Spiritual Addiction

WED., OCT. 14, 1987, 6:55 AM
FARM, STUDY

You have come this morning with a combination of eagerness and reluctance. Your rational mind tells you there is not time for this “activity.” “There’s too much to do.” “You’ve started too late.” And still you are here. You have acquired a spiritual addiction. And this one’s not bad at all, o son.

An addiction is a compulsion to do something… particularly when there is some perception that it is undesirable, even bad. Oh, the concept of positive addiction has been offered, which wipes off the bad or undesirable designation and affirms that some positive acts become compulsive, and you’ll feel the need to do them, no matter what the time and circumstances are. This coming to Me for instruction and enlightenment is a positive act, and one I’ll call a spiritual addiction.

You may not feel like getting out of bed. You may pay attention to your mind as it warns of insufficient time to do this, while other matters press. Yet you also feel the need. You also know that, however unworthy a title may seem, when the Teaching has been completed it is valuable and often surprisingly relevant to some activity of yours or to the need of someone you know. And so the addiction develops.

Why is an addiction positive? Wouldn’t it be preferable to be free to choose an activity or reject it, depending on the circumstances? I have told you that I allow most humans this kind of freedom, and I reiterate that here. And yet, for My special purposes, some magnificent and vital like the writing of Holy Scripture and some small and insignificant like these lessons, I encourage a spiritual addiction. I want you to feel the need to come… to come almost against your will. It is usually a satisfying time, but occasionally I make it difficult, and this also feeds the addiction, for it often is more satisfying, finally, to have persevered against some obstacle. And my actions, or what I allow your less spiritual self to demand, can seem like obstacles.

Is your life better because you have this addiction? Your mind often challenges such an affirmation. There are many situations, including the church, in which you are not completely comfortable because of this. Your mind and your secular, even your religious, self cautions you to keep it hidden. “Do it if you have to, but don’t tell people about it.” “It’s potentially dangerous, so don’t let it dominate you.”

And yet you feel a deep spiritual satisfaction when you have completed a Teaching, whether it is obviously useful or not. Even as you write there is the thrill of feeling this spiritual process, of hearing the words coming in a reasonable order, of writing a Teaching which usually “fleshes out” the title quite well. As you go over a volume of Teachings you feel a thrill both with what you have accomplished and with what I have revealed to you. And when you view the row of volumes, representing this relationship of Ours over years of earth time… well, the addiction becomes worse.

I continue to urge you to give time to your profession and to seek and make opportunities for professional service (including writing) that is not directly related to the spiritual. Yet your addiction pulls you to consider giving more time and attention to this resource that I have given to you. You have a commendable sabbatical project, but your spirit nudges you with the idea of spending the time studying and organizing these products of your addiction. And it is an appealing nudge.