You Can Escape

Addicts try to escape, to escape the feeling of self. They want their entire existence to disappear and therefore they escape to the addiction (alcohol, drugs, sex, porn, food etc.). Temporarily, the high numbs their feeling of self.

This is not a new issue. It started on the first day that humans were placed on this earth. On their first day in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve ate from the tree and they became aware of their own existence. Before eating from the tree, they had a lack of self-awareness.

Noah after the flood had the same issue. He wanted to escape the feeling of self, so he got drunk. Alas, it did not last. Noah sobered up and realized that he still exists.

The solution is not to overdose. The solution is to transcend yourself to get over your own desires. To connect with something higher to do the things you don't want to do, in order to make the you a better you while it not being about you.

To quote Lord Jonathan Sacks, who passed away this past Shabbos: “There was once a man who took G-d so seriously that he didn't get a chance to take himself seriously.”

Often, we look at the world from our own prism instead of from the perspective of G-d. Ask not how the world makes me feel, but what feeling do I create in the world.

We are all addicts. Addicts to our ego. Addicts to the way we want the world to see us. We want to escape the self and therefore, at times, we do things that are not good for us just to feel less. When you want to escape into your addiction, realize that instead of trying to get rid of the self, go beyond it and connect with a higher reality.

The best escape is to do for others; find someone in need and help them. As always let us know how we can help :)

Rabbi Kushi Schusterman