al-Muqaddimah/Prelude
#UnpopularFact
Acts-Of-Good don’t automatically make an Individual a “Good-Person”. There’s Bad-People whom do Good-Things all the Time. Acts-Of-Evil don’t automatically make an Individual an “Evil-Person”. There’s Good-People whom do Evil-Things all the Time. Humans are a lot more nuanced than Most-Persons are willing to recognize/accept, especially if/when we judge them.
Addiction is literally amongst the Reasons how/why Human-Nature/Behavior is so nuanced in the 1st-Place…as Allah states:
“And Humanity was created weak.”
(Noble-Qur’ān: Chpt.4, V.28)
Addiction is literally a Weakness, by default/definition.
Years ago, I embarked upon a Professional&Personal-Journey via a Research-Project concerning Addiction. What I found-out was incredible. What I learned about my own Personal-Addictions was phenominal. I say this, purposely, because every Human is naturally subject to some Type/Kind of Addiction. Now, for Obvious-Reasons: Most-Humans will never admit this. However, Addiction literally affects All-People.
Let’s now clearly define what Addiction is:
Addiction is any Pathological-Attraction/Attachment to someone or something.
Knowing this is very important, because unfortunately Most-People exclusively associate Addiction with Substance-Abuse. And, I can personally speak based upon my iwn Life-Experience: you don’t have to be a Substance-Abuser to be an Addict. Ironically, the Way Human-Nature/Behavior is: basically anything can become an Addiction for any Human.
As a Chaplain (Counselor, Therapist, etc.): learning/knowing the Complexities-Of-Addiction has granted me Better/Greater Sense-Of-Clarity, as per understanding how/why Certain-Persons do what they fo and how/why they do it.
Make no Mistake though:
I’m serious about never using anyone’s Addictions as “Leverage” against them…
…I’m not “Better” than anyone.
I don’t give anyone “Passes”, for doing Negative-Things…
…I make Sincere-Attempts to be empathetic to People in spite of whatever their Addictions are.
Even arriving to such a Point requires Respect, Empathy, Patience, etc. This is necessary, in order for me to avoid Judgmentalism, as I always tell People: It’s easy to judge People, when our Sins aren’t Public-Knowledge. Ironically, even Judgmentalism is an Addiction, by default/definition…it’s impossible to have Empathy without Humility. It’s impossible to care about Others and/or help Others, if we deem ourselves “Superior” to them.
As per my Addiction-Research: I’ve constructed a very Lengthy Google-Doc which I’ve made available via This-Article…All one needs to do is request Access to the Doc after clicking on the Link I’ve provided below
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D0PchDIRY2oJb-W98dDTGLasgTCpaZJaYC6Tb__zMM4/edit?usp=drivesdk
Gareth Bryant
Leave a Reply