The subject of whether the Beast really exists, or if it is really
"you" comes up often enough that it warrants some discussion. People new to AVRT often have trouble thinking of the Beast as a separate entity, or at least a foreign one, and may initially consider it an irrational belief, which it is not. Indeed, the idea that the Addictive Voice (AV) amounts to irrational thinking that may be challenged, disputed, or reasoned against is probably the most common misunderstanding of AVRT.
To be sure, the Beast, which is just the desire to drink/use, physically resides within your body, and the AV will use the pronoun "I" in order to conceal the existence of the Beast, but consider that this was not always the case. The Beast did not always exist, after all, but rather was born. Few people would argue that they had a Beast, and an accompanying AV urging them to
drink, drink, drink, prior to ever drinking in the first place.
The Birth of The Beast
The Beast was born in an orgasm of biological pleasure that exceeds the common, natural dimensions of physical gratification. It emerged full-grown, even though earlier uses of the substance did not fully activate its immutable being. Instead of crying, its first words were, “Ohhhhh. That’s so gooood! This is what life is all about! You will do this again, and again, and again. Feed me!” And like a parent tending an infant of another species, you fed it, and it grew, and now it has turned on you. It will kill you to survive, unknowing that it, too, will die in the process, so the choice is between your own life and the object of yesterday’s affection—the Beast within.
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The Journal of RR, Vol. 9, Iss.6, July -Aug., 1997
Copyright © Rational Recovery Systems, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Furthermore, since the Beast is doing what it knows beyond doubt is necessary for its own survival, the Beast is actually an autonomous, rational entity. It would be irrational for any entity to
not try to survive, after all, and to the Beast, abstinence is akin to death. One might argue that the Beast is acting irrationally since it will eventually kill its host, and itself die in the process, but the Beast doesn't actually know or understand this.
Similarly, a drowning man may, in his desperate attempts to stay above water by clinging to anything that floats, inadvertently drown someone who is trying to save him, and himself die in the process, but trying to survive is not irrational. Therefore, there is no point in trying to reason with the Beast in order to point out how irrational it would be to drink/use, any more than it would be to try and reason with a drowning man in a panic.