Originally Posted by
Creekryder 
TU, I understand the concept, but I feel from readings that many are assuming a position that this is something separate from their being. It isn't.
Once born, the Beast is as much a part of you as any other survival drive, such as your own sex drive, or your drive for food and water. The only difference, of course, is that alcohol and other drugs are not really necessary for survival. The body has acquired, through repeated exposure to mood-altering substances, a biological script error. The midbrain (or reptilian brain, forebrain, or base brain, if you prefer) is literally confused.
People often wonder why they keep drinking even though it may no longer produce that wonderful buzz that it once did. The answer is very simple. Since the birth of the Beast, the midbrain has come to (incorrectly) believe that alcohol is like oxygen, necessary for life. Even if you are in a highly polluted city, such as Linfen, China, where the air is quite toxic, your body will say
"keep breathing, stupid, even if it burns your lungs!" Similarly, even if drinking often makes you feel bad, the AV will say
"keep drinking, stupid, even if you get horrible hangovers and it makes you feel like dirt!"
Originally Posted by
Creekryder The addictive behavior is something we attain by our actions, but I believe the predisposition is there, even at childhood.
The "predisposition" is there in everyone, simply because our brains are adapted for the pursuit of goals, usually driven by pleasure. Drugs produce a synthetic pleasure that overshadows any pleasure that could be produced naturally. Granted, some people may have a built-in immunity to certain substances, particularly if they make them sick from the get-go. My mother, for example, doesn't drink at all, because she starts to get sick even with one drink. If I have one drink, all I feel is
"that's a good start, keep going!" Conversely, certain other substances people get hooked on, such as Oxycodone, make me feel sick, so I don't get that
"keep going!" feeling with Oxycodone.
Originally Posted by
Creekryder Touching again briefly on being born with the drive to drink, I think there is enough clinical evidence that genetic predisposition to alcoholism is real.
Even if there is, what difference does it make at this point, once you are
already addicted? The Addictive Voice is going to pump all sorts of things you read about addiction right back at you, particularly anything that makes it seem like you were predestined to drink. All this research may be interesting, but it makes no difference to your own recovery. I would even suggest that anyone who expects a cure from all of this research — and I'm not saying that you do — so that someday they may not actually have to bother quitting, they are hearing their AV.