Terminally Unique

I am starting to notice some common AVRT misunderstandings, so I thought I would write them up.

1. The Addictive Voice is not an irrational belief that can be disputed. The Beast ("the desire to drink") is actually a rational entity, insofar as IT is doing what IT knows to be, beyond a shadow of a doubt, necessary for its own survival. It would be very irrational for any entity to try not to survive, so the Beast is actually acting quite rationally.
   
   
2. The Addictive Voice is not the same thing as the Beast. The Beast is simply the desire to drink/use, and the AV is its human voice, in your thoughts, in your mind's eye.
   
   Bark —> Dog = AV —> Beast
   The Beast cannot do a damn thing, least of all get the car keys, drive to the bar, talk to the bartender, order a drink, count the money, pay for the drink, and then pour it down your throat. It can only use the Addictive Voice to try and convince you to do such a thing.
   
   
3. The Beast is not the entire Midbrain/Limbic system, which controls survival function such as breathing. The Beast is only the artificial, perverted, misdirected survival drive that wants to drink/use as if life itself depended on doing so.
   
   
4. The Beast is not the cause of your addiction. This is a destructive belief, which, if you subscribe to, will have you going in circles for a long time, trying to neuter animal desire. While typical of addicted people to want this, hence all the usual talk about wanting the desire to be magically removed, it can't be done. The force from which the Beast arises is the force of life itself, the same force that keeps you on this planet. The literal destruction of the Beast would mean your own destruction as well.
   
   For all practical purposes, you cannot control what the Beast feels or otherwise get rid of the Beast. AVRT is concerned with the proximal causes of addiction, as opposed to the distal causes (ie, 'underlying issues'). Therefore, as far as AVRT is concerned, the proximal cause, which is the Addictive Voice, and which you can ignore, and not the Beast, is the cause of your addiction.