2012 introduced me to the darkness of the unconscious.
I fell in love with a hardcore drug addict. I didn't understand addiction. I thought she just an issue with willpower. All I knew was that possessed a joie de vivre, a passion for life, a willingness to follow her instincts with the full abandon that I myself was intoxicated by.
She went off to rehab and I joined a cult called OneTaste. (See my podcasts on 'When I was in a matriarchal sex cult'.)
Ironically (or synchronistically), OneTaste's spiritual views were largely related to addiction recovery; "Taming the Beast" of the unconscious.
We were trained to tap into our feelings, our instincts, our desires. We were all encouraged to read a book called The Biology of Desire which explained the neural mechanisms of the desire instinct and how it relates to addiction. Seven years later, I got to chat with the author, Marc Lewis, Ph.D.
Marc and I discuss how the brain physically changes in response to learning, motivation, the formation of habits, and how it can pervert into unconscious tendencies. We also speak about childhood experiences that leave one vulnerable (or invulnerable) to unconscious behavior.
While most of us don't consider ourselves "addicts", all of us are subject to the internal conflict between our higher intentions and lower impulses. This episode covers important perspectives on taming your own beast.
For the video version of this podcast, click here: https://youtu.be/Sy5sUhMbxTE
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083 Marc Lewis, Ph.D.: The Biology of Desire