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[Music]

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As a medical doctor, I worked with some
very very addicted people people,

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people who use heroin,

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cocaine

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alcohol

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crystal meth

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and every drug known to man .

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And these people suffer:

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they lose their health

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they lose their beauty

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they lose their teeth

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they lose their wealth

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they lose human relationship

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and in the end they often lose their lives.

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And yet nothing can force them
to give up their addiction.

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The addictions are powerful

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and the question is why.

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If you want to understand addiction,

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you can't look at what's wrong with the addiction,

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you have to look at what's right about it.

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In other words, what is the person getting
from the addiction

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that otherwise they don't have.

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And what addicts get

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are relief from pain,
the sense of peace,

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a sense of control,
a sense of calmness

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very, very temporarily.

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And that's why
the real question in addiction is not

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why the addiction, but why the pain

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If you want to ask the question of
why people are in pain,

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you can't look at their genetics,

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you have to look at their lives.

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And in the case of
my highly addicted patients,

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it's very clear why they're in pain,

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because they've been abused
all their lives.

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They began life as abused children,

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physically abused, neglected,
sexually abused,

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abandoned over and over again.

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And that's why the pain.

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The human brain develops 
in interaction with the environment.

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The kind of environment that a child has

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will actually shape the development
of the brain

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[Music]

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The Buddhists have this idea
of the hungry ghosts.

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The hungry ghosts are
creatures with large empty bellies

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and small scrawny necks
and tiny little mouths.

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So they can never get enough,

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they can never fill this emptiness
on the inside.

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And the addiction is all about

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trying to fill that emptiness
from the outside.

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[Music]

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From that perspective you can understand
that there's many many addictions

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Yes, there's the addiction to drugs

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but it is also the addiction
to consumerism,

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the addiction to sex,

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to the Internet,

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to food.

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For each person there is a different way
of filling the emptiness

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[Music]

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but the emptiness always goes back
to what we did the get

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when we were very small.

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[Music]

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Many of my patients were actually
First Nations Indian people

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and they are heavily addicted

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because their lands were
taken away from them

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and because they were killed and abused

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from generation to generation
and generation.

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If you can understand the suffering
of these native people

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and how that suffering makes them
seek relief from pain

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in their addictions,

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what about the people
who are perpetrating it?

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What are they addicted to?

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Well, they're addicted to power,

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they're addicted to wealth,

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they're addicted to acquisition.

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They want to make themselves bigger

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The addiction to power is always about

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the emptiness that you try and fill
from the outside.

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[Music]

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If you look at the story
about Jesus and Buddha,

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both of them were tempted by the devil.

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And one of the things that
the devil offers them

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is power.

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And they both say no

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because they have the power
inside of themselves,

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they don't need it from the outside.

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They don't want to control people,

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they want to teach people by example,
not through force-

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So they refuse power -

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Jesus says the kingdom of God is within,

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that the power is not
outside of yourself but inside

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And the Buddha says: 
"Don't worship me,

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"find a lamp inside yourself

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"be a lamp unto yourselves,
find the light within"

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And so as we look at this difficult world,

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let's not look to the people in power
to change things

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because the people in power are very often
some of the emptiest people in the world.

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We have to find that light
within ourselves.

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We have to find the lightness
in humilitiy

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and in our own wisdom,

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in our own creativity.

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if we find that light within,

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if we find our own nature,

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then we'll be kinder to ourselves

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and we also be kinder to nature

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[Music]

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(We are social beings.)

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(When we feel disconnected
or alienated)

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(we experience pain.)

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(Addiction, depression, anger,
and violence)

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(are different ways we react to pain.)

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(To heal our society and our world)

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(we must heal the emotional wounds
at the roots of our pain.)

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(Support the creation
of other stories like this:)

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(https://www.patreon.com/sustainablehuman)

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(This video was produced
as a gift to humanity)

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(by Chris and Dawn Agnos.)