Spoken by Supreme Master Ching Hai,
London, U.K. August
26, 1997 (Originally in English)
Q:What
causes the problem of alcoholism? What causes it to arise in the alcoholic's
spirit?
M:
There are many causes. First of all, a lot of people are weak,
and they cannot resist the temptation to run away from problems. Instead
of facing their problems, they run away. People run away from problems
in different ways. Some people choose alcohol. Some people choose to
literally run away from the scene of the problem, or from the person
that they think is causing them problems, or embarrassment. Instead
of solving problems with each other, talking with each other, they run
away. They use any excuse, or go to any other house, visit any other
friends, or do anything to run away, instead of talking. Or instead
of making the person understand why he is angry, why she is angry, they
just run away.
And
some other people cannot talk, cannot run away, because they have no
chance, no choice, or are too lazy to run away, and then they consume
alcohol. Running away in the mind, pretending to be deaf and dumb to
the world, they make a mess of themselves. And then, they make themselves
worse, so people don't even bother with them, or talk to them, and they
just pretend to be dead. This is a way of running away from problems.
These people are weak. That's all. This is a sign of weakness.
Because
we are all God's children, we are so used to heavenly bliss over there
in Heaven. And when we come here, nothing is to our liking. Everything
is so terrible, everything is so hard on us. And then when we have a
few more problems, we can't bear it any more. Then we try to run away.
We try to recover the peace that we once had in Heaven. And so we use
all kinds of substitutes in order to shut out the problem. That's it.
So that's alcoholism. And then they turn to alcohol, or drugs, or whatever,
or women, or gambling. And also sometimes, bad spirits, ghosts, also
possess them, and also make them drink, if they are weak. If they don't
believe in God too much, if they're too prone to a kind of negative,
dark thinking too much, then they attract the dark elements.
When
I talk about spirits, it doesn't necessarily mean ghosts. There are
bad elements everywhere, as well as good elements. If we clean ourselves
and become good, and our energy is good, then we attract more good energy,
more positive elements and they surround us everywhere. And if we are
bad, we are dark, then we attract more dark elements in the surroundings,
in the atmosphere. Do you know where the dark elements come from, and
where the good elements come from? From human society. When people think
badly, they create the dark element, dark energy and woe to us. If we
become dark, and susceptible to this kind of dark element, we say we
are possessed by bad spirits.
If
we are cleansed, we're pure and we raise our thinking and spirit to
a noble level, then we attract more noble energy, noble elements, from
a noble group of people, whose thoughts are noble and elegant and beautiful.
Then we attract that. So, say, if the people who are dark, who give
in to the pressures of life and who want to run away, don't elevate
themselves, then they attract this kind of bad energy from people who
generate bad thoughts. Because everything we think, everything we say,
generates energy, and it hangs around in the air everywhere. And whoever
belongs to that group catches that kind of thing.
So
with the people who are alcoholic, sometimes it is like that. Or gamblers,
I mean, addicts, they are like that. But don't blame the spirits for
anything. Blame yourselves. We have to choose. That's why I say, "Choose
your lifestyle." You have to choose whatever you want to be. You have
to choose it with all your might, or else you're weakened. And then
all the bad energy will overpower you, and then you can't get up anymore.
Once you are down, it's difficult to get up. Choose your way of life.
The way you have chosen is good already, so just continue to make it
better and better. Then you will just attract better and better energy.
That's why your life has started to become better. It's not due to me,
it's due to you. You've chosen a better way of life. You chose to walk
in the sun, so you see the sun. If you choose to stay in a room, a dark
room, you see darkness. It's all your doing. I am not doing anything.
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