Addicts 🐁

 Addicts

    What does it say about the state of society, here in the West, where addiction is treated as a normal part of everyday life?

    What does it say about a system, where substance use and abuse is nothing more than a common occurrence? 

    When humanity is forced into a cage, and taught to live as nothing more than slaves, how can we truly be surprised that those who are entrapped turn towards a synthetic outlet? How can we be shocked to learn, that the very individuals who we lock away, show side-effects of losing their free will? When you take a people, who have known nothing but freedom and sunny days- how can you truly be surprised, when enslaving them turns into a psychological nightmare?

    A fascinating study was done, by a scientist I cannot remember, who experimented on mice. He fed the mice LSD-laced water, and watched their behaviours, while being trapped in their cage. The mice learned to become addicted to the water- and soon became nothing more than addicts. However, one scientist came along, and quickly realized that the results were skewered. It wasn’t that the mice had access to the LSD-laced water, which caused them to chase after the drug. It was because of their environment. It was because they were trapped inside the very cage, which was set to control their behaviour. Because of this, the mice turned towards the LSD, as a form of escape, every single time.

    The question to ask next is- are we humans so different than mice? Or, at least, are our behaviours? 

    Obviously, we are two different creatures, with two very different intellects. However, we share one thing in common, that being, intelligence. Everywhere you look in nature, intelligence is the one commonality, across the board of life. Some creatures possess more than others, no doubt about it. However, the same driving factors that we have, lodged within our subconscious, seem to be the same. The drive to eat, drink and reproduce. The drive to survive, despite nature’s best attempts to make that impossible. The continuous drive to simply exist, in an environment which does it best not to allow it.

    So, can our behaviours truly be that different than those of the creatures around us? Can we draw a similar conclusion to the mice who become addicted to the LSD-laced water, while being trapped within their cage? I say yes, yes we can. 

    When a creature is placed within a system, where the very system is designed to keep them trapped and caged, our subconsciousness automatically begins to look for an escape. It looks for a way it can break free from the chains, which are currently holding us back. The opportunity to remove the shackles, and once again be free, as we were born to be. Much like the mice, who were born to live a life of freedom. Much like the orcas, who were meant to roam the sea. Much like the monkeys, which were meant to swing in the branches. Much like humans, who were meant to conquer the world.

    Being trapped and enslaved in a system, where the individual has next to no chance of escaping, is guaranteed to lead toward substance abuse. The containment of the soul, being bound by an invisible force, can drive the subconscious insane. A financial system, which acts as a cage, is not meant to be something we humans are forced to deal with. The enslavement of each and every soul, bound to their financial situation and the depth of their accounts, is not a natural state of affairs. The very restrictions, which are placed upon us, because of numbers in a compute system. The very restrictions of travel, of food, of location, of status- all because of a system which was not born of this world. The literal chains and shackles of digits within a compute screen. The trapped human subconscious, as it is forced to slowly realize the pain of living like a rat within a cage.

Humanity was not meant to live this way.

We were born to be free.

Godspeed.