I think that we have this grossly inaccurate impression that in order for sin to be sin, it has to be enjoyed. I even heard someone today say that what they were doing wasn't really bad because they were just doing it because they were bored, not because they wanted to. I really don't know which is worse. Gross disobedience because of an almost overwhelming urge or simply because you don't care about the law? Of course, what the young man was implying is that sin is giving yourself over to another power, allowing yourself to be controlled by an influence. And he obviously takes the stand, "I could quit if I wanted to," which is not new. Ask any of the hundreds of users on our sites that have struggled with addiction in some form or another and you'll find that most of them don't really enjoy the actual act all that much. They don't enjoy it and they don't enjoy the aftermath, yet they can't seem to act while in its trance. Scary, blind world it is when we're not looking far enough ahead to plan the next step but allowing it to come as it will. At the heart of the problem, I think we will find an issue of faith, or lack thereof. It's not just the addicts. We have a large number in society that no longer think pro-actively or plan with faith that which they want to accomplish. Addiction is simply the vice that brings all of this to the surface and solidifies what was already happening in the heart. Visualizing yourself acting a certain way, and apparently visualizing in third person in particular, helps us act on faith and plan the path that we will take. Spend a few minutes in the morning thinking of the type of person you want to be that day and then actually, mentally lay out what you're going to do in order to accomplish that. The old adage, those who fail to plan, plan to fail really has some spiritual significance.

"And there were many whose faith was so exceedingly strong, even before Christ came, who could not be kept from within the veil, but truly saw with their eyes the things which they had beheld with an eye of faith, and they were glad." (Ether 12:19)

Labels: visualization addiction