Originally Posted by
Obladi 
Someone said something along the lines of "There's nothing like being alone with the AV and a blank wall," as if this was fun (?). Help me out here?
Part of AVRT is realizing that the Beast and the AV are not to be feared, and I interpreted that post as a reference to this. With AVRT, it is not "bad" to have Beast activity, or to hear the Addictive Voice. Many people seem relieved when there isn't much Addictive Voice, as if its presence were an imminent threat. It isn't, any more than the AV (animal voice) generated by our legitimate survival drives is.
My sex drive is active every day, for example, and I'm sure that if I acted on every single thought generated by that particular survival drive, that I would get into lots of trouble. Still, I don't want to be neutered just because I don't act on all such thoughts. I simply recognize such thoughts, since I know where they are coming from, and when not appropriate, I just don't act on them as a matter of principle.
I don't debate with my sex drive, because it just is, and debating wouldn't change it or deter it at all. I also don't need to hide from attractive people or try and run away from my sex drive in order to not go stark raving mad. AVRT is kind of like this, just a way of living comfortably in the presence of unfulfilled desires, with no fear of those desires. AVRT makes this easier by allowing me to attribute any sense of suffering or deprivation to the Beast itself, so that ITS suffering is not my suffering, and ITS deprivation is not my deprivation.
Intolerance of desire is what drives addiction, and the idea that having unfulfilled desires is utterly impossible is the grand illusion that sustains it. People don't actually explode or go insane just because they have desires that they don't act upon. Unfortunately, this isn't always easy to see from within the bubble of addiction, because the AV exaggerates the difficulty of quitting. Echoing the AV itself, others may also speak of how "difficult" it is to quit, which only feeds the illusion.
In truth, quitting is only really difficult for your Beast, though, and this is where the separation comes in. When you feel the Beast cringe, and the AV pipe up, recognize it as a very good sign, a sign that you have gained the upper hand. Instead of struggling with the AV, talking back to it, or seeing it as a terrible thing, recognize it as the death throes of your enemy. Your Beast thinks it is dying, and it is saying "I'm dying, Obladi, won't you please have mercy? Won't you please feed me?"
Show no mercy. Be glad. Be cruel. Abstain.