Addictions: instruments of the darkness
Gebaldo José de Sousa

“Never allow yourself to acquire any vices, in the assumption that you’ll be free whenever you want to, because if addicts could choose they wouldn’t want to be under this violent spell.” ¹

Addiction: “n. deformity, imperfection, physical or moral flaw.” - Caldas Aulete. The Aurelio dictionary, however, also defines it as “(…) evil inclination (as in opposed to virtue)”.

Addictions can be physical or moral. Among the first there are: smoking, drinking, using drugs, gluttony, gambling and sex. Among the latter, selfishness, pride, envy, jealousy, greed, hate, personalism, slander, intolerance, impatience, negligence, idleness.

Many of those, deemed as virtues, are tolerated and stimulated by our society, due to the moral retardation in which we find ourselves in. In the book “Cartas e Cronicas” (chapter 18), the Spirit X, psychographed by Francisco Candido Xavier, speaks about alcohol as a FREE POISON. A snake is hunted by all means, but alcohol…²

On Sundays and holidays, or at certain hours of the night, we cannot buy milk or medicine, because there are no bakeries or pharmacies open, but a bar… we always find them promptly open.

These ordinary facts tell us of the moral destitution of our so-called ‘civilized’ society.

Another blatant example: countless resources are allocated for carnaval (even from the government, from all political levels), while there are very little funds for housing, schools or hospitals…

Many starve, for not finding someone to provide them with work or food. But, for many, whom, in order to satiate their infatuation for vices, always find someone to help them buy alcohol, tobacco and drugs. For evil, there’s conniving indulgence. And the ones who refuse a dram or a fag, are made fun of, as if they were abnormal, in a complete inversion of values.    

The role of materialism in addiction 

Hence, the overpopulation in prisons, mental institutions, hospitals… besides the aggression to one’s own body, there are work-related accidents, traffic accidents; chronic illnesses; bad examples; harsh humiliations and sufferings; dishonor; brutalization, hardships; disruption and abandonment of homes, of children, loss of jobs, difficulty to find a job, the consequences to the descendants (especially in the case of mothers); the high cost for society; theft and murder…

It’s an endless plethora of hurt. Not to mention organized crime, in which gangs are involved in dodgy businesses that move millions throughout the world, for evil is universal and man is the same everywhere.

This painful truth is enough to re-educate man, to free him from all the addictions that slave him to pain, to material and moral starvation. And nobody is going to do it for us. It is a task for society as a whole. But for parents and educators the task is harder, because they are the ones supposed to mold character.

Materialism enables the dissemination of addictions, either by the ignorance about collective and personal responsibilities that it breeds, or by the moral retardation of creatures. The consequences from this fall on our society as a whole, for many generations, demanding high costs, either financial or otherwise not only from the victims, but from family members and friends.

Many of them lead to prison, the gutter, premature death, loss of dignity, tragedy. But all, with no exception, lead their victims to unhappiness, sickness, suffering, anguish and sorrow. And, almost always, family members follow their examples. There is, in this case, a process of deviancy, even if unconscious. The selfishness of the ones who seek to satisfy their passions leave them blind to see the damage done to others.  

When the example comes from parents 

There are parents who give alcohol to their children, many of them alcoholics in other lives and who came back to the physical realm in search of regeneration… and are compelled to fall, while still in their childhood, and what’s more serious, by the hands of those who have proposed to receive them in their homes in order to re-educate them. There are parents still, who light up cigarettes, leading them to addiction, little by little. Besides the bad example, there’s the incentive to error.

The obsessors, who want to lead them astray, in order to keep them under their evil spell, count, in these cases, on the help of ignorant or non vigilant parents.

Parents, in this case, take on very serious responsibilities and will pay up with a lot of pain for their resounding mistakes. For others, their enslavement to addiction overcomes their love for their own children: we know of parents who deprive their children of food, in order to buy cigarettes or alcohol. There are others who sell food that is given by charities to gather resources in order to satisfy their evil desires.

We heard of a case in which children slept on a damp floor, because the bed had been sold to make money to quench their parents’ shameful thirst. The more furniture they acquired, the more they sold for the same purpose. And the children, on the damp floor, subject to illness and the attack of worms and other insects.

The Spirits warn and guide us in many of their works, in which they describe the work of assistance they develop in favor of the ones who suffer. Here are a few excerpts: 

HEREDITY:  

“Children do not acquire the nasty habit of parents, but almost always, they already possess the addiction to alcohol, before being reborn. And there are disincarnated drunkards who adhere to them and make them instruments of themselves.” ³ 

RECOVERY: 

In question 909 of “The Book Of Spirits”, Allan Kardec proposes to Spirits: “Couldn’t men, by their own efforts, always overcome their evil inclinations? – Yes, and frequently making very little effort. What’s lacking is the power of will. Oh! How few among you make efforts!” (Underlined)

And also in question 913: “(…) Investigate all addictions and you will see that deep down inside there’s selfishness. Though you may fight them, you will never extinguish them if you don’t tackle them by their root, or destructed their cause. May all your efforts go towards that direction for there it is the true wound of our society.” ⁴

André Luiz lets us know that “(…) alcohol (…) inebriates and kills the centers of physical life.” ⁵And he adds that Nature will empty the goblet of illusions of creatures, for there are thousand processes of readjustment for everyone: affliction, disenchantment, tiredness, suffering, imprisonment and others.

When there’s no effect, there’s the “regenerating imprisonment”: There are painful incarnations that mean an overwhelming expiatory struggle for the souls that are dying in addiction. We have, for example, mongolism, hydrocephaly, paralysis, blindness, secondary epilepsy, idiotism, birth handicaps and many resources, although painful, but necessary and produce results, in benefit of a troubled mind since birth. In most cases, similar processes of healing produce good results for the obligatory probations that they offer (…)” ⁶

ADDICTIONS AND OBSESSION: 

The disincarnated, slave to the most varied kinds of drugs, satiate their desires through the incarnated, preying on them, when they think they are drinking, smoking or using drugs only by themselves. They do it for the invisible mobs that gather round: “Around chronic smokers and drinkers, disincarnated creatures of a sad complexion stand by. Some inhale the puffs of smoke thrown into the air (…) Some inhale the breath of helpless alcoholics.” ⁶ 

ESCAPE:  

On the subject of disturbing disincarnated Spirits that prey on non vigilant creatures who indulge in the most extravagant passions and addictions, Andre Luiz points out what the mentor Calderano said: “About those unfortunate ones, what else to do but recommend them to Divine Power? They try an impossible escape from themselves. Hallucinating, they just postpone the moment of self-assessment, that always comes when least expected, through painful processes, when all resources of divine love that the Supreme Father makes available to all of us have run out. Their minds are also attached to primitive instincts, and frail and hesitant, refrain from the responsibility of the labor of regeneration.” ⁷ 

 “Faced with your own conflicts, don’t try to drink or numb yourself in order to escape your own mind, because from larcenous absence you will be forced to reassess the damage and needs you created in your inner world, in order to heal them.” ⁸ (Highlighted.) 

The importance of praying  

Drug consumption has taken up gigantic proportions nowadays. Addiction is spread in both rich and poor countries and in all walks of life. There seems to be no borders for evil, which mobilizes huge sums of money all throughout the world. The senselessness and boldness of drug dealers have no limits. Every day the news focuses on their actions as well as the Police’s. And to this human tragedy we add Aids.

Only when we acquire knowledge, especially the youth, we can free ourselves from this scourge, apparently untamable.

Prayer is another effective way, although slow – from our immediate point of view – to heal from all addictions. It not only benefits the victims, but it also strengthens the families, either by giving them patience, inspiring on the path to follow day by day in order to support the ones who are linked to them.

In the book “Voices of the Great Beyond”, in the chapter called Alcoholic, a Spirit compares alcoholism to a devastating fire and gives his testimony of the tragedies he witnessed, the sorrow he experiences in his own recovery, and speaks of the praying, extraordinary resources that allowed him to wake up for life: 

“(...) until brotherly hands brought me to the blessing of praying (...) (...) by the talents of praying, the thirst was quenched, by offering me pure water (...)”.

He also says:

(...) I offer you the sad example of my own particular case for the rebuke of those who begin from cup to cup, in the innocent drinking, at time of leisure or the festive night, slowly descending into death (...)” ⁹ 

The Gospel in the homestead is another valuable recourse 

The study of the Gospel in the Home is another valuable resource in this campaign in favor of spiritual freedom, because of the benefits that it brings to Spirits from both plans of life. It should be added to other actions that aim at recovering the fallen.

The educational and moral education that the Spiritualistic Doctrine can exert over families, moreover on the youth, is an instrument of freedom that lies in the hands of the Spiritualistic Movement. And the Spiritualistic Center, as a living cell of this movement plays the most important role in these responsibilities. As for us, who have benefited from this Doctrine of Love, it’s our duty to have an attitude of vigilance in the constant enlightening of our community, especially the youth, besides supporting families that have suffered the nasty effects of drugs.

This tragedy that now involves a considerable part of the Spirits linked to Earth is a product of this invisible, to the careless eye, pollution caused by poisoned minds of disincarnated and incarnated alike, who attach non-vigilant creatures onto their horrible tentacles, being unaware of the nasty effects of their actions, mainly about the heavy price to pay, through the path to recovery, which one day, sooner or later, we’ll all have to travel.  

Bibliographical References:  

1. Repositório de Sabedoria, do livro Após a Tempestade, Joanna de Ângelis/Divaldo P. Franco, 57, 1ª ed. Livraria Espírita Alvorada, Salvador, 1980.

2. Cartas e Crônicas, Irmão X/Francisco C. Xavier, 7ª ed. FEB, Rio, 1988.

3. Entre a Terra e o Céu, André Luiz/Francisco C. Xavier, pág. 78, 6ª ed. FEB, Rio, 1978.

4. O Livro dos Espíritos, Allan Kardec, 50ª ed. FEB, Rio, 1980;

5. Missionários da Luz, André Luiz/Francisco C. Xavier, pág. 102, 12 ed. FEB, Rio, 1979.

6. Nos Domínios da Mediunidade, André Luiz/Francisco C. Xavier, págs. 139/40 e 138, 9ª ed., FEB, Rio, 1979.

7. No Mundo Maior, André Luiz/Francisco C. Xavier, pág. 195, 8ª ed. FEB, Rio, 1979.

8. Coragem, André Luiz/Francisco C. Xavier, pág. 52, 19ª ed. CEC, Uberaba, 1990.

9. Vozes do Grande Além, Diversos Espíritos/Francisco C.Xavier, pág. 125, 2ª ed. FEB, Rio, 1974.