The Power and the Pain by Andrew Holecek

Author:Andrew Holecek
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-55939-331-7
Publisher: Shambhala

12

Ground Addiction II

* * *

The magic cannot begin unless we are willing to step over the threshold. We might get a mild shock, or a violent shock in the process, but that is absolutely necessary. Otherwise there is no magic.

—CHÖGYAM TRUNGPA, Journey without Goal

* * *

THE SECOND MEANING of “ground addiction” is even more subtle than the first. When we are being swept along with the rest of the world in endless thought and action, it is hard to break away and discover our addiction to thought and our craving for movement. It is even more difficult to discover our addiction to ground itself.

We take ground, the sense of material reality, for granted. The earth and the objects upon it are so obviously real that they literally provide the framework upon which we live our lives. To challenge the status of this reality borders on psychosis. But to believe that things are real, and that the ground beneath our feet actually exists, is to manifest a form of madness that becomes the basis of samsaric existence.

From the enlightened perspective, it is insane to believe that things truly exist. To realize this nonexistence is to realize emptiness, which is where we are headed. Eckhart Tolle says, “One can go so far as to say that on this planet ‘normal’ equals insane. What is it that lies at the root of this insanity? Complete identification with thought and emotion, that is to say, ego [complete identification with subtle and gross things (existence), the progeny of ego] . . . Recognize the ego for what it is: a collective dysfunction, the insanity of the human mind.”66

We are insanely addicted to existence, to physical reality, to the facade that things are solid, lasting, and independent, and the higher reaches of the path involve the difficult journey of detoxification from this view. There is no greater hardship than the withdrawal from this crazy addiction to ground.

This addiction is epidemic, and because everybody believes in physical reality, the force of this collective madness is overwhelming. We are born into it, brought up within it, and firmly locked into the view that things exist. It is utterly axiomatic, a given, the unquestioned status quo.

Trying to detoxify this view is therefore doubly difficult. We have to break away from our own person addiction and then the gravity of social consensus. We might blast off on the path only to have the gravity of society pull us back down to the ground. By understanding this insidious addiction, we can better relate to the rigors of detoxification that must be faced along the later stages of the path.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.