Richard: The question to ask oneself is: why does one require any nervous stimuli at all? Why does one endlessly seek excitement? It is an adventure and a delight to simply be alive, when one is free from the ‘I’ that has taken control of one’s body; the hunt for the “thrills and spills” that is so endemic in the real world is over. It is ‘I’ who is easily bored, incessantly pursuing excitement. As ‘I’ am not actually here, one needs to feel that ‘I’ am real … that one is “alive”. The body can be persuaded to produce quite an array of chemicals; a veritable cocktail is available to the insidious entity that has taken up psychological and psychic residence within. Whereas I am already alive for I am actual. I am never bored, because being here now as-I-am is an escapade in itself. (Richard’s Journal, Article 25, pg 181)
Kuba: This explains ‘my’ addiction quite well, the addiction to excitement is because it makes ‘me’ feel ‘alive’, the “thrill of the search” provides the buzz ‘I’ am looking for in order to feel that ‘I’ exist.
I can see this, that it is because ‘I’ do not actually exist that ‘I’ need some “synthetic assistance” let’s say, and the powerful buzz of excitement is like the best hit for ‘me’. It is like a direct and raw wave of affect to make ‘me’ feel that ‘I’ am real, and this is very addictive, how on earth to overcome such an addiction.
Well they say the first step is admitting that one is addicted so there is that. But then there is the gratification that the ‘hit’ provides and the fact that ‘I’ enjoy it. It seems it must be about seeing what this addiction is doing as a totality. (link)
Hi Kuba,
As an addiction is an acquired habit, often indulged in for many years, to shed this addiction takes a bit more than “seeing what this addiction is doing as a totality” to be done with it once and for all. I suggest patient and diligent application of the actualism method and each time you are tempted by the affective thrills, recognize the pattern and sensibly decline. Given the addictive nature of feelings it requires more an ongoing attention to your feelings and declining consequent behaviour rather than a one-off cognitive turn-about.
Cheers Vineeto