whole laundry list of unsavory qualities:  dishonesty, self-centeredness, illusion of control, crazy thinking, denial, projection, repression, displacement, and on and on.  The disease of addiction changes addicts in harmful ways, leaving a wake of destruction in its path. 

Let’s consider money as the substance of abuse.  Yes, like food, we all need money to survive in this world.  Yet, like food, when we believe that we can never have enough money to satisfy our sense of what we need, beyond what we actually need to maintain our well-being, well, then we are definitely an addict by our understanding of the disease. 

The world is an addict.  Focusing in on the American world, we as a society are in awe of those with the highest incomes.  They are the super-heroes.  We are willing to lie, steal, enslave, and kill to benefit ourselves.  And the resulting harm leads to desecrated mountain, toxic water and air, poisoned foods, and war.  We seem hell bent on destroying the natural systems we rely upon to survive so that we can accumulate ever more wealth.  Climate change is the newest tragedy of our addicted world.

It is not new that the world is an addict.  There have always been addicts in powerful positions who have made the lives of everyone else miserable.  The difference between now and then is that now we have the technology to take the earth apart and turn it into one large garbage dump.

History is filled with one revolt or war after the next.  The recurring problems is that whoever led the charge against the Super Addict d’jour and got themselves into power, then they acted out their addictions and generally exhibited their willingness to ferociously harm others for self- benefit.  

“But wait,” you say.  “Addicts can recover.”  You are absolutely right.  The paths of recovery do work.  AA is a great example, and so are other spiritual paths.  Yet if the world is an addict, how can the world recover?

The Taoist Great Path is about overcoming the addiction to what the self wants in order to overcome the addiction of selfishness within the world.  We begin this journey by turning inward.  Rather than projecting our self-righteous anger onto others, we first look at how our own desires and anger create difficulties and dangers and prevent us from effectively benefiting anyone.  Our first task is to root out the seeds of our own addictions to get our “self” under control.

While we are developing our self-mastery, we also accumulate the good.  Taoist call it virtue.  Interestingly, the word virtue comes from the same Indo-European root for man (as in humanity) and world.  Virtue is how people behave in the world to benefit all.  The Indo-European root for good is ghedh has the meaning of unite, fit, and join.  It points to behaviors that fit within a world that is in union with the natural world.  Doing good, being virtuous, are the instructions that would be listed on how to live on Earth if the Earth had actually come with an operating manual.  They are behaviors that fit life on earth.

To develop virtue means practicing how to live on Earth:  kindnesses, caring, benevolence, honesty, gentleness, justice, calm, joy, compassion, generosity, wisdom, and so on.  You know what they are.  They have always been taught by all religious traditions and boiled down to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”  They are not a mystery.  They have been simply ignored.

And then, after one has mastered one’s inner demons and learned how to live virtuously, then, and only then, does one presume to help others.  In fact, when you get to this point of self-development, you must help others for completion of your path.  No sitting in your meditation room for the rest of your life.  For it is only through helping others and the world recover does one realize one’s own true being.

To overcome great harm requires great good.  Move always toward doing what benefits all, including in that “all” those who harm.  Grow the good within our own lives, within our community, and in the world, devotedly living the way of nature.

And, bummer, the path of recovery never does end for an addict.  It is dangerous for an alcoholic to ever imagine that they have their addiction under control and can start drinking again.  It is dangerous for those who want to recover the world to imagine they can indulge in wealth and power without harming themselves and others.  Always be vigilant of selfishness - the desire and anger – before it arises and regain your mastery once it has.  

Finally, if joy is not part of your path, you are on the wrong one.  The joy comes from being fully alive and devoted to what we know is true and good.  The joy comes from caring for the Earth and all who live on it.